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Microsoft Security Essentials Beta Now Live!

Currently I am running Avira and thinking of making the switch over to MSE.


Anyone done a performance comparison between MSE and say Avira, Avast or NOD32?
 
Hate to dig this up again, but fresh Windows 7 RTM install seems to run better. However I'm noticing when I'm watching extended (More than 5 minute) YouTube videos and whatnot, it's like MSE freaking goes nuts...

Going back to Eset... Hopefully it's something that just affects me?
 
TechieSooner said:
Hate to dig this up again, but fresh Windows 7 RTM install seems to run better. However I'm noticing when I'm watching extended (More than 5 minute) YouTube videos and whatnot, it's like MSE freaking goes nuts...

Going back to Eset... Hopefully it's something that just affects me?
Click to expand...

Never have had one peep of trouble running it on all 5 of my Windows 7 machines. It's simply the most impressive AV software I've ever used. Assuming that its detection rate is as good as I've read. I think its picked up only four threats in the two months or however long I've used it, its so quite I don't even know its there. That's why its SO cool.
 
One question about it though. I'm running it on a W7 Business x64 system now. Is it really necessary to download a 4-5 MB update file every day?
 
Okay okay, I meant Professional. They are one in the same for me. I installed it using the blue DVD case, which I'm so used to being Vista Business, and is now W7 Professional.
 
TechieSooner said:
Hate to dig this up again, but fresh Windows 7 RTM install seems to run better. However I'm noticing when I'm watching extended (More than 5 minute) YouTube videos and whatnot, it's like MSE freaking goes nuts...

Going back to Eset... Hopefully it's something that just affects me?
Click to expand...

Actually the reason why I'm trying MSE right now is because my Eset was freaking out in Vista prior to going to Windows 7 RTM. I was experiencing weird lockup issues that would take out everything. The system would get into this half-hung state where some programs would continue to run, and others would slowly die. Stopping NOD32 prevented it, but starting it back up within a few hours it would begin again. This started happening within a day or two of upgrading to the latest build (from 4.0.417 -> 4.0.437).

No problems so far with MSE, but Windows 7 is a fresh build so who knows if it was just a conflict with something I had installed in Vista.
 
Blackforge said:
Actually the reason why I'm trying MSE right now is because my Eset was freaking out in Vista prior to going to Windows 7 RTM. I was experiencing weird lockup issues that would take out everything. The system would get into this half-hung state where some programs would continue to run, and others would slowly die. Stopping NOD32 prevented it, but starting it back up within a few hours it would begin again. This started happening within a day or two of upgrading to the latest build (from 4.0.417 -> 4.0.437).

No problems so far with MSE, but Windows 7 is a fresh build so who knows if it was just a conflict with something I had installed in Vista.
Click to expand...

I actually had that issue on a server. Depending what you've got running, Eset can lock files up (databases, etc) and just freeze your server up to the point you have to hard-reset it... So make sure all your databases and whatnot is excluded. I haven't had problems with Eset on any client machines though, you might be running something that's not usual though.

But my problem with MSE is on streaming YouTube videos. Very odd problem. I went back to Eset yesterday, if the problem goes away then I know for sure it was MSE.
 
TechieSooner said:
I actually had that issue on a server. Depending what you've got running, Eset can lock files up (databases, etc) and just freeze your server up to the point you have to hard-reset it... So make sure all your databases and whatnot is excluded. I haven't had problems with Eset on any client machines though, you might be running something that's not usual though
Click to expand...

I only run 2.7 on servers. Moving clients to 3 'n 4 on workstations...slowly...but servers will remain on 2.7 for quite some time.
 
Oh WTF! No more applications for the beta are being accepted right now. Link is dead. MSDN doesn't have it either. I'm sad. I've been waiting for this for the longest.
 
DeaconFrost said:
One question about it though. I'm running it on a W7 Business x64 system now. Is it really necessary to download a 4-5 MB update file every day?
Click to expand...

Depends, do you like being protected? ;) Note, the delta signature pack is much much smaller, but since Windows Update doesn't know which package you need, it defaults in the UI to the biggest size. (However, the smallest size package is the one you get.)

