Microsoft Security Essentials

Is this any good? Pros and Cons? Thanks

It has been rated by PC World as a very good, I believe. I have been using since I the days of RC 1 of Windows 7, I also use it on my virtual XP. For a free program is is very very good and easy to use.
SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI

(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever)

I am using it on all my personal and business computers except on my home W7 machine because I still have a year left on my ESET Security Suite.

MSE has not let anything bad through, is unobtrusive, low resource demands, and plays well with other security software. Is it the best protection? No, but it is enough for most situations.

Shelly

I have used it since it was in Beta. Not one problem has been experienced. Count me as a satisfied customer.

I'm using it on three systems here Mike. Been using it since it came out. Like Shelly said, it's unobtrusive, low resource demands, and plays well with other security software. Nothing has gotten me yet (of course nothing ever got me before either). No AV is perfect, the better ones of course catch the most with the least false positives. I think MSE is one of the ones that fit the bill in the free department.

MSU

The only reason I have not put it on my laptop is I still have a Kaspersky license that is good until August 2011. At that time I will uninstall Kaspersky and run MSE



SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI

(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever)

It replaced NOD32 on one system that the subscription had run out on. And it replaced Avira on two systems because I felt it did just as good a job and was integrated more seamlessly.

MSU

I also have it on three computers and have had NO problems.

Looks like its free? I know some who need this but have little $

It is free. But it does check for a legitimate copy of Windows.

Shelly

The only problem I've had has been on boot-up when occasionally MSE doesn't start despite being listed in msconfig and sevices. Action Center usually alerts me that MSE isn't running. This has been a much discussed problem on the Microsoft Answers forum.

Right clik on the taskbar and select Gustomize, in W7 click on Properties and then on customize, set the MSE icon to display Always.

Shelly

I did that. All the icons show but that. If I run the program it says everything is protected. No Icon though

I have had it do that on previously infected machines that I ended up reinstalling, You might want to check that computer out for any other problems, malware or hidden services still running from an old Antivirus program.

You may find this thread relevant.
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msestart/thread/99139ce8-b32e-4644-9670-af221f568a9f

Thanks

The log-off/log-in suggestion at this thread, although not a solution, has worked as a workaround for me. All icons appear after the log-in.

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Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

I'm glad everyone here seems to have had good luck with MSE. I am one who encountered trouble on two machines that had MSE processes nearly locking up the PCs. I gave up on MSE a while back so I prefer to use avast! or NOD32 (which I just renewed for a year).

I run it with Superantispyware with no conflicts.

Shelly

I also run it with male ware bytes and super anti spy ware on my W7 machine and virtual XP machine with no problems




SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI
(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever)

A third affected PC was my laptop which was developing a RAM problem at the time. The RAM issue was rectified but I prefer NOD32 anyway with this laptop and am staying the course.

At least one of the other machines was a fresh and updated install of Windows XP. I believe it was a Dell E310 with a P4 and a gig of RAM.

As I recall, all three affected machines were Windows XP.

I do not use any active version of supplemental anti-malware scanners.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mseupdate/thread/1eca2e98-b336-4435-a94d-6647b3d08662

Most complaints on MSE slowdowns seem to be with older computers running XP. But there are definitely some resource problems associated with MSE when it updates and sometimes the "sluggishness" lasts a few minutes after the update. I have this problem on an XP desktop using MSE; my other XP systems seem to run better with Avast installed.

I've not noticed any of those issues. The oldest machine I have it running on is a 10 year old PIII 700 Mhz with 640 MB RAM running XP SP3, the newest is a 3 year old Core2 Duo 3.16 Ghz with 4 GB RAM running Win7 64bit. I think there are other issues involved if people are having those problems.

MSU

Do you use automatic updates on your "old" XP? Use of Microsoft Updates also seems to be an occasional issue with some users on older XP systems. I would imagine your new Win 7 would barely blink when MSE updated.

I have it on several old XP systems with no such problems.

Shelly

MSU

Why "of course"?

To my way of thinking, automatic notification and controlled updates is a much better option.

I run it with the cloud anti-Virus, Prevx. Running both together, no problems.

Acadia

Problems with MSE are caused by existing problems with the Operating System before it was installed. It works seamlessly with a good copy of XP, low resources, gets out of your face immediately if you have something else more important to do, and is effective. That's about as good as it gets. If you have trouble with it, it is a good indicator that you have serious problems, or another antivirus has left a mess behind, it can't deal with. In either case, it's time for a clean install. One thing you can't argue with is that MSE is simple enough for any level of computer skill, and that alone makes it more effective than a lot of better antivirus programs for the masses, and I believe that is exactly what it is designed for. They got this one right after the One Care disaster.

