Leaked: Microsoft Security Essentials (codename Morro)

[SIW2]

Not at all - no idea where you got that from.

I don't expect there is anything wrong with MSE per se. I just see no reason to expect it to be any better than OneCare was.

If people who would otherwise be unprotected end up using it - clearly that is a good thing.

I am perhaps , a realist - MS give nothing away unless they think it will benefit them . Neither does AVG - clearly it is to promote the paid product in their case.

 

[Klaw117]

MS is ditching OneCare though, so what is MSE supposed to promote then?

 

[TheIgster]

I am perhaps , a realist - MS give nothing away unless they think it will benefit them . Neither does AVG - clearly it is to promote the paid product in their case.

Perhaps just promoting themselves? Time for something good for their rep?

AVG tries to upsell, MS has stated they won't charge anything or have different "versions".

 

[srq2625]

MS is ditching OneCare though, so what is MSE supposed to promote then?

Do we remember the war between Netscape and IE? Where's Netscape now?

Same question can be asked of the battle between FireFox, Opera, et al against IE.

Maybe MS is attempting to take on another battle with McAfee and Norton?

I suspect MS is attempting to become the "one-stop shopping choice" for computer users. I strongly doubt that MS will ever become the only answer, but they may well become the first answer. And, if they take enough market share away from the others ... well you can do the math on that one.

So, what do I have installed? Why MSE of course ... at least for a little while.

 

[Firestrider]

Microsoft is pretty much in a war with every major software vendor.

XPS vs. PDF, Silverlight vs. Flash, Expression Studio vs. Creative Suite, IIS vs. Apache, SQL Server vs. mySQL, .NET vs. JRE, MSE vs. AVG/Avira/Avast, IE vs. Firefox/Chrome/Safari, WMP vs. VLC/Quicktime, Windows 7 vs. OSX/Linux, Office vs. OpenOffice, etc, etc.

 

[Slimy]

Silverlight vs. Flash you mean

 

[fseal]

Microsoft is pretty much in a war with every major software vendor.

XPS vs. PDF, Silverlight vs. PDF, Expression Studio vs. Creative Suite, IIS vs. Apache, SQL Server vs. mySQL, .NET vs. JRE, MSE vs. AVG/Avira/Avast, IE vs. Firefox/Chrome/Safari, WMP vs. VLC/Quicktime, Windows 7 vs. OSX/Linux, Office vs. OpenOffice, etc, etc.

And the point that is almost always overlooked is...

Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose. In fact I would bet that microsoft has lost more often than they have won.

The market DOES decide. Those that say MS is dominant becuase of This or That anti-competitive behavior are giving the market and consumers ZERO benefit of the doubt. The fact is, if MS does it right, people migrate that way, if not they go elsewhere.

 

[Firestrider]

Silverlight vs. Flash you mean

Yep ... I think HTML5 will win out in the end though... like other open source/standards

 

[Lordbob75]

Yes of course, the small tests done by enthusiasts are by definition not definitive.

Nevertheless, it is interesting that MSE did not pick up 4 out of 10 that were picked up by the large majority of the engines on Virustotal.

I am not sure what people expect of MSE.

I have seen post claiming it is "small" and "lightweight" - in reference to what?

I compared it for size on my machine to Avast - and it was certainly not small or lightweight compared to that.

It appears to be OneCare with some parts removed. Since, as far as I can gather, that was not generally thought to be particulaly good - why should MSE be any better?

MS have said it is for those who do not have an AV - e.g. the ones who think they are still protected when their trial AV runs out.

They have made no claims they will be investing heavily in making it substantially better.

If people who would otherwise be unprotected end up using it - clearly that is a good thing.

I see no evidence , or indication, that it is any better , or even as good as , some of the already popular free solutions.

I'm glad it picked up something AVG did not - it may be the other way round in a different case. How can you be sure they weren't false positives?

Are you using them both together?

On my machine MSE used more Ram than Avast - doesn't matter much , what's a few mb of Ram nowadays.

I don't expect there is anything wrong with MSE per se. I just see no reason to expect it to be any better than OneCare was.

