Overview
Today I will be reviewing Microsoft’s Anti-Virus program!
Manufacturer’s product page: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.
*Your PC must be running an activated, genuine copy of Windows or else it won’t install.
Microsoft Security Essentials requires Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows XP. It won’t work on Windows 2000 or anything else.
Installation
When you click the big Download button at the Microsoft website, you get this:
The download file (for XP) is 7.5MB, which is quite small for an anti-virus program. Compare that to AVG Free’s 4.45MB file, keeping in mind that that only contains the AVG Installer, which then requires an internet connection to download much more MB of information.
Once you have downloaded it, you are greeted by a standard, no-frills installer. The only thing notable about this installer is that it requires you to go a Genuine Validation check to make sure your Windows is not pirated. Once that succeeds, the programs installs. It takes less than 2 minutes to install, which is remarkable!
The Program
This is the icon:
This is Microsoft Security Essentials’ taskbar presence:
The taskbar icon is very important. This is the way MSE shows the security status. Green means that your system is secured and everything is up to date. Orange can mean that either it needs to be updated, that you haven’t run a scan in a while, or it detects a low-risk threats. If it’s red, that means that either means it is completely disabled or an active threat is detected. The taskbar icon also has two other statuses: If it’s blue with a spinning circle, that means it is either cleaning a threat or installing updates. If it’s blue with a green down arrow, that means it is downloading updates.
Main Interface
The main interface is really neatly layed out. It contains all the information you need to know at-a-glance. The navigational layout for this program is just tabs to each section.
That’s what comes up when you open the program.
The Update tab.
A History of all the infections I’ve had.
Here is the Settings screen. MSE doesn’t have as complicated and cumbersome a control panel as some antivirus’ do, but it does it’s job and it has enough options to make it fit for anyone.
A notable feature about Microsoft Security Essentials is the “SpyNet” integration. I’m not going to go into a whole lot of detail about it, because there’s lots of information in the screenshot, but I will tell you that it does send them information about any threats found on your PC. The upside to that is that you also get additional protection against new or unknown threats.
Security
I have never had a virus on any of my computers that Microsoft Security Essentials couldn’t fix. I have also had situations where other competing security solutions were unable to fix the problem, but this program did it without a hiccup!
Edit: Lately, (at school and at work), I have witnessed many things that Microsoft Security Essentials missed completely. It didn’t detect them, even in a full scan, while other programs, (Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware or SuperAntiSpyware found multiple infections)…
Therefore, I am inclined to lower the score on Microsoft Security Essentials. I still recommend it, however, I do have a little less faith in it.
Unfortunately, Microsoft Security Essentials got pissed off when I installed Cain&Abel on my computer, and called it three different viruses. However, since I know for a fact that it’s not a virus, I just told MSE to ignore it.
Microsoft Security Essentials detected the “Eicar Test File” before I even saved to my computer.
When MSE detects a threat, this little message slides up from the bottom right corner of the screen:
Speed and Performance
This is the best thing about Microsoft Security Essentials; it is a very light and efficient program. I tested it to only add an average of 2 seconds startup time to a computer that had a fresh install of Windows 7 64-bit on it.
Also, MSE uses less than 10 Megabytes of RAM when idle. That’s very good. It does not slow the computer down.
There are times when MSE can be slow: While updating, (takes a ridiculoudly long time even over a fast internet connection), and while scanning newly downloaded files.
I have noticed one small bug with Microsoft Security Essentials: On Windows XP, sometimes the program will hang on the desktop when you close it. Actually, it’s just the graphical image that gets stuck, the program itself isn’t frozen. It’s an easy issue to fix, you can just do show desktop ([CTRL] + [D] or just drag another window over it.
Conclusion
Pros: Fast, light, small, simple interface, free, good protection, integrates well with Windows.
Cons: Requires Activated version of Windows, sometimes hangs on XP, slow updates.
Speed: 9/10
Security: 8.5/10 Edit: 6.5/10
Ease of Use: 9.5/10
Looks: 9/10
Value: (Free)Edit: 9/10
Final Score (revised): 8.6/10.
Edit: It just barely maintained its SILVER award rating.
Review Sample Source: Microsoft.com
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