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Randy The Tech Professor

November 6, 2009 at 1:26 pm

Is Windows Security Essentials Any Good?

Microsoft-Security-EssentialsHello everyone,

As I’m sure you know, if you use a PC you must run antivirus and antispyware software. You also probably know that a short time ago (Sept. 29) Microsoft released it’s free security suite Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials).

A lot of people have been asking about Windows Security Essentials and today I would like to give you quotes from two “tech gurus” that I have been reading for years and would trust with my life. What do they have to say about Windows Security Essentials?

Woody Leonhard (http://www.askwoody.com/tag/microsoft-security-essentials)

“You all know by now that I’ve thrown away AVG Free and replaced it with Microsoft Security Essentials, on all of my many machines, right?

I wrote about MSE in my Windows Secrets Newsletter column. (Yes, that’s in the paid version, but you can subscribe and pay any amount you choose.)

A small antivirus analyzing group called AV-Comparatives.org has just published a white paper that looks at how well antivirus products handle viruses that are common, in the wild, right now.

MSE scored in the top category “Advanced +” right up there with Symantec, F-Secure and Kaspersky, and ahead of ESET, Sophos, AVG, McAfee, AVAST and Avira.

MSE’s a great product. Free. Fast.”

Dwight Silverman (http://tinyurl.com/ydzy4de)

“I’ve been using the beta since it was first offered in June on Windows XP, Vista and Win7 systems. I am happy enough with Security Essentials that it has replaced AVG Free as the antimalware package on all my Windows systems.

I have been particularly impressed with its minimal system footprint. Right now, running in a Windows 7 virtual machine in VMware Fusion on my iMac, it’s taking up just over 3 megabytes of memory. In the months that I’ve been running it, I’ve not been able to discern a performance hit.

It’s also fast. I just ran a quick scan on this Win7 system, and it completed checking 12.6 GB and the Registry in 55 seconds. On my 64-bit, home-built Windows 7 PC, Security Essentials took 1 minute 20 seconds to scan 59 GB of data.

Microsoft Security Essentials also is non-intrusive. The only popup messages I’ve seen come when it’s doing a scheduled scan. Fast and light is good, but when it comes to anti-malware protection, effectiveness is what matters. So far, I’ve not encountered any spyware or viruses in the months I’ve been testing Security Essentials”.

Professor Randy says: Check out Windows Security Essentials and also check out the tech blogs of Woody Leonhard and Dwight Silverman!

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