Microsoft free antivirus program any good?

[Keessie]

I use MSE on all systems here and works fine for me too.
I have a quad core cpu wich has no load when MSE is in idle mode.

The only funny virus

 

[rifftrax]

I use MSSE exclusively on my computers. No one program blocks everything but this one seems to be as effective as anything that I have tried. I am an IT guy and I have tried them all. The bad guys are always ahead of the good guys and it's pretty rare that you get infected with out-of-date malware.

The Internet is polluted these days which means that it's not a matter of "if" you're going to get infected, it's "when". In my experience the best form of protection is to have a good set of backups to rebuild from. My choice is Acronis True Image Home edition. I can restore my system in minutes using the program. I take regular snapshots of my system a couple of times per month so that I have something recent to fall back on if something bad happens to my computer.

+1, same here - the computer shop I worked at used this exclusively as a free protection program to load onto updated computers. I use it on every rig I have. No issues.

Thing about viruses really is you have to be careful about your browsing habits to begin with. A virus protection program is like the very last line of defense, a saving throw in effect. It is no way any type of gaurantee. Most of the people I saw walk in with virus issues would have gotten them had they had every protection program known to man loaded on their computer.

 

[similost]

Just a little heads up for the MSSE users out there.. Came up on this issue yesterday, and a quick easy fix..

Had a system on which MsMpEng.exe ( the malware detector) was eating up 50% of the processor.. the reason why, is because MS is so freakin stupid, that they have the exe actually scan itself... and yep.. you guessed it.. .

To fix it, go into the settings, and you'll find an area where you can exclude folders and files for it to not scan... I added the executable as DO NOT SCAN and problem fixed..

Lazy ass coders.. Just gotta love Microshit..... I thank them for being so stupid that companies need to hire people like me...

 

[whoaru99]

Must be something that comes up only on some systems for reasons not totally understood. I've put it on several systems now and haven't run into the processor utilization issue.

I used to think that my previous program wasn't slowing down my computer, but clearly it was after getting rid of that and putting on MSSE. Home computer is a bit dated by today's standards, a Core 2 Duo E6600 overclocked, with 2GB RAM, but it's not antiquated by any means.

That said, my new work laptop, an i7 with 8GB RAM, 1GB dedicated video RAM, with XP Pro 64-bit should be here towards the end of the month. It'll be interesting to see how that runs the 3D laser scanner. That thing absolutely crushes my current AMD Turion II dual-core laptop.

 

[similost]

Must be something that comes up only on some systems for reasons not totally understood. I've put it on several systems now and haven't run into the processor utilization issue.

Agreed... first time I had seen that happen.. but it solved the problem instantly.

 

[kunrau]

I've been using it with Windows 7 since it was in beta. It works just as well as any other antimalware software that I have used.

Kelley

 

[chillwolf]

Here's something I use when browsing. It's WOT (web of trust). Lets you know if a site is safe or not to visit. It's a free download and is easy to understand. Don't leave home without it.

http://www.mywot.com/

 

[rustycat]

I used Norton until one day I downloaded a virus hidden on pirated software (stupid mistake, I know). Anyway, I had to go out and buy a new version of Norton which could not remove the virus. At that point, I bought a new hard drive and reinstalled Win XP from scratch. Ever since I have used Avira for free, with no problems.

 

[nickv41]

I run MSSE on 4 computers at home and on my work computer. No complaints.

Ditto for MSSE.
But I also run free version of Superantispyware and free Malwarebytes once a week. Keeps my computers squeeky clean. Only probem I ever had was with my daughters laptop. A popup kept coming up tring to sell me a virus cure. Everytime you closed the popup another would popup. Never ending cycle. I ran Superantispyware and it immediately found it and destroyed it. Only problem with the free version is it doesnt run in real time.

 

[derekva]

MSSE uses the same antivirus engine as Forefront (an Enterprise AV/Anti-Malware solution from Microsoft) so you are getting a lot for free with it.

-D

 

[alpinestar]

I run MSSE on all my workstations and it seems to work fine. Catches 99.9% of the crap and if all else fails i just run combo fix (this will catch EVERYTHING) i don't bother with malware bytes anymore after finding combo fix.

