Microsoft Security Essentials- A Warning

I apologize in advance for the length of this thread but I want to give an accurate and detailed account of my experience as it may help with some other problems I've seen in these forums.

2 weeks ago I started to get a Windows security warning "Your Internet settings do not allow you open these files". It didn't make sense as the files were sometimes Windows system 32 files and nothing to do with the internet. Resetting Windows Security levels made no difference.

Next Microsoft Security Essentials started reporting that it could not update it's Virus definitions. after trying several fix's I uninstalled and re-downloaded and tried to re-install but got an error. At this point I opened a ticket with MSE tech support.

I tried to install other antivirus software and also purchased Malwarebytes but the above Windows Security warning prevented me installing or enabling, leaving me totally unprotected.

MSE asked me to try various fix's and even took remote control of my computer
but nothing worked.

I contacted Malwarebytes who were fanastic, even though it was not really a malware issue. They suggested an ESET scan which found two serious Trojans and walked me through removing the Viruses. Unfortunately It did not fix the Windows security warning issue.

I know from the files that the Trojans were attached to that they had entered my system while Microsoft Security Essentials was operational with the correct settings to prevent infection.

Finally Malwarebytes suggested that I might have a corrupted User Account, this suggestion is also mentioned elsewhere on these forums. It proved to be correct, the new user account allowed me to install all of the software which was then available for use in the old user account. I did not delete the old account as the new account did not transfer all of my settings or shortcuts correctly.

So I had solved all my problems by the time MSE tech support finally phoned again to say that all I had to do was "Sit back and relax and in a couple of hours we will make your computer run like new" I was very skeptical but I gave him control.

I could see he was having problems setting up a new user account and
7 hours later I had a computer that had no Documents & Settings folder in ‘C’, had lost all its Firefox bookmarks and passwords, couldn't change the Firefox download destination, all Outlook emails, account settings and contacts were gone, I couldn't create or copy anything to Libraries, I couldn't change the desktop background or set up a screen saver and no desktop settings were retained after log off.


At no time did he set a restore point or create any backups and he deleted the old User Account before testing the New one.
He then told me he was only qualified to deal with MSE problems and the ticket was closed, for all other Windows 7 problems I must seek help elsewhere !



My complaint emails to MSE tech support have been totally ignored



So if you're using MSE be warned, It lets in Trojans which disables the protection, if you want a totally screwed up system just ask their tech support.


I am still not sure whether the original problems were caused by the trojans or the corrupted account or maybe both. I am now working on re-imaging my system back to happier times.

Thats the problem with MSE, it only provides basic protection and fails to block some malware, but version 2.0 seems promising. Thats why I use KIS2011 now

any idea what you were doing to get infected in the first place?

it may help others avoid your problems in the future...

no a/v is 100% perfect, and it's sad to hear this story, but i'm pretty sure that you'll find similar stories of people using kis or nis or whatever also getting infected.

mse tech support didn't sound too helpful.

The Results of my ESET scan are attached

Thanks for posting about your experience, albeit it not a very pleasant one for you.

Those folks at Malwarebytes are pretty good, I agree. Out of interest, had tyou managed to install MBAM, do you know whether it would have detected these Trojans?

Great news on getting your issue sorted

No I dont think MBAM would pick up a trojan. I don't believe that's what it's designed to do. It was MBAM themselves that suggested using ESET to find the trojans.

I only tried to install it because I was desperate for any protection I could get

I forgot about this one