MS Security Essentials Vs. AVG 9.0

[Dark Nova Gamer]

That's a little strange.

I was running a cheap $399.00 E-Machine with 1GB or RAM and running PC Tools Spyware Doctor with Antivirus and Registry Mechanic with no problem.

If said it before, different hardware, different setups, different results.

 

[Night Hawk]

AVG has always been good here unti like other av programs interferes with some softwares. But seeing a bug get on when running search with MS's newest apparently blonder(Bing) was more of a disappointment then simply running into any bug. Generally I would have to go out of the way to run into one!

 

[Tepid]

AVComparatives which has been mentioned. Go read it.

I say it all the time, AVG is garbage.

True story, about 3 years ago, of a system with 8,000+ hits on it. Yes the system ran like crap, and no, they weren't cookies.
I have seen many systems be inundated with viruses, with AVG installed. Run it, and it finds nothing, or it finds a couple but can't clean them.

Then you go and find an on-line scanner that isn't being blocked by the buggers. Start it and it gets to it's first one, yes, one that AVG hadn't reported before, only to have AVG pop up and say, "Hey, Your Infected", really? No kidding. Clean it. "Yeah, see, here's the thing, I don't do windows. (no pun intended)."

I stop the scan, copy off all the virus files I can find and burn them to CD (which I don't have anymore).
I copy them to a fresh install with a fresh copy of AVG and scan the system, oh btw, AVG maybe reported on a few of them, but didn't stop most of them. Run the same test, and get the same results.

Conclusion? AVG is GGGGggarrrbbbaaaggggeeee. And they haven't improved.

The combination we would use a lot back then,,,

ESET On-Line Scanner
MS Live Safety Scanner
Spybot S&D
Lavasoft Ad-aware (which is bloated junk now)

Most systems came out clean without problems, some were too bad and had to be reloaded.

Today, I use
Eset on-line scanner (not the full product)
Live Saftey Scanner
Spybot S&D
Malwarebytes

There is ofcourse Combofix (update info unknown), HiJackThis! 1.99.1 (still a great peice of work), not Trends version. Smitfraud (no longer updated, or very old version, or no longer needed). VundoFix (which hasn't been updated in years). And many others.

Once clean, install MSE.

 

[rasso]

kaspersky really good.beucase I was useing eset smart securty 4..but I installed kaspersky and kaspersky found 3-4 dangerous threard in my internet browser or in C/

 

[Night Hawk]

SpyBot S&D is long outdated. Ewido was an old favorite not mentioned that was actually bought up by Grisoft. For trash av programs try McAfee! no thanks!

Actually the comparative "Main Tests" are dated before AVG 9.0 was even out. Read the November 2009 pdf report to see that lists the 8.5 build AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Main-Tests

Lately someone has been trying to coax me into looking at VIPRE for the av program. VIPRE Antivirus - The Best Antivirus Protection - Sunbelt Software

As far as what was found at cleaning up far more data miners and other bots over Malwarebytes was Spyware Terminator. I compared both of them to see which one performed the best. The ST program found quite a bit after a run by Malwarebytes. That one also puts an active guard around the registry.

 

[Tepid]

Well,, unfortunately,, there is not one AV or AM that will catch everything.
I will ahve to check out ST. If it runs as a Portable App,, that would be a plus.

Edit,, after some testing,,, I think I could make a very ugly rudimentary portable way for this app. It looks good, haven't fully tested it, just tested for portability. Doesn't seem they want it to run that way.

That's too bad really, but,, ....

See this,,, looking forward to it if they will

 

[Night Hawk]

The one thing noticed about the latest version of ST is now seeing an install mode for when running some program's installer and being prompted to allow or deny worse then the UAC set at max! The install mode was just added in and why this is last program that goes on here when a clean install of 7 was performed.

Another one by the same software company is called System Protect which is mainly a guard on the registry to prevent unauthorized changes by bugs or unintended changes like some program also wanting to place a new IE toolbar on. File and Folder Protection ? Free System Protect

This one on the other hand is lightweight and doesn't prompt any alert or permissions request simply when you go to install a new program. It does alert you when any files are about to deleted or altered however.

Both of those programs generally install right to the main drive there. As far as any one program catching everything? The answer to that one is obvious "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE"!

Too many new bugs as well as unfamiliar older ones as well are the main reason the smart move is having a multi-layered form of protection system wide. As it turns out all too often one program catches what another misses and then that catches what the first one didn't see. A 3rd app comes along and finds even more!

 

[DarkDavil]

Here's my 2 cents. ESET sucks! Been using a paid-ver of Smart Security for over 2 yrs now. My friend booted up his laptop - running MSE, and his booted soooooo fast. I diabled my ESET from boot - and bam..... a 42 second boot! With mse the boot time is 48-53 seconds... <3 And btw JMH - i love ur doggy avatar

 

[Tepid]

ESET has gone a bit down hill.. The other reason I no longer recommend the full install is because
if you let the licenes lapse, it will cripple your system... among those are the ability to save pictures from on-line. So, try saving a background and you get a black picture. That is a huge no-no in my book.

 

[Night Hawk]

Never had ESET here at all. Meanwhile MSE doesn't seem to slow anything down on start time here.

The one thing that is seen however is the options screen coming up every so often but not every day for MSE. The image here shows how that simply appeared today only since MSE first went on. It was never disabled from the startup list at any time.

 

[KazeNoKoe23]

I installed MSE on my netbook running Win7 Home Premium. Even with only 1 GB of RAM, I don't even know it's there. Never liked AVG, free version or otherwise.

 

[Night Hawk]

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!

 

[valtonray]

currently avast, been planning on trying out mse but haven't gotten around to it yet, really as long as it's detection is halfway decent and it doesn't use many resources i'm good. haven't had a virus in years even on some machines that went months with no measure of protection outside of my safe usage habits. knowledge is the best defense against any virus threat.

 

[Night Hawk]

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.

 

[dmex]

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. :shock:

 

[jav]

Thank you dmex.
Site submitted to McAfee siteadvisor

Getting similar results from novirusthanks link checker.

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

I do agree with you on that.

 

[Night Hawk]

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.

 

[Dinesh]

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:

View attachment 47333

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. :shock:

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

 

[Night Hawk]

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

 

[Tom Barrister]

I've been a customer of Zonelabs' Zonealarm Antivirus for four years, and my subscription runs through July 2011. For the most part, ZA has been satisfactory, albeit annoying at times, on my XP machines. There's no question that having the firewall and on-access AV scan running slows the computer significantly.

That said, when my previous computer's power supply started to fail, I bought a new computer with Windows 7 installed on it. After reading the various reviews online, I downloaded and installed MS Security Essentials, as well as letting the MS Firewall run. I haven't bothered to reinstall Zonealarms AV. MSE and the Windows 7 firewall do at least as good of a job as Zonealarm, work seamlessly with W7, have a smaller resource "footprint", and aren't as annoying or intrusive. Coupled with User Account Control (which I have dialed up to the top and which definitely *IS* intrusive and annoying) and some common sense in visiting "risky" websites, it's as likely that I'm safe from threats as it would be running a third-party security system.

Again, this is on Windows 7. Users of other Windows systems would probably do well to continue to patronize the better commercial security suites. Also, some business and home users may have different needs and require a cutting-edge security setup. As for me, my Zonealarm subscription will likely expire, with the last 10 months of it unused.