Replace Microsoft Security Essentials with A Proper Antivirus?

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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Are you one of the millions that has been on board with Microsoft Security Essentials from the beginning? If so, have you given any thought to the anti-virus protection provided by MSE? The numbers for MSE have been in decline for years and is starting to show its neglect in keeping pace with its competition.

More recent tests have shown that MSE doesn’t provide the features users should look for in an effective anti-virus.
 
Any computer that gets a virus that I've repaired, has made MSE their bitch. They usually corrupt the data for that particular program that you couldn't even uninstall it and reinstall it. The virus even attacks Windows update, and corrupts the data for that too. Usually requiring you to delete a folder in the Windows directory to correct the problem.

Majority of viruses are from porno sites. One even took over Chrome and made the default start page a cartoon chick with lingerie on. I kept turning it to Google.com, and the virus returned it back. It even went into the hosts files and entirely blocked everything from Google to prevent updates. In Firefox it just played with the proxy settings, as well as in Windows.

Point is don't go to porno websites, and any free antivirus software isn't worth a damn. Get a quality anti virus program like NOD32, or use Linux. Not Norton antivirus. God no.
 

For home users, it's not bad. However, messing with the Remote Administration Console and using File Security on the servers lead to a huge mess of instability an insane number of false positives. ESET gives me a massive headache at work.
 
Beg to differ with you dude but year after year studies keep showing there is little value of a paid antivirus over a free one. Also there is nothing wrong with Norton. It's one of the best if you want a paid one. Me, I ain't payin, I use a free one. The only thing I did pay for is Malwarebytes. I was lucky to get that one with a lifetime before they switched to yearly subscriptions. Free Antivirus, Malwarebytes, Spyware Blaster, I'm quite good to go. Nothing gets past those 3.
 
"Point is don't go to porno websites"?

There's no likelihood that's ever going to happen. The one rule you need to follow when visiting porno websites is to always use protection. Mine's NOD32.
 
It's called risk assessment, as a home user who regularly updates everything along with using MSE + EMET there is very little chance of a virus tasking hold given i don't install shady software which will bypass most security anyways because you're giving it permission. Hell i've known people who will try to install shady software get a pop from their AV then disable their AV so that software will install. PEBCAK.
 
free antivir for me.... and if i ever have a problem SpyBot Search and Destroy + AdAware and I'm usually pretty good.

We have McAfee here at work (corporate pushed down on us) it's the biggest piece of shit. Same with Norton or any other big box. And to be 100% honest even AntiVir is started to get bloated IMO.

I want my virus scanner to do ONE job... scan the shit going in and out. I don't want it to help with zip files, or help with toolbars, or help with searches. Every god damn piece of software these days wants to be your swiss army knife and instead of doing one thing great, does everything crappy.
 
Best practices outweigh software protection because it's more likely to protect you from zero-day whereas antivirus doesn't:

No admin rights by default > Adblock > Chrome > OpenDNS > Don't install software from questionable sources (safely assume all content on torrents have malware injection) > Multi-engine analyzer (www.virustotal.com, virusscan.jotti.org, etc.) > Single antivirus

As far as antivirus I'd probably give the edge to NOD32 over MSE.
 
I'm behind 2 firewalls and 2 AVs and bad stuff still gets through...

AV shouldn't cost nearly as much as it does either. You used to pay for the engine once and updates were free. Now you subscribe to buying the entire program every year, forever.
 
I'm behind 2 firewalls and 2 AVs and bad stuff still gets through...

AV shouldn't cost nearly as much as it does either. You used to pay for the engine once and updates were free. Now you subscribe to buying the entire program every year, forever.

Or buy on Black Friday when AV software is up for crazy good sales.

I bought Vipre Net Security for life for $50USD (half off)
 
Beg to differ with you dude but year after year studies keep showing there is little value of a paid antivirus over a free one. Also there is nothing wrong with Norton. It's one of the best if you want a paid one. Me, I ain't payin, I use a free one. The only thing I did pay for is Malwarebytes. I was lucky to get that one with a lifetime before they switched to yearly subscriptions. Free Antivirus, Malwarebytes, Spyware Blaster, I'm quite good to go. Nothing gets past those 3.

It really really depends on what you do with your computer. I haven't received a virus in over a year, and even then the virus was caught and removed promptly. That was due to me trying to find a program to hack my smartphone that has long since been lost to the internet. Though I did find it in one of those file hosting sites that insist for you to download a .exe file to download the file you want. Surprise surprise, it had a virus in it.

I probably don't need to run an antivirus program, but I do so out of habit. My laptop runs Mint 16 and no need for an antivirus there.
 