Is it required to have Automatic Updates and Windows Firewall turned on when using Security Essentials ? I would be installing it on XP and Vista machines.

Horatio, Thanks for the reply. I remember now that I did not like Security Essentials because I do not have automatic updates turned on. I like to monitor updates myself. Can you have automatic update set to not download, just notify and still use Essentials? I use a third party firewall so always turn the Windows firewall off. Also how do you (and others) feel about the SpyNet?

Thanks Horatio.
This is from the Essentials help section.
When you installed Microsoft Security Essentials, you agreed to join Microsoft SpyNet using a basic membership. You have the following membership options:

Basic membership: Microsoft Security Essentials sends basic information to Microsoft about software that Microsoft Security Essentials detects, including where the software came from, the actions that you apply or that Microsoft Security Essentials applies automatically, and whether the actions were successful. In some instances, personal information might unintentionally be sent to Microsoft. However, Microsoft will not use this information to identify you or to contact you.

Advanced membership: In addition to basic information, Microsoft Security Essentials sends more information to Microsoft about malicious software, spyware, and potentially unwanted software, including the location of the software, file names, how the software operates, and how it has affected your computer. In some instances, personal information might unintentionally be sent to Microsoft. However, Microsoft will not use this information to identify you or to contact you.

To change your Microsoft SpyNet community membership
Click Settings, and then Microsoft SpyNet.

Select the level of participation that you want by clicking Basic membership or Advanced membership, and then click Save changes. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or confirm the action.

MSE works just fine on my system with auto updates turned off (I prefer to run them manually). I don't even have them set to notify me or anything. Also, I use a third-party firewall and keep the MS firewall turned off. Again, I have never had any problems with MSE.

Acadia

Thanks Acadia. This program is looking better and better.

I see where a lot of people say it has low resource use. I see it using 45,000 k or more in taskmanager. Is that normal? I thought Avira was using a lot less. I just started trying it, thought it might save some memmory usage on my system.

If you mean msseces.exe then mine is using 10440K.

Hmm, wonder why the wide variance. Mines only 4724k.

MSU

MY MsSeces.exe is 3172K
My MsMpEng.exe is 738800K

I am not upset about this I run 12 gig of memory on my machine.



SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI
(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever)

My MsMpEng.exe mem usage is 70,364K, peak mem usage is 215604K

That one's at about 70,000k on mine. Big deal, I don't feel that's all that much. Ending the process only makes a 2% difference in my memory usage. I bought the RAM to be used, not just sit there. Is it slowing down your system?

MSU

From reading this thread I decided to replace Avira Antivir with Microsoft Security Essentials. At first I was happy with it but then realised that whenever I boot up and at other times the MSMPENG.EXE process starts and hogs the cpu at near 100% for about 5 to 10 minutes and everything else virtually grinds to a halt until it's finished. It is very frustrating. I do not have the scheduled scan setting on.
I have read the thread
http://www.pcqanda.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=2&topic_id=517750&mesg_id=517750&listing_type=search
but MSMPENG.EXE doesn't stop when I start doing something.
I've looked at various forums and a suggestion is to put
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials
C:\program files\microsoft security essentials
into the MSE exclusion list. I have done this but it makes no difference.
I wondered if anyone here has the same problem.
I am running XP/SP3 Home, 2.2GHz cpu.

I have no such problens because I schedule system scans, along with all system maintenabce, to be done in the middle of the night when I am not using the computer. In your case it is probably doing a system scan as soon as you boot up.

Of course my computers run 24/7, which might not be what you wish to do. You could turn on your computer about 15 minutes (or how ever long a scan takes), before you intend to actually use the computer

Shelly

I doubt if it's doing scans several times a day, more likely it is checking for virus signature downloads to keep the program up to date.

Shelly

Check here:

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/onecaregeneral/thread/d765e514-813a-4ba2-a10c-7f4aa112d97d

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproappcompat/thread/f2ad9928-71ec-40d1-8ff1-97f734c304b0

Shelly

Thanks very much Shelly. I'll have a look at those and get back.