I suspect it is getting an enthusistic reponse from some people , because thay are enthusiastic about 7 - they immediately assume everything MS is fantastic.

They are not giving it away free out of the goodness of their hearts - they are doing it because they think it is good for MS.

Think you are making a lot of assumptions there SIW2.

I am by no means a huge supporter of Microsoft per se, but you almost sound like you are "anti" Microsoft.

AVG was installed on my system. It had been for quite some time. MSE was installed when it was leaked and AVG uninstalled. MSE found a few things that AVG never did during scans. They were indeed viruses from what I could tell.

Regardless of why MS released this FREE product, it is free, it works and it seems to be something that many people will use and will appreciate. I say good on MS for doing it.

SIW2 is just being Devil's Advocate here, not anti M$. He is making sure we all know that just because one test went well does not mean that it will detect everything correctly in the future, or a different virus.

The point is to know that (it is still beta) there can be mistakes. It is a great idea by M$, don't forget that! But just remember that it IS free, and they are (probably, I don't actually know) not making it to compete with a full paid suite. It would be nice if they were, and it stayed free, but it won't.

I happen to like it myself. It is very unobtrusive, though their little systray icon is kind of stupid, but slim and quiet (which is probably what most people would like, along with the sense of security it gives them, even if it is not that great). That is the most important thing here for M$.

~Lordbob

~Lordbob

 

[SIW2]

LOL.

When a punter has no alternative but to go and search for an app. - there is an element of choice.

When the o/s and app. come on the machine by default - the vast majority do not choose - they just accept.

The very few who do get something else are either enthusiasts, or were told to install them by their enthusiast friend/ brother, etc.

Lots of people now have Malwarebytes in addition to their resident a/v, because I suggested it.

They had never heard of it and would never have gone looking for it. Some have decided to get the paid version.

One major reason OneCare did not do so well is because of the tie ups the big boys have with the oem's and ISP's.

Most people will pay for the one on the machine when the trial runs out, or take the one their ISP offers ( for a fee).

That is because they are told they need an a/v , but don't really know what they do - or what is more suitable for them , or how to look for one.

In any case, they don't want to know - they are not interested - they just take what is easiest.

After all , it must be good, and good value - it is the one reccomended by the machine manufacturer, or ISP.

 

[Lordbob75]

LOL.

When a punter has no alternative but to go and search for an app. - there is an element of choice.

When the o/s and app. come on the machine by default - the vast majority do not choose - they just accept.

The very few who do get something else are either enthusiasts, or were told to install them by their enthusiast friend/ brother, etc.

Lots of people now have Malwarebytes in addition to their resident a/v, because I suggested it.

They had never heard of it and would never have gone looking for it. Some have decided to get the paid version.

One major reason OneCare did not do so well is because of the tie ups the big boys have with the oem's and ISP's.

Most people will pay for the one on the machine when the trial runs out, or take the one their ISP offers ( for a fee).

That is because they are told they need an a/v , but don't really know what they do - or what is more suitable for them , or how to look for one.

In any case, they don't want to know - they are not interested - they just take what is easiest.

Exactly. This is what M$ is working towards. Most people don't know about others, because they are NOT enthusiasts like us. Which is why IE is so popular: not because it is the best, it is just there automatically. And it works.

~Lordbob

 

[Dorfdad]

I dunno how well its going to work, I havnt needed AV in two years so I doubt its going to find anything the entire time I use it :shock:

Im not sure why but Morro downloaded about 200mb of files after installation, thats inc Definitions but its still downloading even though that finished :huh:



LOL, I guess they didn't like the screenshots since it wasn't released?

How and the hell do you manage not to need an Antivirus?

 

[Slimy]

How and the hell do you manage not to need an Antivirus?

I don't use one either. The best antivirus is the human brain

 

[SIW2]

Hi LordBob,

You're on the right track.

MS would like to include everything they possibly can with the o/s - and be the default for everything.

They can't get away with that - but they still want to cover every base - silverlight , xps, skydrive - you name it - all apparently free.

Why?

