Microsoft Security Essentials -Free AntiVirus

[[JiF]Mike]

Just an FYI.

If you don't have an AntiVirus (and shame on you!) Microsoft has released a free AntiVirus software for Windows that is getting pretty good ratings. Check it out at the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

Just an FYI.

If you don't have an AntiVirus (and shame on you!) Microsoft has released a free AntiVirus software for Windows that is getting pretty good ratings. Check it out at the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

I never thought I would see the words: "Microsoft", "free" and "pretty good" in the same sentence. Is the world coming to an end or is it just going to "blue screen" from time to time?

[[JiF]FrenchAfroman]

I never thought I would see the words: "Microsoft", "free" and "pretty good" in the same sentence. Is the world coming to an end or is it just going to "blue screen" from time to time?

micro soft and free is already allot

[[JiF]Smuckers]

It must mean its free until it installs a virus and the you have to buy it to be removed.

[[JiF]Mike]

I like Microsoft products myself, if not for Microsoft I would not have a job.

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

Mike: Have you tried this product? The reviews I've read were pretty shallow.

[[JiF]Mike]

I have tried it. I've seen some poor reviews from symantec and other av vendors lol. However from neutral parties the reviews have been pretty positive. It isn't perfect, it's slow running a drive scan and the cleaning isn't terrific. However detection and quarantine are good. Let's not forget it's free! It's way better than nothing at all. My feeling is that MS will make this program mandatory in a few months unless something else is installed. Not a bad thing IMO. I know some people who just don't wanna buy av for one reason or another, so something free from ms is perfect for them.

[[JiF]Lt Gav]

My feeling is that MS will make this program mandatory in a few months unless something else is installed.

Not over here they won't! They got their fingers burnt with bundling in Media Player with Windows which was ruled as anti competition by the European Commission which slapped them with a large fine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_U ... ition_case
Then we had the farce this year whereby they were going to release Windows 7 with no internet browser supplied bundled in, again anti competition to just include IE.
So I guess they are not going to go down the road of forcing their product on users bundled in or as mandatory requirement in the European Union.

[[JiF]Lonewolf]

I haven't tried this yet but might on one of my other machines. Right now I'm running the new Norton Internet Security 2010 that was included for free with the Win7 that I just got. So far it seems to be doing pretty good and it don't seem like it such a hog like what Norton usually is.

[[JiF][AARP]Grimp]

Freebee until November 11th for one year.
I have never tried it. Just passing the link along.

http://db.iobit.com/license-free/win7-special-offer.php

[[JiF]Mike]

Not over here they won't! They got their fingers burnt with bundling in Media Player with Windows which was ruled as anti competition by the European Commission which slapped them with a large fine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_U ... ition_case
Then we had the farce this year whereby they were going to release Windows 7 with no internet browser supplied bundled in, again anti competition to just include IE.
So I guess they are not going to go down the road of forcing their product on users bundled in or as mandatory requirement in the European Union.

I've never understood that whole thing. It's Microsoft's software, they should be able to sell it however they want. I am hoping they make it a mandatory install someday. Computers without any AV installed make me sad. Maybe we'd actually see a decrease in spam if they did....I know I know...wishful thinking.

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

My "free" AVG period came to an end so I thought I'd try Microsoft Security Essentials. I wound up installing it on three different PCs over the next few days. So far it seems to be working fine except for one small problem. On two of the PCs it keeps identifying the Windows "Malicious Software Removal Tool" (MRT.exe) as a suspicious file and wanting to delete it. When I allow it, "Microsoft Security Essentials" stops working and has to be re-installed. It seems the version of MRT.exe that it doesn't like is the one installed by "Microsoft Security Essentials".

Thinking I still might have a problem I removed the Hard Drive from one of the PCs and slaved it to a clean PC. I then used Kaspersky anti virus to do a complete scan of the slaved drive. It found no issues with the MRT.exe file even when I asked it to scan just the MRT.exe file. Still curious, and having another PC running the new AVG 9 - Free version, I moved the slaved drive there and tried again. AVG declared MRT.exe to be just fine. So I returned the drive to its original home and started the PC. Everything loaded fine and I allowed "Microsoft Security Essentials" to do a complete scan. It took a couple of minutes but it eventually identified MRT.exe as a medium level suspicious file and once again asked me to delete it. I told it to ignore the file and everything has been ok since then.

The whole thing reminded me of that dumb questions kids ask when they are wearing their smarty pants "could God make a rock so big that even he couldn't lift it?" Hmmmmm

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

"Could God make a ruby soooo big, even Grignr couldn't lift it?"

Major win points if you get the reference without looking it up

Also, I've been using this program for a solid month now and I gotta admit, it's not bad. Not as good as Mcafee, but not as computer draining either. I can safely run that and still write or listen to music. With McAfee, I risked it grounding my system to a halt

[[JiF]Djsmg]

"Could God make a ruby soooo big, even Grignr couldn't lift it?"

I thought it was a jade idol?

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

Oopsie. You're right, it was a jade idol >.>