You may have seen in tech news articles in the past that Microsoft was working on it’s own release of an anti-virus product to compliment Windows Defender. A couple of days ago their solution, Security Essentials, was released (from beta).
Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.
If you google Security Essentials, you will see it gets a mixed bag of reviews. Although the sites I tend to frequent have given it more positive evalutations.
Is anyone going to drop their current AV program and give this one a shot?
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Il give it a try, microsoft have done a good job latley with win 7 lets see if they can do it with an anti virus!
I’m thinking about giving it a shot but not sure. I am running Norton Internet Security 2009 right now.
- In which case your best bet is to uninstall Norton totally and use Microsoft: If nothing else, you’ll notice that there are suddenly a lot extra resources available on your computer.
If it beats McAfee, which all but makes my computer useless when it’s running, I’ll be willing to give it a shot.
It is always tempting to try a new product and Microsoft should have the expertise to provide the type of protection that their software requires, however I do not and never have trusted Microsoft to do anything other than further their own greed for profit. They have no hesitation to drop products, stop support for products (or start charging for them if the circumstances should change) I will therefore stay with my 3rd party software which has served me well so far.
How many service packs will it take to get it right?
I would not trust any one malware package to get it completely right. I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft gets people hooked and then wants to charge them $49.95 per year for the subscription? Yeah okay, I am a bit cynical. But isn’t my cynicism at least a little justified given their track record?
In a minute I remember of all of Microsoft Softwares services packs
) (win, office etc.)
)
I wonder, is this antivirus need a service pack ?
thanks for information.
All AV applications need service packs (signature upgrades). It’s one of the features of security software that it stays up-to-date. As often as a daily update when necessary.
I’ll definitely give it a try. I think this is a step in the right direction. Microsoft has created the most popular OS for consumers, and has therefore been targeted by malware writing a-holes and has finally stopped relying on third parties to protect their users and stepped up to protect their users themselves. It may take them a while to get it perfected as they haven’t been doing it as long as Symantec and McAfee, but i think they’ll get it.
Partly correct. But it’s not just a target because it’s popular. It’s also a target because it’s the most vulnerable. If you want safety, look at the Unix derivatives – Unix, Linux, Macs… Not impenetrable but much more difficult.
I’m sure there will be updates and service packs. No software is EVER 100% perfect on the first release.
Get a grip, guys.
I just renewed Kaspersky and have it running on both my PCs but it would be nice to see an anti virus as part of the operating system . That updates with windows update like defender . there are some good free anti virus progams out there but but than again they are free and you get what you pay for. I would consider the Microsoft version a payed program because its an upgrade to your OS which is payed for .
In my opinion Kaspersky is a good antivirus etc solution – one of the very best, although it’s become rather bulky lately. When your subscription runs out it might be worth a try to see how the Microsoft one compares – ?
Microsoft Security Essentials – reviews:
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200926/3926/Review-Microsoft-Security-Essentials
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/mse.asp
The question is: does it have certifications from AV-Test.org, ICSA Labs (www.icsalabs.com), and Virus Bulletin’s VB100, Independent Antivirus Lab Testing organizations?
I have been beta testing this program from the first it was out. And I can say that it works as well or better than the (Name Brand) AV programs, if not better.
Any test that was thrown at it was stopped . And that says it all.
Also it does not drag your system down! In fact you will not even know it is running.
All I can say is try it, as I think you will be glad you did and you will have safety and no
cost to you at all.
It really does work and work well!
I’ve done my own testing of the product this week; on two computers: –
The first runs Windows XP Professional 32-bit on a dual-core Athlon 64×2, 2.2GHz with 2GBs DDR2 667Mhz RAM.
The second runs Windows 7 64-bit on a triple-core Phenom 3, 2.3GHz with 8GBs DDR2 800MHz RAM.
The test was conducted in a real-world situation where Trojan downloaders had got onto my system and activated, multiply infecting both PCs with severe-risk malware across my LAN.
Four free anti-malware solutions were run multiple times on the infections. More than one didn’t even notice any problem, yet Microsoft Security Essentials found and dealt with all of them, including the downloaders.
(To read the full report, which will be published after 17:30 HRS BST on 8th October 2009, click this link.)
After a couple of drive-by add-ons to existing comments on this post from yours truly here; the product, upon further investigation gets the thumbs-up and a top review. : Score 10/10. – ‘Not bad for a freebie, eh?
hmmm. Sounds like someone knows what they’re talking about. You’ve given me the confidence to give it a spin (in a virtual machine
)
If you’re ugly, use makeup. If your breath stinks, brush your teeth. If your Operating System is full of holes, plug ‘em.
Will I use it? No. I use AVG and Avast on my Windows systems. But my main computer runs on Linux so separate applications are not something I really think about.
PS. Whoever said to uninstall Norton does know what they’re talking about. It’s the first application I uninstall on my clients’ computers when I service them and give them a tune-up.
I’m wondering if this can run in parallel with another anti virus program without any hiccups between the 2? If so i’ll try it, if not well…… I’m currently running AVG (becuase it was cheap for 2yrs of coverage). In the mean time i’ll wait for them to fine tune it. I think it’s a step in the right direction. Who doesn’t love a good freebie?
Used to have Avast! AV & Comodo firewall, WinPatrol, SpywareBlaster, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware, A-Squared, Windows Defender, Spyware Terminator and ThreatFire. Kept Comodo and replaced everything else with MS Security Essentials. Works fine, computer less sluggish and much less background internet activity (according to NetWorx). I recommende it.