Only thing about combofix is you can't run it on a 64 bit system.

 

[devoid]

I'll be the wise ass here and state that I run Ubuntu and thus have mostly forgotten what anti virus is.

 

[Keessie]

Ubuntu is allmost virus free indeed that's one thig that i like about linux only it's not that user friendly when it comes to wireless Lan and that kind of things

I hope linux gets more user friendly like windows so allmost everyone can work with it.
But without the virusses.

Are there also much virusses with Apple OSX?

 

[rushfan]

I hope linux gets more user friendly like windows so allmost everyone can work with it.
But without the virusses.

Are there also much virusses with Apple OSX?

If linux gets anywhere near as popular as Windows, the viruses will follow.

WRT Apple, I believe that it's just a matter of time before that OS gets swarmed too. Legions of Mac users who boast about not needing or using any antivirus protection at all are sitting ducks for motivated (however malevolent) programmers. They could already be infected and not even know it.

Apple, like Microsoft, will surely become a victim of its own success.

It's not that those OS's are impervious to attack. Far from it - they're typically easier to hack than Windows. The reality is that they're still marginally popular, and safer, for now.

 

[andy]

I've been happy with security essentials. It seems to catch things as soon as they hit the hard drive, and it doesn't slow my computers down noticeably, or constantly nag me.

One caution is that being an MS product, it's an easy target for sites to spoof. I've had one or two infected web sites pop up a fake MSE window to try to trick me into clicking on the wrong thing. If you do get a security essentials warning, ignore the popup window and open it from the tray icon just to be sure it's the real thing.

 

[alpinestar]

Ubuntu is allmost virus free indeed that's one thig that i like about linux only it's not that user friendly when it comes to wireless Lan and that kind of things

I hope linux gets more user friendly like windows so allmost everyone can work with it.
But without the virusses.

Are there also much virusses with Apple OSX?

Both Ubuntu and Kubuntu seem to be pretty user friendly to me. Everything on my laptop was PnP when i loaded Ubuntu 10.10 on it. Everything else is pretty easy to load through terminal. Learning terminal compared to windows commands is cake.

 

[similost]

I run MSSE on all my workstations and it seems to work fine. Catches 99.9% of the crap and if all else fails i just run combo fix (this will catch EVERYTHING) i don't bother with malware bytes anymore after finding combo fix.

Only thing about combofix is you can't run it on a 64 bit system.

I've had malwarebytes pull pieces off a machine that combofix didn't catch... Never hurts to run both..

I agree with the person talking about Ubuntu too... I use that at home on my desktop machine hooked to the stereo and TV... best machine I got and I never worry about a rogue web site..

 

[similost]

If linux gets anywhere near as popular as Windows, the viruses will follow.

WRT Apple, I believe that it's just a matter of time before that OS gets swarmed too. Legions of Mac users who boast about not needing or using any antivirus protection at all are sitting ducks for motivated (however malevolent) programmers. They could already be infected and not even know it.

Apple, like Microsoft, will surely become a victim of its own success.

It's not that those OS's are impervious to attack. Far from it - they're typically easier to hack than Windows. The reality is that they're still marginally popular, and safer, for now.

They may follow, but they won't be near as prevolent or distructive as a whole.. A few good things about Linux is the security structure of the OS, and the fact the OS files are all clear text... this makes life a lot easier to fight and prevent unix based viruses..

 

[nickv41]

Ive learned that the absolute best thing one can do is KEEP YOUR KIDS OFF your computer. Give them one of their own to mess with. Almost every problem I have run into has been a kid created problem. They will click on anything that catches their fancy then come running to dad when there is a problem.

 

[dr*audio]

I use Twister Antivirus. It isn't free, but it is free to try for 30 days and then you pay if you like it. It seems to catch and eliminate everything, and you can configure it to run only when you want it to, or all the time, and configure the areas to protect. In this way it won't slow your computer down. For example you can configure it to protect e-mail all the time, so you don't download a virus, but leave the internet alone and you use good judgement on what sites you click on. Norton has a free plug in for Firefox that alerts you if a site is hostile.
It is encouraging that the MS tool seems to work so well, seeing that most of the viruses and malware seem to be designed to exploit vulnerabilites of Windows and MS products.