Frankly, all AV's suck. Paid or Free it doesn't matter. You give me a windows box, any antivirus package and 15 minutes and I'll hand you an infected box.

The way these modern Viruses are generated they are practically undetectable. when you visit an infected site, it's actually generating a live, just for you infection that nothing short of deep heuristic detection (which you are not going to like, unless you like a LOT of false positives) is going to find.

The question isn't what Scanner is the best anymore, the question should be how much do you want to pay for something that sucks. Me personally I don't pay for something that sucks and the rest of the free AV's scream "BUY ME!!!!" too much from me to stand so I use MSE simply because it targets the most widespread threats out there (IE: the Viruses I'm most likely going to see online) without ad noise.

The rest of the protection equation is mitigating infection in the first place such as blocking ads, Uninstalling Java, (Unless you play Minecraft, then install only the latest 64 bit Java and disable the web plugin) not downloading every random program I find without verifying if it's coming from the author's source and virustotal, and opening E-mails using plain text while treating every email attachment like it contains the plague.
 
I'm behind 2 firewalls and 2 AVs and bad stuff still gets through...

AV shouldn't cost nearly as much as it does either. You used to pay for the engine once and updates were free. Now you subscribe to buying the entire program every year, forever.

That's because doubling your firewalls and AV's doesn't double your protection. It's like the myth of double condoms, all it does is make it where you can't feel anything and increases the chance it is gonna break.

Back OT.

Has MSE declined a bit since it came out? yes possibly or more likely malware creators have just learned to account for it as well. The reality is for anyone practicing fairly decent "habits" it covers the bases nicely and still remains far less intrusive than basically everything else. Especially the massive pile of bloatware that AVG has become that was ironically at the top of this guys list.

Run a Proper Firewall (eg, one built into a properly configurable router not some shitty piece of software).
Always get your updates, especially for shit like Java and Adobe.
Don't do stupid shit online (you wouldn't bang a hooker who is clearly on meth without expecting to get something would you?)
Last but not least, setup a schedule to run something like malwarebytes here or there just to double check.

I haven't had a true positive hit for malware on any computer I regularly touch for well over 10 years. It really isn't hard.
 
Frankly, all AV's suck. Paid or Free it doesn't matter. You give me a windows box, any antivirus package and 15 minutes and I'll hand you an infected box.

The way these modern Viruses are generated they are practically undetectable. when you visit an infected site, it's actually generating a live, just for you infection that nothing short of deep heuristic detection (which you are not going to like, unless you like a LOT of false positives) is going to find.

The question isn't what Scanner is the best anymore, the question should be how much do you want to pay for something that sucks. Me personally I don't pay for something that sucks and the rest of the free AV's scream "BUY ME!!!!" too much from me to stand so I use MSE simply because it targets the most widespread threats out there (IE: the Viruses I'm most likely going to see online) without ad noise.

The rest of the protection equation is mitigating infection in the first place such as blocking ads, Uninstalling Java, (Unless you play Minecraft, then install only the latest 64 bit Java and disable the web plugin) not downloading every random program I find without verifying if it's coming from the author's source and virustotal, and opening E-mails using plain text while treating every email attachment like it contains the plague.


I'm with you I go like 10 places on the internet and make sure I know what I'm clicking on and never get infected. My wife on the other hand and Fubar a computer in like 10 minutes lol. Reason I never check the bank account on her computer lol. But it's all about knowing where to go and not to click on pop up's.
 
I find it ironic that the article states how the best software apps can decline if not kept current then links back to tests done almost two years ago.
 
I wouldn't put any of that "AntiVirus" Crap software on your machine, it does more harm than good and is the biggest waste of money I can think of when it comes to computers.

Its not the 1990's anymore. You do not need it. If you get a Virus, save yourself some time and just format your hard drive.
 
Using AV to clean malware from a system after it's already been infected leaves a bad taste in my mouth, ESPECIALLY if you continue to use it after the fact. Much better to just mount the drive offline, pull all the needed data off it and then reformat it or restore from an image backup.
 
I wouldn't put any of that "AntiVirus" Crap software on your machine, it does more harm than good and is the biggest waste of money I can think of when it comes to computers.

Its not the 1990's anymore. You do not need it. If you get a Virus, save yourself some time and just format your hard drive.

Biggest waste of money...because having a good software firewall to block undesired ports, and easily stopping malware saving yourself hours of rebuilding an install is a waste of money. :rolleyes:

You're right it isn't the 90s anymore. It is 2014, when sites like and including [H] get their ads from someone else's server, and those ads sometimes are loaded with malware.
 
