Sweet! :) Microsoft Security Essentials available Sept. 29th?

[mechBgon]

Update: Microsoft Security Essentials got released. downloads page

I think this is good news if you just need a free antivirus that has no splash screens, is OK to use for business/commercial use (the license says home business), and has decent detection rates. It doesn't have central manageability/deployment/reporting, or the granularity of fancier commercial products, but I know there's a lot of us here who stick to the free stuff. Now you'll have one more option :thumbsup:

 

[Mem]

I read the news at a different forum,however I'm trying it out now to see how it compares to Avira,doing a system scan at the moment .

Now you'll have one more option

Always good news that .


Btw I'm also using free version of Anti-Malware by Malwarebytes....I have been impressed with that since it found some malware stuff Avira missed.




Update on malwarebytes ,it found 11 trojans on my friends Win7 RTM PC,2 trojans on my mums XP SP3 PC,got to love that program .

 

[Thraxen]

My only issue with this would be that the license agreement states that it will perform validation checks "from time to time". I'm using a legal OS and I can put up with a check upon installation, but I really don't like the idea of the software spying on me after that at whatever interval MS feels like implementing. Too much like a Trojan horse, IMO.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well I got it today however I noticed that it doesn't support xp pro x64 only 32 bit xp and vista/7 which sucks. My extra pc runs xp pro x64 and will probably do so for quite some time to come.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

i'm going to check this out and see how it is and report back...

ok so far so good. it takes about 80 MB in ram and the full scan on my test machine was about 20 minutes. this should prove to be a decent free program i think!

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Chiefcrowe
i'm going to check this out and see how it is and report back...

ok so far so good. it takes about 80 MB in ram and the full scan on my test machine was about 20 minutes. this should prove to be a decent free program i think!

You sure that was not on quick scan ?..my full scan took over 2 hours ,I think Avira and Avast are about twice as fast as Microsoft's AV for speed but its still good for a freebie.

I installed it on my mum's old PC as well at her house, quick scan took about 16 mins.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

the quick one was about 2 minutes. this test pc has almost nothing on it that's why it was pretty fast.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Chiefcrowe
the quick one was about 2 minutes. this test pc has almost nothing on it that's why it was pretty fast.

Thx for the reply,btw Paul's Thurrott's review of MSE can be found here.

There's been a lot of interest in Microsoft Security Essentials and I think it will prove quite a hit with users. It's free, effective, lightweight, and quiet and is, in other words, exactly what I'm looking for in a security solution. And it comes with no strings at all.
As long as you're running a genuine Windows version, you can install this product without worrying about up-sell advertisements, yearly renewals, or other silliness.

 

[CoBRaXT]

Updated to the final version today...been using the beta for a couple weeks. No complaints at all.

 

[RebateMonger]

Sounds promising. Hopefully MS doesn't get behind in the technology like they did with MS AntiSpyware and Windows Defender.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

Believe I'll put myself in the "wait for 1.1" camp, still have some questions about this, though I am eager to replace the NIS2010 that I'm running now when it expires in a few months.

In particular, I haven't read anything comprehensive about how MSE is intended to integrate with and/or replace Firewall and Defender to give an overall security solution. I have read (elsewhere) that MSE turns off Defender so presumably MSE takes over Defender's spyware job... but does MSE have something to replace Defender's Software Explorer functionality for control of start-ups?

It would also be reassuring to hear from users who have *removed* MSE cleanly, always a potential problem spot for things that need to dig as deep into the OS as AV apps do.

I really want to believe that MSE is a product of the "new Microsoft", but the bad old days (IE conquest, DRM follies, etc etc) are not far away enough in the rearview mirror to jump on this one right out of the gate. I'll watch with positive hopes, though...

 

[SunnyD]

Does anyone (mechBgon by chance) have an overview of the LEVEL of protection MSE provides? E.g. When does the application/service actually start protecting the system? At boot, user init, etc?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: EddyKilowatt
Believe I'll put myself in the "wait for 1.1" camp, still have some questions about this, though I am eager to replace the NIS2010 that I'm running now when it expires in a few months.