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
DeaconFrost said:
Really? It's been posted on here many times, and a quick google search will also bring you to legit sites offering all the downloads. The beta's been closed for a while now.
Click to expand...
Well, I scanned through the thread again and found a link posted by a /usr/home on the first page. I downloaded all the versions, but the Connect Site doesn't even have it listed now.


Thanks for posting the files /usr/home!
 
Ranma_Sao said:
Depends, do you like being protected? ;) Note, the delta signature pack is much much smaller, but since Windows Update doesn't know which package you need, it defaults in the UI to the biggest size. (However, the smallest size package is the one you get.)
Click to expand...
I'll try and get a screen grab, but it is downloading a full 4-5 MB each and every day. is there anyway to set the app to download the update directly, as opposed to having it come through Windows Update?
 
How do you know exactly how much it's downloading each day... that's my question. It grabs updates or whatever about 1 time per day on the machines I have it installed on, and granted they're not on dialup, but I can't see an issue - at least on my hardware.
 
Joe Average said:
How do you know exactly how much it's downloading each day... that's my question. It grabs updates or whatever about 1 time per day on the machines I have it installed on, and granted they're not on dialup, but I can't see an issue - at least on my hardware.
Click to expand...

As far as NOD32... I run an update mirror. I check the files that have been updated today, 30KB total.
As far as MSE, I have no idea how you could really tell, unless WU is just reporting a 4MB download.
 
TechieSooner said:
As far as NOD32... I run an update mirror. I check the files that have been updated today, 30KB total.
As far as MSE, I have no idea how you could really tell, unless WU is just reporting a 4MB download.
Click to expand...
MSE is Spyware, Adware, Trojan, Rootkit and Virus definition all in one. Is NOD32 all of those all-in-one? Maybe MSE fingerprint is a different algorithm to help with lower false-positives, so it needs a larger database? Every product I've ever dealt with has has vasty different sizes in terms of file size. The McAfee scanner on a server at work has a 25MB daily definition and it's only Virus.

If you set your computer to automatically download updates then you'll never notice MSE updating, what's the big deal? I'm set to just notify of updates. I don't mind clicking install once per day. If I really cared I would turn of auto update or set it to automatic.
 
^^^ Yes, NOD32 is all-inclusive.

IMO I just don't understand the 4MB definition file when all it is is new definitions... You can pack those into a little file (like I said, 30KB today...) and run with it.
Maybe there's a valid reason for doing it, but all I know is if I had dial-up (Over half of America is still on dial up, we need to remember this...) it would suck having 4MB to download when you could possibly get away with under 500KB.
 
TechieSooner said:
^^^ Yes, NOD32 is all-inclusive.

IMO I just don't understand the 4MB definition file when all it is is new definitions... You can pack those into a little file (like I said, 30KB today...) and run with it.
Maybe there's a valid reason for doing it, but all I know is if I had dial-up (Over half of America is still on dial up, we need to remember this...) it would suck having 4MB to download when you could possibly get away with under 500KB.
Click to expand...

As I said, the delta's should be that small. How do you know it's downloading 5MB each time?

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Here are my screen captures from this morning's update. First one shows the only update, second one is the download in progress.

mse01.jpg


mse02.jpg
 
Since MSE is still BETA, would it be a surprise if MS is frequently updating the program code, and providing that via updates at this time?
 
I would think it's either actual program updates (new builds perhaps) or something similar. I don't use Windows Update for signature downloads, etc, I just let MSE do that on its own...
 
Ranma_Sao said:
As I said, the delta's should be that small. How do you know it's downloading 5MB each time?

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Click to expand...
Like I pointed out, I have my auto update set to notify me of updates. I click the update icon, view available updates (which 9/10 times is for MSE), and download them. They are always around 1.5-4 MB. It has never been smaller than that and is usually around the 3-4 MB mark. The definition appearing to me right now on Windows Update is 1.63.1637.0. at 11:35 am est. It weighs a hefty 4.9 MB. The last update I installed for it was 1.63.1626.0, at 9pm est yesterday (18th)

I also ran into a problem last night while downloading a 10GB file. The system kept lagging out every 15 minutes or so. I couldn't check memory usage at the time because it was virtually locked up. All of a sudden MSE disabled itself out of no where. A quick Google search turned up other people talking about it doing that as well. Microsoft techs said it shouldn't do that. I can't confirm it was MSE but I've been using it for a couple months now and this is the first time I've downloaded a huge file with it on.


