[Buttons1]

By the scanner breaking I meant, it stopped working during testing. I infected my spare computer once to see how well it did, but found during a scan the scanner crashed. After, the scan button wouldn't work. Plus I can easily delete it's files rendering it useless. Avira and others protect deletion.

[Advertisements]

I'm curious, what AV are you running that's faster?

It's a fact of life. Any security software with active protection, will slow your system. From my own testing, and from the experience of many others I am confident in stating that MSE has the least impact on performance of any free AV. Most likely, of any paid AV as well. It's light, it's fast, it's effective.

MSE uses the same definitions as their enterprise Forefront product. Microsoft has some of the fastes turn-around of detection to defintion. The also have the resouces to dedicate someone to difficult infections like alureon (virut).

From my own testing, it's very good at blocking these very damaging infections when installed, and is often among the first (of free AV) to block undetected malware (according to virus total).

A close second is Avira AntiVir. However, all my systems. All my freinds and families systems, run MSE.

Now please don't tell me you run AVG, or I just wasted 10 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

Edited by admin, 19 May 2010 - 11:16 PM.

[admin]

I'm curious, what AV are you running that's faster?

It's a fact of life. Any security software with active protection, will slow your system. From my own testing, and from the experience of many others I am confident in stating that MSE has the least impact on performance of any free AV. Most likely, of any paid AV as well. It's light, it's fast, it's effective.

MSE uses the same definitions as their enterprise Forefront product. Microsoft has some of the fastes turn-around of detection to defintion. The also have the resouces to dedicate someone to difficult infections like alureon (virut).

From my own testing, it's very good at blocking these very damaging infections when installed, and is often among the first (of free AV) to block undetected malware (according to virus total).

A close second is Avira AntiVir. However, all my systems. All my freinds and families systems, run MSE.

Now please don't tell me you run AVG, or I just wasted 10 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

Edited by admin, 19 May 2010 - 11:16 PM.

[admin]

Plus I can easily delete it's files rendering it useless.

Seriously, who cares? A better question is, can malware remove it.

[FNP]

If a user can get at the file and delete it, it's an easy stretch of the imagination that a batch file or some other form of prewritten code targeted to do so can as well.

I think this is going to boil down to personal experience and preference. The fact is, some people like MSE, and some don't. The product works and has solid industry backing.

But... do you really want everything on your computer built by one company? Or is having diversification in your application portfolio important (rather, how important is said diversification)? That could be a new thread in itself...

Edited by FNP, 19 May 2010 - 07:23 PM.

[Buttons1]

@Admin-

I'm using Avira right now. Very light, no 8 hour scans and awesome detection. Yes, I hate avg too. Major resource hog. MSE for me seems to have a noticeable impact on performance. Very good for the average user, but there are betters out there.

@FNP-

I believe in a layered approach. Right now I have Avira free, MBAM Pro, SAS Pro, WinPatrol Plus and Sanboxie Pro.

[FNP]

Seems like overkill to me. But to each his own.

I was referring to using one company for every service. Take my neighbors, for example. They use their cable service for phone line, TV and internet. When construction workers hit a data line in our neighborhood a few months ago, they lost everything. Not that a scenario like that one is really possible in PC terms, but I'd hate to see something like that happen on a personal computer (or worse, a data or web server).

[Buttons1]

We do that too. Unfortunately, we have limited choices in our area. We had quest before we moved, but the local one is dial-up. Supposedly there isn't enough demand for high speed internet towers and such.

Edited by Buttons1, 19 May 2010 - 09:29 PM.

[admin]

No antivirus is immune from attack by malware. Doesn't really matter if you can delete the files or not. They all get disabled.

AntiVir has a large number of fans among our malware staff. I just have a hard time using it, and recommending it as a free solution, because of the pop-up nag screens. MSE is SILENT. Kaspersky has the best definitions, but also probably has the most noticeable performance impact.

I didn't run any anti-virus for years. A large reason was because of system performance issues. Also, I don't participate in risky activities, I keep my systems patched, and I run backups every night on a home server. However, between highly destructive infections like Virut, and social engineering attacks, I realized that I needed to add some protection.

I've always been a big fan of ESET, but found it lacking, and not as light as I remember from previous testing. Next I tried a free copy of Norton 2010. I was initially impressed, but the longer I used it, the more I noticed my system lagging. I tried AntiVir but was plagued by the previously aforementioned popup notifications when updating. Avast! performed pretty well, but I found the interface annoying, and a fair number of false positives. I think MSE was still in beta then, but still I was blown away. I've installed it on everything from my quad-core desktop, to a netbook, and long-in-the-tooth notebooks. I rarely even know it's installed. To me, that's the highest compliment an AV can receive. Because it really doesn't matter which one you have installed. As long as you have one installed.

Finally, since installing MSE it has saved my bacon twice that I can recall. Once was a social engineering attack. An IM sent from a frequent IM buddy with a bit.ly URL. I do remember hesitating, but then clicking it only to have MSE popup. The second one really caught me off guard. A file sent from my boss via the corporate email system infected by alureon (virut).

Now stop killing time here, and go work on some PLs!

[FNP]

Yes, sir!

Wait, nothing on avast?

[admin]

Avast! performed pretty well, but I found the interface annoying, and a fair number of false positives.

Edited by admin, 20 May 2010 - 12:34 AM.

[FNP]

I'm blind. That's why you're the boss, and I'm the sucker who can't figure out his PL.

And yeah, the vocal announcements are a bit too Gene Roddenberry's wife.

Edited by FNP, 20 May 2010 - 12:41 AM.

[Buttons1]

That's true.

MSE does do well in testing and protection. However, I just found some things I didn't like. No av works perfectly on every computer.


Will do once I get a reply.

[SpySentinel]

An update to the list is being worked on

[djcriddle]

hey Admin,

What do you personally use on your computers for AV and Anti-malware?
What is your opinion on WinPatrol's Scotty?
I currently have avast and malwarebyte's Anti-Malware.
thanks