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Microsoft Security Essentials Released; Rivals Mock It
Bimal writes "After a short three-month beta program, Microsoft is officially releasing Microsoft Security Essentials, its free, real-time consumer anti-malware solution for fighting viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojans. MSE is available for Windows XP 32-bit, Windows Vista/7 32-bit, and Windows Vista/7 64-bit. 'Ars puts MSE through its paces and finds an unobtrusive app with a clean interface that protected us in the dark corners of the Internet.' The software received positive notes when in beta, including a nod from the independent testing group AV-Test." But reader CWmike notes that Symantec is trash-talking Microsoft's free offering. Jens Meggers, Symantec's vice president of engineering, dismissed MSE as a "poor product" that will "never be up to snuff." Meggers added, "Microsoft has a really bad track record in security." The GM of Trend Micro's consumer division sniffed, "It's better to use something than to use nothing, but you get what you pay for."
Doesn't bug, silent updates, fast scans, no noticeable performance hit. I can finally get my parents off of their annoying Norton or whatever they paid $50 to use for 12 months.
When Pressed, Symantec admitted they were actually describing their own products, burst into tears, and chugged the rest of the bottle of whiskey.
Sorry to throw Symantec under the bus, but the AV program and AV mentality that they have created amounts to a CPU tax. We don't have 4 core machines, we have 3 cores plus for one for Symantec, which manages to have the deadlock everything while it scans a single file.
This is my sig.
Around the computer shop's i've worked at we joke that we'd rather have a virus than norton on our machines, at least the virus won't charge you a fee to mess up your OS.
- Better to speak your mind than to remain silent, or someone may speak for you.
Last I checked some of the highest detection rate AV solutions also happen to be free.
I use Avira AntiVir, which came in #2 in the last comparative study I read. It's gratis, with the sole "cost" of a popup-ad every 24h, disabled in the paid version (or for free, if you know how to set up a local security policy under windows and don't mind breaking the EULA).
It's a sweet little anti-virus program. A well designed and simple user interface, updates unobtrusively, doesn't bog down the computer and it is very effective at detecting all threats I've thrown its way. It also is easy to tell when it is unhappy thanks to a well designed and simple system tray icon. Credit where credit is due, Microsoft has put together a good program. I've tested this on dozens of machines and have not a single bad thing to say about it, which is not something I would have thought I'd ever say about a Microsoft product.
If I do have a quibble, it's that it requires a validated Windows. If I were Microsoft I'd throw this on automatic Windows Update and push it out to everyone not already running an anti-virus.
Symantec can blow me. I've seen more hosed computers where the owners thought they had current updated Symantec AV just to have me discover that their definitions had last been updated in 2007 or something with no indication from their Symantec AV they were vulnerable.
To tell me it's working, it sounds like pretty much the best thing out there.
When the CEO of your competition derides your product publicly, you know it's got to be good shit.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
I just formatted and installed XP SP3 on a machine running an Intel 2.4Ghz CPU (Northwood and non-HT). I've noticed that installing applications take about four times as long after having installed this program. The culprit seems to be a running process "MsMpEng.exe" pushing CPU utilization to a total of 100%. I did not have Windows Defender installed, but it's interesting to note this is the same file that it uses too. I'm guessing Microsoft Security Essentials is a close cousin to Windows Defender code which would explain a lot.
Other than that, it seems to stay out of the way under general computing. But for those looking to do a format/reinstall of Windows, I recommend installing this program AFTER you get finished with everything else on your to-do install list.
Life is not for the lazy.
to make everybody on Slashdot rush to defend MS.
Long ago, we had Norton Antivirus for Windows 95. I guess this was when online updates were a new thing. The box said something like "never buy antivirus software again!" and boasted about how it would always be updated and current. Then one day it stopped updating. Our reply from the customer support people was "this product is no longer supported". They told us we had to buy the new version. Let them die.
Microsoft purchased Komoku, a developer of RootKit Detection software with clients like the usual government and military suspects, banks, that kind of thing. Komoku's technology has been rolled into Microsoft Security Essentials.
I would think that right there is a good reason to check it out, and possibly implement it in your XP/Win7 system, especially since MS probably had a chance to do some tweaking on the RootKit detection engine using their proprietary knowledge of some of the more obscure aspects of Windows file systems, the still unpublished NTFS specification, etc.
Of course, if you have no RootKits installed, it might be more of a pain than necessary ... after all, every AV app you now have running says nolo problemo, si?
Then again, how would you know?
if you do have a RootKit lurking, I find it very difficult to believe that Norton or Symantec would tell you so ... the whole point of RootKits are to avoid detection, whether by conventional AV applications or otherwise, and to avoid removal by the usual removal tools available to AV product users.
Some RootKits are even stealth-installed by law enforcement, and the "person of interest" isn't supposed to have Norton go all five-alarm on them, if you get my drift. Not that we can be sure this will either ... I'm just sayin' they are not trivial to detect, is all.
It remains to be seen exactly what MicrosoftSecurityEssentials does turn up, but in at least one aspect, you are getting (for free) security software that cost thousands of dollars had you contracted with the original developer prior to Microsoft's acquisition (March 20 2008) and prior to MS's adding at least some of that same software to this new app.
There will be plenty of people who will jump in right away and download MicrosoftSE. If you're one of them, fine; don't change for my sake.
But, the best advice might be wait a week or so, as the prudent should, to see if major issues develop once widespread deployment exposes the suite to a wider set of configurations. If all is well, I say "run her". When MS offers you the equivalent of "free money" I say take it. I never see them refuse mine.
Not happy with forcing WGA and automated WindowsUpdate when you install this antivirus, MSE also forces DRM and Silverlight down your throat. Oh... and you are not authorized to talk about MSE without written consent from Microsoft.
Just read the license.
Doh!
Well, I always welcome free solutions which enhance overall end users security, but this licence is a no-no for me.