Ironically however, in contrast to services such as a web browser (which is a specific application in it's own right) system security is ALL about trying to fix that which Microsoft have arguably made wrong in the first place. There is something very ironic about MS offering anti-virus software, and that irony was verging on abusive back when they were selling anti-virus software.
This should be packaged with win7 in my view, or at least in a sense of 4 or 5 other AV security packages, which the user selects at first boot.
I'm using it on Windows 7 and it runs extremely well. It's simply set up and forget. It seems to be able to update itself through proxy servers automatically (unlike the Beta version) and memory usage as reported through task manager is only 4mb.
Not worth replacing your Internet security "All in One" Solutions, but for basic antivirus, I'd trust this.
This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore Coffee_With_Bailey's.Show DetailsHide Details
Despite not gaining a lot of market-share, OneCare wasn't so bad for home users, since it was simple and didn't hog too much in the way of system resources.
It just kind of got on quietly with what it was supposed to do, without scaring novices with FireWall alerts all the time.
I installed it for friends and family, simply because I could remotely see alerts when their virus definitions were out of date etc and basically keep an eye on things.
However, for power-users, the lack of a 64-bit version was a serious slip-up - and it lacked a lot of the tweakability of the Suites from Norton, ZoneAlarm, Kaspersky, McAfee, etc
I've used the beta of this in place of AVG free, where a lightweight, fit and forget solution was needed and I've come away impressed. For basic anti virus needs it's fine.
What reviewer fails to mention is that Microsoft Security Essentials is based on the same core scanning engine used by Microsoft's Forefront line of products.
Forefront is a proven certified antivirus product. Forefront Security received the latest CESG Claims Tested Mark (CCTM) award for integrity protection and also achieved the ICSA Labs Certification, VB100 award, and West Coast Labs’ Checkmark Certification, meeting key criteria for protection against malware. Forefront Client Security was named a finalist for the Info Security 2008 Global Excellence in anti malware solutions. I personally dont care how long it takes to scan stuff or its resource footprint as long as it protects me and doesn't slow down my pc!
Errr....if they have spent time making an antivirus product, analysing viruses/trojans etc, finding out how to thwart them....why don't they then go an just fix the security holes they exploit? Then one wouldn't need the anti-virus in the first place...or at least it could be scaled down. All seems a bit mad.
I mean imagine if apple had come out with a virus checker, people would laugh their heads off and call it a security nightmare.
@MSIC: "Ironically however, in contrast to services such as a web browser (which is a specific application in it's own right) system security is ALL about trying to fix that which Microsoft have arguably made wrong in the first place. "
yes, because no other platform / OS gets viruses or hacked in anyway
I'm trying it right now and 24 hours in I have to say I'm quite impressed. Uses very little memory (4/5MB), runs quickly and I haven't had a single prompt.
It will take much longer testing to equate its overall effectiveness though.
@Simon - it does seem a lot faster than AVG, but new Norton antivirus is even quicker (http://www.trustedreviews.com/software/news/2009/09/10/Norton-2010-Brings-Security-Before-Definitions/p1) that isn't free though ;)
What to do. AVG does work fine for me. But you can never go wrong with more speed. Reason I use Chrome even though it's woefully under featured compared to the competition. Downloading now then...
We're sorry. We were unable to report abuse at this time.
We limit the number of reactions an individual user can submit over a given period for quality reasons. You have currently reached that limit. Please try resubmitting your abuse report again later.
Comment is too long. Enter 500 characters or less.
Comments