I ran the Avira registry check and it displayed 500 items! A few were obviously from Avira but it wasn't clear which other ones were so I decided to leave things as they are. I also read that Zonealarm free could possibly be a problem. I uninstalled ZA and rebooted but it made no difference, msmpeng.exe still thrashing away.
So I've decided to remove MSE and revert to Avira Antivir and ZA. No more disk thrashing, it's peace and quiet now!
Thanks for your help, anyway.

So, I've been living in the sticks too long. I had never even heard of WSE until this thread yesterday (thanx Mike). Since then, I have installed it on four computers and it has found Yabector.gen on one computer on its first full scan. This critter is classified by WSE as "severe". I have yet to check the other three boxes.

Very nice to know that I won't have to deal with the oft-recurring Avira ad for the paid version anymore.

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Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

Of course it rated it as "severe", that's only due to the classification ("trojan") of what it detected. (Wow! Oh no! Good thing I have this security software! etc.)

It's often just a piece of something that's been left laying about. Not all programs will detect all the pieces of a malware infection, and different programs also name the detections differently. The designation .gen means it's a generic detection.

In this particular case, it's not even really a trojan, but an adware component bundled with other software. Something that might put a special link on your desktop that runs a program that takes you to a (legit) web site and the people who did it get paid for the "hit" because the program that you ran submits the data.

Even something relatively weak like AVG may detect a piece of something that another left behind.

It is very difficult for people to be objective with security software.

Grogan

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Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

I had the same problem with my machine which is an old Intel Pentium 4 3.0ghz with 2gb corsair memory installed and a fresh clean install of XPro Sp3 with all recent updates applied. Same disk thrashing and 5 to 10 minute delay after signature updates. Same cpu utilization problem which often topped out at 100%. I spent quite a bit of time following various solutions posted here, there and everywhere but NO Go. Removing MSE and Installing Eset Security Suite 4 solved the problem completely. MSE is free but in my case it rendered my computer useless. Yes, I know it's old and outdated, but so am I.

I Hope this may help you.

Thank you davsan, I'm glad I'm not alone. Looks as if your PC is even more powerful than mine and you still have the problem so I don't think it's a power problem per se.

The Pentium 4 was a miserable processor, inferior in many ways even to its predecessor the Pentium 3. It has all kinds of idiosyncrasy's.

Shelly

It seems version 2 of MSE is now available.

http://dottech.org/freeware-reviews/19752

...It seems like at this time there is no update of MSE available from MSE itself or Windows Update; if you already have MSE installed you need to download v2 manually and manually upgrade...

Download links in the article.

QUOTE:
It seems version 2 of MSE is now available.

http://dottech.org/freeware-reviews/19752

...It seems like at this time there is no update of MSE available from MSE itself or Windows Update; if you already have MSE installed you need to download v2 manually and manually upgrade...

Download links in the article.

---

Paul D


Any thoughts about uninstalling v1 before installing v2?

  

If you wait it will probably be included in the updates on Tuesday January 11th, if not sooner. I suspect that is why Microsoft is not showing it yet. If you install it now, you may not receive daily updates for it until then.

Shelly

Thanks I just put 32 bit version on my XP Virtual drive to check it out.
Instead of using the old Microsoft Security Essentials folder. It places the program in a folder (Directory) called Microsoft Security Client
It can be setup without uninstalling the previous version when running setup in W7 (at least)version 2 64 bit asked if this was an upgrade I just clicked yes and everything worked fine.
One other caveat it does not place a shortcut on the desktop

SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI
(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever)

  

I may have to eat my words (my last post in this thread). Tonight, my laptop got hit by the AV8, or, Antivirus 8, baddie. I'd never heard of this piece of crap before it infected this computer. I ran a full MSE scan and it found nothing! Then, I ran a full scan with Malwarebytes and, presto, it found nine malware files which it subsequently deleted (at my discretion). After a reboot, my laptop (I'm on it now) is working normally.

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Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

Nothing catches everything.

MSU

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Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

AV8 is a trojan, not a virus.

Antivirus 8 is a rogue anti-spyware program known to usually infect computers through Trojans bundled in fake video codec downloads. You may also have downloaded a corrupt 60 day trial version of Antivirus 8 from a malicious website. Antivirus 8 issues fake popups and system notification messages stating that your computer system is flooded with spyware. In order to remove these imaginary threats, Antivirus 8 will offer its so-called licensed version. All links provided by Antivirus 8 will most likely redirect you to a rogue website. Remove all threats related to Antivirus 8 immediately using a reliable malware remover.

Shelly

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Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD