MS Security Essentials Vs. AVG 9.0

The NSE is far from any resource eater there. But it won't prevent things from getting on the system just find them afterwards like the trojan mentioned earlier.

The IE security now seen with the AVG 9.0 build would have prevented from getting on in the first place by sounding an alarm. That along with AVG itself however was disabled due to problems seen with any antivirus program with a few updated versions of softwares run here. To have one you lose the other!

At this point the only thing kept active is the IE security bar option in AVG 9.0 with the rest disabled showing how long it's been since getting hit with any "unwanted guests"?!

Back on Page #8 you can see the "Pest" not "gueat" that arrived! What was surprizing this time around was AVG not springing up even while disabled to grab it as it has on previous builds. While Grisoft got it right with the IE bar they seem to be slipping up on malicious code detection with their latest.

The one thing to remember about any AV product is that you always end up waiting for the next newer build before the program's data base and malicious code detection processes are updated. MSE is brand new now and why it is picking up where others are missing this.

I couldn't help but notice that

"Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites"had this reference to AVG as one of the Highly Rated Anti-Spyware Programs at http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Other Highly Rated Anti-Spyware Programs

• Sunbelt's CounterSpy (15 day Trial version - XP/Windows Vista (32bit only)
• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (Windows 2000, XP, and Vista/Win7)
• Webroot's Spysweeper (scan is free - removal requires purchase - XP/Windows Vista)
  Caution: Spysweeper now bundles the Ask Toolbar and is selected by default!
  Note: SpySweeper has problems with a large HOSTS file
• AVG Anti-Spyware (30 day Trial version - W2000 and XP only)
• PCTools/Symantec Spyware Doctor (scan is free - removal requires purchase - XP/Windows Vista)

Ad-Aware is certainly now "out of the loop" due to their prepackaging the Ask search engine toolbar! This is always one thing to watch out for when programs start adding in other things unrelated to the actual program itself. Spyware Terminator while a better cleaner, active shield will see the Clam AV option included there.

dmex said:

Ive been running tests of a custom built web indexing tool designed for check the connectivity of multiple pages and sites, it happens some executable links showed up in the results... Ive found one that I can confirm is a virus but im rather astonished that there are multiple failings from Google's 'safe' site rating and failures of nearly every anti-virus to detect it.

(If anyone has an idea how we can report the domain, how do we do it? or do we wait to see what AV engines begin detecting the file?)

   Warning

This is a new virus variant, currently being used in the wild and mostly undetected by Anti-Virus engines!

hxxp://72.52.206.241/micro/system.exe

I downloaded this file and uploaded it to VirusTotal for analysis, The results are below:



Microsoft's MSE is basically the only major player listed here which I think demonstrates a much better detection rate from new virus variants by MSE than most other major AV products.

On a side note, I think Microsoft should share their virus samples with other vendor's a lot more quickly.

Turned off my AV. downloaded and ran this file. Then scanned the computer with Hitman Pro, it detected and removed all.

Another tool you may want to look over is the Secunia Online Software Inspector. Scan Now - Online (OSI) - Vulnerability Scanning - Secunia.com