MS Security Essentials

[bigmck]

I have used Zone Alarm Security Suite for about ten years and have always been please with it. Their annual fee is $39 to keep the updates current. I am thinking of switching to MS Security Essentials. The reviews I have read seem to be good, but I would like to hear from some real people. Tell me of any experience you have had with it. Thanks,

 

[yowanvista]

MS Security Essentials will provide you basic protection, I used to have it installed before switching to NIS but it didn't detect some malware samples and had a very slow scanning speed. It also had some false positives. It may be enough for the average user but it isn't for heavy downloaders. Go for a full suite for total protection

 

[Maguscreed]

It's not super robust but it does the trick, I personally use it and scan manually with
Malwarebytes : Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a free download that removes viruses and malware from your computer about once a week.
Seems to be a good mix of stability, performance, and reliability.

See a lot of problems being caused by overactive third party AV's on this forum lately.
As said detection isn't the greatest, so you will want to grab that malwarebytes to back it up.
It offers you the best 'free plan' I can think of though.

 

[marsmimar]

MSE + Malwarebytes has worked fine for me. Also heard good things about Avast (free), Avira (free) and Comodo (free). Tried them all. I decided to go with MSE because I liked the interface, it ran quietly in the background, and it used fewer resources. I made a clean system image, installed one of the programs, and then deliberately tried to get infected. From that non-scientific test MSE, Avast, Avira, and Comodo scored 100% in detecting, quarantining, and removing malware. I even tried trial versions of Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky and ESET. All four of them let malware through that MSE, Avast, Avira, and Comodo caught. Your mileage may vary and I'm sure others will say MSE bites el grande chorizo.

BTW, good to se you back Jim. How ya doin'?

 

[G1LLY]

Used it since beta, never had a problem & scan speeds for me have never been an issue, like what others have said I'd combine it with MBAM, also I personally use Hitman Pro as well.

Never been infected or had any FP's, I wouldn't say I'm a heavy downloader, I really only download from trusted sources.

Uses approx 40-50Mb memory on my system anyway when I counted all the processes, that was just with a quick scan running though.

For free I say it's good, I wouldn't use anything else right now.

 

[seavixen32]

I've used MSE since it came out and my computer has been virus free.

It's free and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Devux]

I've used MSE, Avast! and McAfee (paid). Out of the lot I would choose Avast! first, just because I dig the interface, and it has caught everything I have deliberately thrown at it, big plus is it also has a built in sandbox which I love. MSE is decent, I'd consider it the bare minimum for web surfing. McAfee is a pain, and doesn't do any better or worse than Avast! just waiting for that subscription to run its course then I am switching that box over to Avast!

 

[Sardonicus]

It's works fine for me, but I'm a safe searcher for the most part.
When I do get adventurous, I use Sandboxie for the crazy stuff.

 

[DBone]

Make sure you have good on-demand scanners if you choose MSE!

 

[pparks1]

I use MSE and have for a long time. I occasionally scan with MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware...and they find nothing. I find it to be a solid product, and the paid for applications are simply not worth it for me.

 

[GARoss]

Been using combo of MS Security Essentials + Malwarebytes as recommended by our good friends here at W7F since April. No problems so far.

 

[I be he]

I have used Zone Alarm Security Suite for about ten years and have always been please with it. Their annual fee is $39 to keep the updates current. I am thinking of switching to MS Security Essentials. The reviews I have read seem to be good, but I would like to hear from some real people. Tell me of any experience you have had with it. Thanks,

Its not at the same level as Avast or panda. However it is improving, and is still a good A/V. Ive noticed malware can easily turn MSE off, so keep Malwarebytes close by and updated. I think it performes best when paired with IE-9 and its smartscreen. Combine this with Sandboxie and you should have all the layered protection youll need for free

 

[Maguscreed]

well you can always just surf with noscript and ghostery.
Noscript requires a lot of set up though...
Ghostery on the other hand is a free anti dataminer plugin that works with just about every browser.
Ghostery

 

[bigmck]

BTW, good to se you back Jim. How ya doin'?

I want to thank you all for your opinions on MSE. It has helped alot. == Thanks Marsmimar for asking. I am feeling just great these days. I can now do work without gasping for breathe. I have not been on here alot recently due to it being baseball season. My time gets wrapped up in it. You will still see me on here from time to time. Thanks,

 

[seavixen32]

You are very welcome. Pleased we were of some help.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Glad to have you back bigmck even if is limited.
Baseball has been berry berry good to me!......an old commercial.

 

[Corrine]

Hi, bigmck.

Good to see you!

Remember, when replacing a security suite with a stand-alone antivirus software, you need to replace the software firewall as well. Since you have Windows 7, I think you'll find the Windows 7 firewall works well.

 

[Matt2488]

MSE is pretty decent, it's low on system resources, it's simple to use and offers basic protection.

Really the only thing I didn't like about it was it's on-access scanner. It's just not that great (I had quite a few things sneak past on an alternate machine), and as you can see people are recommending you have a good on-demand scanner if you use MSE.

For an inexperienced user it's good, but for someone who knows more about security products and likes to be in more control of their security I wouldn't recommend it.

Overall though I think there are better free-products on the market than MSE. Avira, AVG, and Comodo AV are free more robust AV's. They all offer more.

 

[Maguscreed]

Spend some time reading memory dumps on this site though, you'll quickly become more and more distrustful of third party active av's they are the cause of problems for so many people...

 

[DBone]

I have installed avast!, Panda Cloud and Comodo on over 12 machines, all with different architecture, and haven't experienced even one problem in over 2yrs. These machines are used by a variety of owners all with differing levels of experience.