TechieSooner said:
^^^ Yes, NOD32 is all-inclusive.

IMO I just don't understand the 4MB definition file when all it is is new definitions... You can pack those into a little file (like I said, 30KB today...) and run with it.
Maybe there's a valid reason for doing it, but all I know is if I had dial-up (Over half of America is still on dial up, we need to remember this...) it would suck having 4MB to download when you could possibly get away with under 500KB.
Click to expand...
I see your point now. You would think the defnition would 'update' rather than over write. The one thing to remember is, when you first install the product, the first update it downloads is very big. Maybe the 4MB is an update.
 
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I have to say that on occasion, MSE disables itself and simply will not "turn back on" and I haven't been able to tie it to any specific event(s) so far. It just happens sometimes, and a reboot is required (not even killing the two processes and restarting the app brings it back to full functionality). I'm sure it'll be addressed pre-final build, of course, but I just wanted to say that yep, I've seen that happen myself.

As for the auto-updates, I use a daily scan around 2AM so it does it automagically for me, as noted in the help file:

To automatically check for new definitions before scheduled scans (recommended)

1. Click Settings, and then click Scheduled scan.

2. Make sure the Check for the latest virus & spyware definitions before running a scheduled scan check box is selected, and then click Save changes. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or confirm the action.
Click to expand...

So it's doing it (meaning MSE itself) just before the nightly scan at 2AM. Sometimes if I'm bored I'll check manually but typically I've seen just a once a day update so far, pretty common.
 
bigdogchris said:
I also ran into a problem last night while downloading a 10GB file. The system kept lagging out every 15 minutes or so. I couldn't check memory usage at the time because it was virtually locked up.
Click to expand...
Sounds about like what mine does on longer videos online. However it's also happened to WMP in Windows 7 Beta 1, almost like anything that is buffering...


bigdogchris said:
I see your point now. You would think the defnition would 'update' rather than over write. The one thing to remember is, when you first install the product, the first update it downloads is very big. Maybe the 4MB is an update.
Click to expand...
Right.
Of course initial updates are bigger. My whole update mirror on NOD32 is 19MB.
Today's updates are at 115K so far. (That's everything timestamped today... So the last update is probably this one at 9AM for 80K).

But there's really no use to download the whole 19MB (Seems like MSE is the whole 5MB) each time...

Joe Average said:
I have to say that on occasion, MSE disables itself and simply will not "turn back on" and I haven't been able to tie it to any specific event(s) so far. It just happens sometimes, and a reboot is required (not even killing the two processes and restarting the app brings it back to full functionality). I'm sure it'll be addressed pre-final build, of course, but I just wanted to say that yep, I've seen that happen myself.
Click to expand...
That's a pretty big security flaw I'd say... Hopefully Microsoft figures out what's causing this before someone writes malware to exploit that.
 
The one time I've had it turn off, simply opening it up and pressing 'Turn On' worked just fine. I also have mine auto update before it does the scheduled scan but they update definitions 2-3 times a day anyways and I don't like Windows auto-update on because sometimes they throw screwballs at you. I like to see what's being installed, so I set it to notify me of updates.
 
I've seen MSE become disabled on its own ONCE, that was a bit scary but it was obvious because the try icon was yellow and the alerts came one. I just had to restart in, no reboot.

Other that problem MSE has been perfect.
 
I've had the systray icon disappear before, but when I would run the app from the start menu, it would show that it was already running. The process was still in Task Manager as well.
 
TechieSooner said:
What OS? It's very scary depending how it gets done... I don't have it installed anymore but surely MSE isn't running in your user token, just the GUI is.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate RC on my sig rig so with a beta OS and a beta AV scanner I wasn't up in arms. It's worked fine on the machine since going RTM. If that's the only problem I have with it, and its the only on so far, I'm totally sold. This thing is awesome.
 
I just got an update to MSE through Windows Update. 4.0MB but it was a program update. It even changed the icon in the taskbar. Now it's a little green castle and flag with a white check mark instead of the blue castle on white background. Update button looks HUGE now too.

Anybody else seeing this?

EDIT: Quick Scan seems to be taking longer than before the update as well. Will double check this when I get home and try to update my desktop and laptop. On my work laptop ATM.
 
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