They want to be "chosen" automatically in the future - if they can get most people using most of their stuff - they become the automatic for the real big money deal - not too far away.

Google are the competitior - thay have lots of "free" stuff too - what a coincidence.

 

[Lordbob75]

I don't use one either. The best antivirus is the human brain

That works most of the time, but what about something that happens beyond the human brain to control or predict? Having a backup (free one) is nice, and helps with piece of mind.

Or we could just ask the hackers to stop making them..... :sarc:

~Lordbob

 

[Dinesh]

Overall a good product.

 

[fseal]

That works most of the time, but what about something that happens beyond the human brain to control or predict? Having a backup (free one) is nice, and helps with piece of mind.

Or we could just ask the hackers to stop making them..... :sarc:

~Lordbob

I have given various AV software a try now and then, mainly to "double check" on my own strategies. Usualy they so VERY quickly get int he way of normal computer use they are as bad as a virus themselves.

Been on the computer and the net since the 2400 baud dial up days, used windows and IE (Well not till IE 4) since then. Never got a single virus ever. Not one on dozens of client machines and even a few servers run from home.

The human brain is the best anti virus. It just that an /awful/ lot of people don't use theirs

1) make the internet zone highest saftey and use a white list for sites you MUST use scripting or flash on.

2) Turn off preview in your mail client and use Properties/Details/Message source to look at any emil yo may be tempted to open that is not obviously recognizable. (One way that OE/Live mail is superior to outlook)

3) Don't download every program on the planet. and stay away from warez.

4) black list "friends" that pass around "jokes". a) they are not funny at all, b) well...

5) Turn on firewall before connecting to net, better yet use a firewall appliance.

6) Stay updated.

My Linux friends have had thier machines and servers hacked, I have never had a single windows machine or server hacked in 15 years.

Still, I DO occasionally check... And of course I came up with 0 threats detected when I installed and ran MSE

 

[Charles Kane]

Apologies if this has been already posted but it is a preliminary analysis from an authoritative source - Computerworld reports on AV-Test GmbH - the grab is:

AV-Test GmbH tested Microsoft Security Essentials, the free software Microsoft launched yesterday in beta, on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, putting it up against nearly 3,200 common viruses, bot Trojans and worms, said Andreas Marx, one of the firm's two managers. The malware was culled from the most recent WildList, a list of threats actually actively attacking computers.
"All files were properly detected and treated by the product," said Marx in an e-mail. "That's good, as several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet."
AV-Test also measured Security Essentials against a set of in-house false positives to see whether the software mistakenly fingers legitimate files, a nightmare for users, who can be left with a crippled computer, and a disaster to the reputation of a security company.
"None of the clean files were flagged as being malicious," noted Marx. "Very good."
AV-Test also examined the program's anti-rootkit skills and its ability to scrub a system of malware it finds with a limited number of samples and "found no reasons to complain," Marx said. "[Security Essentials] is able to remove found malware very well, but further tests against larger sets of samples are required before we can come to a final conclusion."
​

Reassuring, if not definitive to those using the beta (as I am).

I think the current review of 30+ AVs from AV-Test is also pretty revealing and should provide hours of fun and horror for everyone touting their favorite AV solution. Find it here.

What it tells me is:

• Most AV solutions are pretty good
• No AV solutions are perfect
• Some AV Solutions are below par and there are better choices
• Free or Paid is no indicator of how well an AV solution will find a virus/Malware/Trojan etc
• Some AV solutions work flawlessly in Windows 7 (MSE, Eset, Avast and, I think, Avira are amongst those)
• Some AV solutions don't work in 7
• We should worry about this issue less!

 

[TheIgster]

But just remember that it IS free, and they are (probably, I don't actually know) not making it to compete with a full paid suite. It would be nice if they were, and it stayed free, but it won't.

There is no proof that MS is trying to upgrade anyone or will be releasing a full suite or charging for anything. In fact, they stated it will be free always. It is simply a free anti virus app. Not sure why we can't just appreciate somrething that MS is doing.

 

[aframe]

Could someone post the file hash for the official download for both the 32 and 64 bit versions?
Thanks