In particular, I haven't read anything comprehensive about how MSE is intended to integrate with and/or replace Firewall and Defender to give an overall security solution. I have read (elsewhere) that MSE turns off Defender so presumably MSE takes over Defender's spyware job... but does MSE have something to replace Defender's Software Explorer functionality for control of start-ups?

It would also be reassuring to hear from users who have *removed* MSE cleanly, always a potential problem spot for things that need to dig as deep into the OS as AV apps do.

I really want to believe that MSE is a product of the "new Microsoft", but the bad old days (IE conquest, DRM follies, etc etc) are not far away enough in the rearview mirror to jump on this one right out of the gate. I'll watch with positive hopes, though...

I had no problems uninstalling MSE,this is on Vista x64.

I'm always trying different AV programs and looking forward to Avast 5 sometime in Oct.

 

[KeypoX]

hmm heard of the beta. May try it. But I kinda like the idea of many different antivirus scanners. I know a windows solution would be more convenient but also a single point of attack.

Though for average users, that wouldnt maintain a virus scanner anyhow, this should be great.

 

[KeypoX]

screw it, im gonna try it. I dont have issues with viruses anyways lol.

exploit me, if you dare.

 

[jadinolf]

I installed it for the first time today and am impressed.

I only installed it because I was told that it will coexist with avast!

Fingers crossed.

 

[Blazer]

i installed it of my media pc, hopefully no popups and constant reminders while its in use, i wish the auto desktop icons would become a thing of the past, i get tired of deleting them, the media pc will only be used lightly as a web browser and mostly for movie rentals, other than that its media center and power dvd for bd, so time will tell.

 

[Lemon law]

At a minimum, I am in the EddyKilowatt camp. I will also wait to see how it stacks up on antivirus comparatives in terms of detection rates and other factors. I have to be skeptical of how good it is at real time protection, if the jadinolf claim is true and it will coexist with avast. Because one is supposed to run one and only one active antivirus at a time or risk conflicts. That stricture does not apply to passive after the fact scanners, but the point being, the job of an active antivirus program is to immediately detect the virus, and block it from ever installing in the first place. And after having the rather unpleasant experience of purchasing a used computer on ebay that came pre infected with tons of malware, getting rid of the infections is often far harder than preventing them in the first place. Some easily yield to after the fact scans, and others are definitely not as easy.

But having said that, its still nice to see microsoft stepping up to the plate, if nothing else, its still going to be much better than the nothing at all too many people have. But will it ever rise to the level of protection that I currently think I have is the question.

 

[Chadder007]

So far so good, seems to be better on resources than AVG was.

 

[Arkaign]

I will give it another shot, but on my first test system it caused a bunch of problems and didn't function properly.

Test system (client box) :

Windows XP Pro SP3 OEM + all updates
Intel 845 Mainboard
32MB Radeon 9000 AGP
120GB Maxtor PATA HDD
768MB DDR1 (1x 512MB Kingston DDR400, 1x 256MB X-Brand DDR266, running at 266 speed)

System was rock stable, but when I added the MSE, it started bogging and crashing. I'll give it another shot on a Vista or 7 box soon.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Installed this on my main PC and my HTPC. First issue I noticed on my HTPC, installing this turned on automatic updates, and the machine kept rebooting overnight. Since I had the machine set up for multiple user accounts, one admin, the other HTPS, it would sit at this menu and not record shows like it was supposed to. Easy to fix, but something to be aware of.

Another issue on my main PC, I had a hell of a time trying to download the Stalker Complete 2009 Mod using Firefox 3.5. The MsMpEng.exe (I believe thats MSSE) job started taking 80-90% of the CPU. The download kept aborting a third of the way through without throwing errors. Eventually got it downloaded by turning off real-time protection, and using IE.

I think installing XP service pack 3 to try to eliminate the issue may have added to the problem. At some point Firefox threw a warning about possible compatiblity issues with an installed version of .net at one point after that.

I don't know if this was somehow specific to this particular download, I'll be keeping an eye on this in the future.