Windows 7: MSE not sure if real time protection is working

I bet there would be a lot of Users who would disagree with that statment including me

And me. Its been a great experience so far.

The "It's free so it can't be good" argument is absolutely not valid, at least in MSE's case.

@colinw:

Why don't you try the EICAR test?

If every time you create a file containing the test string (create a text file, paste the string and try to save it as "EICAR.COM" (quotes must be included, as otherwise notepad will save it as EICAR.COM.txt), you will get an Access Denied message from MSE, if RT protection is running fine.

If this does not work, maybe try uninstalling and re-installing MSE?

Download the EICAR test file from here. Multiple versions are available. If you choose to download the COM (either as such or in the zipped file) version, MSE should not let you do so at all.

If you choose the text file version, scroll down the document till you get to the test string, select it and copy it to a new empty text document, and try to save it as mentioned above.

Let us know how this goes.

Hi pillainp

Thanks for that, yes i tried that test and it worked fine.

So why does MSE not see a hidden autorun.inf and svchost.exe file on a pen drive, even after i scan it ?

And why did it not detect and clean my trojans and java exploits which i had on two partitions. ?

Thanks for that anyway, at least it proves it is working.

You're welcome.

Do you have any special permissions in effect on any of those drives?

Hi Pillainp,

No not really. I have a dual boot laptop with xp on one partition for work, and win 7 64 bit on another partition for home, and then one more partition for everything else.

thanks

I have attached a screenshot showing the files that MSE did'nt pick up at all via the real time checking. Only picked them up by scanning my partitions.

Ignor the top two on the list, that was the test i done earlier where real time did actually work.

Thanks

Was that pen drive NTFS formatted?

Maybe you should also try Microsoft Answers' MSE discussions.

[Mods please delete link if pointers to other forums are unacceptable]

no fat32

ok thanks i will have a look on the link.

Thanks for your all your help anyway.

Instead of putting yourself through all this angst, why not find an AV program that you trust??