Lock down your browser properly and you won't get malware.

Locking down your browser just stops the automatic Malware but not Trojan horses. This is where "Don't Download Anything" comes in handy.

Example:
1) You want VLC media player
2) you get a search browser result like http://www.ask.com/web?q=vlc+media+player&qsrc=0&o=0&l=dir&qo=homepageSearchBox (Best results if you do not have Adblock, but there are some SEO hits out there.)
3) Did you click the right link without infecting your box? Congrats. Now try this with Grandma.

Wanna really have fun, If you have Windows 8, search for "7zip" in the windows store. First hit is a redirect for a trojan.
 
Locking down your browser just stops the automatic Malware but not Trojan horses. This is where "Don't Download Anything" comes in handy.

Example:
1) You want VLC media player
2) you get a search browser result like http://www.ask.com/web?q=vlc+media+player&qsrc=0&o=0&l=dir&qo=homepageSearchBox (Best results if you do not have Adblock, but there are some SEO hits out there.)
3) Did you click the right link without infecting your box? Congrats. Now try this with Grandma.

Wanna really have fun, If you have Windows 8, search for "7zip" in the windows store. First hit is a redirect for a trojan.

Ok well yeah, a locked down browser won't guard against human stupidity. It's actually funny you mentioned the search ad results, because a few days ago a relative asked me if I had MS Office for them to use and I told them to just download Open Office. What you mentioned is EXACTLY what they did. I didn't even consider someone could be so naive. They searched for Open Office and clicked the first ad link advertising Open Office, then got hit with like 6 different pieces of bundled adware and god knows what else. I did a preliminary clean and after a few more of those fuckups I'll just restore the entire system from the clean Clonezilla image.
 
Biggest waste of money...because having a good software firewall to block undesired ports, and easily stopping malware saving yourself hours of rebuilding an install is a waste of money. :rolleyes:

Oh that's right, I forgot, the average user goes click crazy and loads their machines up with all sorts of garbage.

Let me rephrase, "Biggest waste of money FOR ME". I can have a fresh install of Windows with all of my programs back up and running in under an hour.
 
Locking down your browser just stops the automatic Malware but not Trojan horses. This is where "Don't Download Anything" comes in handy.

Example:
1) You want VLC media player
2) you get a search browser result like http://www.ask.com/web?q=vlc+media+player&qsrc=0&o=0&l=dir&qo=homepageSearchBox (Best results if you do not have Adblock, but there are some SEO hits out there.)
3) Did you click the right link without infecting your box? Congrats. Now try this with Grandma.

Wanna really have fun, If you have Windows 8, search for "7zip" in the windows store. First hit is a redirect for a trojan.

yep, i wanted to install firefox on my living room media pc and didn't go to mozilla.org, but to firefox.de. firefox came with some toolbar and i thought "wait, that's not right". i immediately took the box offline and reinstalled everything. luckily, it didn't have much software on it to reinstall and reconfigure. i'm usually super careful with checking for a proper source, but in that case i just wanted to get it done and carry on with what i was doing before. should have spent that minute to check to save an hour of reinstalling. the file from firefox.de was clean and they probably just earn money from spreading that toolbar, but who knows what said toolbar could download in the future.
 
A

Majority of viruses are from porno sites.

Why would virus writers target Planet Cheapskate? You dont get money and credit card details from freeloaders looking for free porn.

Nope most of the virus infested laptops I get in are from folks that browsed compromised websites. What kind of websites?

Holiday booking sites.
Ocean Cruise websites.
Financial planning websites.

Essentially websites that the over 55's go to that have money and are not to tech savvy so they hand over their credit card details.

Porn sites? Nope.

As for me? I run MSE, not bothered about its prowess, I just want something low profile and quiet. I bolster that with EMET4.1 to catch the stuff it doesn't.

Not that it's had anything to catch...

I see all the AV suites beaten, none of them are perfect. If you are going to get hit, you are going to get hit. So get the one that hassles least.
 
If you want to download core free software then just ninite.com.

Quit messing around going to all the different sites.
 
One other point to mention is that up until MS started rolling MSE/Defender into Windows 8, MSE was always highly rated in the press and scored pretty well.

Then it becomes a core Windows service essentially making 90% of the AV stuff out there irrelevant and all of a sudden we got all these articles stating it was total crap.

Hmm I wonder why?

As for MS not bothering with it, I'm pretty impressed that I can get 3-4 updates for it a day if I check.
 
One other point to mention is that up until MS started rolling MSE/Defender into Windows 8, MSE was always highly rated in the press and scored pretty well.

