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October 1, 2009

Microsoft Security Essentials review

An effective if somewhat slow utility, Microsoft Security Essentials is a solid contender in the free antivirus space. UPDATED WITH INDEPENDENT TESTS, October 1 2009.

Microsoft Security Essentials shows much promise. In our tests it was decent at detecting malware, particularly in proactive tests that simulate the handling of new, unknown malware. It took fourth place in our rankings of free antivirus software. The main drawback of the tool, due to launch on September 29, seemed to be its slow scan speed.

One thing we hope Microsoft will improve is Microsoft Security Essentials' relatively poky scan speed. It was the slowest in our on-access scan test, which judges how quickly scans run when you copy, open, or save files. The app's Dynamic Signature Service may account for some of that: When Security Essentials sees a potentially malicious file that doesn't match known malware, it contacts Microsoft servers for additional analysis. The feature likely affords greater protection owing to the use of the latest signatures online, but it may also introduce some delay if Security Essentials has to wait for a response.

See also: Is free antivirus software safe?

See also: Tutorial: Build a free, multilayered security setup

Microsoft Security Essentials' ability to detect and block malware was neither especially good nor particularly bad. Its 97.8 percent overall detection rate put it in fourth; but it did well in proactive tests, which use two- and four-week-old signature databases to simulate how well a program detects new, unknown malware. Its results of 52 percent and 43.8 percent, respectively, were second only to those of the top-ranked Avira Antivir Personal, our overall winner.

Microsoft Security Essentials slated by rivals

Microsoft Security Essentials put up no false positives (flagging of benign software), and it got a near-perfect score overall in detecting and cleaning rootkits and malware infections. It detected and disabled every infection, and although it left behind several changes to the Registry and other areas (as every free app did), they couldn't cause further harm.

NEXT: AV-Test.org's technical tests >>

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User Reviews

Friday, 01 January 2010

Reviewed by somindradilruk

Star Rating: rating of 5

Duration of ownership: 14 days

Strengths:
Quickly scan the drives and very simple user friendly interface. Easy schedules scan and update process. No advertisement yet.

Weaknesses:
Didn't see any weaknesses yet but intallation took nearly 15 mins on Windows XP. Windows 7 took about 2 mins for the whole process.

Overall Evaluation:
Honestly its a good product but we must keep on eye with viruses as they are growing problem in these days. Hope this is going to be big blow for the anti-virus market as its free product from Microsoft.

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Reviewed by tigertop2

Star Rating: rating of 4

Duration of ownership: 2 months

Strengths:
Simple to install and you know it is compatible with most things. I run it on W7 32bit and 64 bit with no problems

Weaknesses:
Early days yet and I hope they develop it without making it too clunky like Norton. Seems to good to be true bearing in mind it is free from Microsoft

Overall Evaluation:
Worth trying and certainly worth keeping an eye on as it develops and you are coming up to a change of OS or security software. So far I like it and trust it

Monday, 24 August 2009

Reviewed by HelloBanana

Star Rating: rating of 4

Duration of ownership: 2 weeks

Strengths:
A pretty good detection rate. Fast and extremely easy to use.

Weaknesses:
No heuristics or any big features just a small anti-virus/spyware.

Overall Evaluation:
Quite a good antivirus. Because its free I thought it might have been a bit bad bit but its good for free.

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