Then it becomes a core Windows service essentially making 90% of the AV stuff out there irrelevant and all of a sudden we got all these articles stating it was total crap.

Hmm I wonder why?

As for MS not bothering with it, I'm pretty impressed that I can get 3-4 updates for it a day if I check.

If everyone has the same AV then obviously you don't distribute malware until you've proven it can be undetected by that AV. It's just an additional layer malware authors have to consider. That's probably why it gets lower scores.
 
If everyone has the same AV then obviously you don't distribute malware until you've proven it can be undetected by that AV. It's just an additional layer malware authors have to consider. That's probably why it gets lower scores.

Maybe, thing is I use MSE as part of my scanning regime to clean up infected HDDs from laptops and PCs slapped in a eSATA dock.

Most of them come in with McAfee/AVG/Kaspersky or AVAST on them. MSE manages to pick up and clean off the stuff they didn't pick up on and therefore, failed.

Then another sweep by another AV to check for stragglers, HDD slipped back in and a run of Combofix to finish off.

Job done in 99% of cases. I tend to get very few infected machines in with MSE on them.
 
Oh that's right, I forgot, the average user goes click crazy and loads their machines up with all sorts of garbage.

Let me rephrase, "Biggest waste of money FOR ME". I can have a fresh install of Windows with all of my programs back up and running in under an hour.
Most people don't need Windows either. Why does grandma need Windows instead of Linux when all she does is web browse and check email? Windows is specifically for people who run software that isn't available on Linux.
 
Maybe, thing is I use MSE as part of my scanning regime to clean up infected HDDs from laptops and PCs slapped in a eSATA dock.

Most of them come in with McAfee/AVG/Kaspersky or AVAST on them. MSE manages to pick up and clean off the stuff they didn't pick up on and therefore, failed.

Then another sweep by another AV to check for stragglers, HDD slipped back in and a run of Combofix to finish off.

Job done in 99% of cases. I tend to get very few infected machines in with MSE on them.

Well to be fair, often times the AV they have installed has had its trial run out, is out of date, or down right crippled from the malware itself. AV is the last defense though, the first defense should be a giant wall and common sense.
 
Well to be fair, often times the AV they have installed has had its trial run out, is out of date, or down right crippled from the malware itself. AV is the last defense though, the first defense should be a giant wall and common sense.

Oh indeed. Unfortunately that's the one thing we cant fix.;)


I think trial run AV on new kit should be made illegal. One of the biggest security liabilities out there.

After all Windows 8 will be more secure with up to date Defender than a 6 month out of date McAfee install. The owner hasn't a clue that if they just uninstalled the McAfee...
 
Are you one of the millions that has been on board with Microsoft Security Essentials from the beginning? If so, have you given any thought to the anti-virus protection provided by MSE? The numbers for MSE have been in decline for years and is starting to show its neglect in keeping pace with its competition.

I switched to BitDefender this year. It took a bit of customization to turn off some unnecessary components, but so far has been solid.
On my less important machines, Panda Cloud Free got the nod. Great protection, but scans are glacial.
 
I switched to BitDefender this year. It took a bit of customization to turn off some unnecessary components, but so far has been solid.
On my less important machines, Panda Cloud Free got the nod. Great protection, but scans are glacial.

BitDefender and Kaspersky are usually among the highest rated
 
I know that it's not anti-virus or anti-malware detected, but i'm surprised that nobody has mentioned no-script firefox extension. I also run adblock. So with no scriptiong, no plug-ins and no ads, what could possibly come through the browser? (assuming that i'm not downloading anything and just browsing/reading) I add sites to no-script's whitelist that I trust and visit frequently.
In any case, I keep MSE around just in case.
 
EMET4.1 is well worth trying out if you don't run really old software. It's not AV so compliments your AV rather than conflicting with it.

I hope that MS roll it into Windows 9.
 
Avast is the # 1 AV for a reason, it's just very good and it's free [you can pay to upgrade too].

Has some nice features like checking to make sure plugins are up to date, hardened mode so it's even more critical of files, etc.
 
The problem lies within the end user accepting every term of that new software they downloaded. This also happens to include all sorts of fun programs. Just had to go to my moms to clean out "The Weather Channel App" and several other search security add ons and bullshit from her 8.1 PC I built. They don't visit risky sites, my brother just doesn't pay attention to what he is clicking when he downloads bullshit programs his high school requires him to use for homework assignments. He uses Oovoo for whatever the hell reason and that will install several ask search programs and bars as well as another random program that is a pain to deal with.
 
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