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Microsoft Security Home Essentials


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Anybody else using Microsoft Security Home Essentials?  I have to say, since downloading it, it's caught far more than AVG, and seems to work very well, and of course it's purpose built for Microsoft/Windows.

I am considering getting rid of AVG and running just MSHE

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[quote user="f1steveuk"]Anybody else using Microsoft Security Home Essentials?  I have to say, since downloading it, it's caught far more than AVG, and seems to work very well, and of course it's purpose built for Microsoft/Windows.[/quote]

With the various PCs that we have I have used McAfee, Sophos, AVG, Avast and others, and have run each on different PCs. I tried MSE with one PC and have since gone over entirely to it (for the last year). I have had no problems whatsoever. (Mind you, the main problems that I was having before were not to do with viruses etc, but mainly with the anti-virus programmes taking over and slowing down my computers - thank you McAfee). I can thoroughly recommend MSE on the basis of my limited experience.

Regards

Pickles

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[quote user="Quillan"]Seems quite a big program, 140mb according to their website but then 'big is beautiful' with Microsoft.[/quote]

On my netbook running XP.....15,3 Mo (16 080 896 octets).....I can only assume that the "big is beautiful" epithet has clouded your objectivity by a factor of ten.

Almost half of that is the BackUp Folder. In fact rather lite weight;

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On three computers the only and exclusive protection used. Tip there are several definition updates per day, today saturday already two. It is worth updating manually immediately after booting.

The current definition version is.... Latest antivirus definition version: 1.85.429.0  |  Released: Jun 19, 2010 01:30 PM UTC

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[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="Quillan"]Seems quite a big program, 140mb according to their website but then 'big is beautiful' with Microsoft.[/quote]

On my netbook running XP.....15,3 Mo (16 080 896 octets).....I can only assume that the "big is beautiful" epithet has clouded your objectivity by a factor of ten.

Almost half of that is the BackUp Folder. In fact rather lite weight;

[/quote]

Not me mate, must be you. I quote directly from the microsoft website.:

Find out what you need to know about installing and running Microsoft Security Essentials.

Minimum system requirements for Microsoft Security Essentials

Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2); Windows 7

  • For Windows XP, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 500 MHz or higher, and 256 MB RAM or higher.
  • For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 1.0 GHz or higher, and 1 GB RAM or higher.
  • VGA display of 800 × 600 or higher.
  • 140 MB of available hard disk space.
  • An Internet connection is required for installation and to download the latest virus and spyware definitions for Microsoft Security Essentials.
  • Internet Browser:

    • Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.
    • Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later.
  • Microsoft Security Essentials also supports Windows XP Mode in Windows 7. For more information, see the system requirements for Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/resources.aspx?mkt=en-gb&s=1#mainNav

 

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The files will be in

a compressed format when they are downloaded and require

extra

space to uncompress into a temporary

folder,

the executable files install the product, and then the files will be

removed from

the hard disk. After the files are removed only about 15Mb of disk space

is used. Looking at some of your other "expert" advice posts Q I thought you would have known that.

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Well actually just to prove a point I have just installed it. The download is 7.4Mb and that was to our fileserver not to the local drive. After the installation was run it had taken 82.5Mb at which point it asked to check for updates and to load the latest definition file which I let it do. After that had run which took some time to download and carried out its first scan and saved the information it had taken a whole 3.279Gb of disk space. Perhaps it depends on what operating system and processor, I am using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit with an Intel Quad Core processor with 4gb of memory and I can't see the difference in speed between this product and the free AVG product.

I should add that I don't know how good it is at the moment and I will evaluate it for a week or two. After its scan there were no 'nasties' found so AVG had been protecting me well enough but then I am quite careful what websites I visit and what content I download and as I use MailWasher Pro all the junk and nasty stuff is removed long before it gets uploaded to my PC.

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I know have a better understanding of why Microsoft made their claim and in a way we are both right. If you look at the program under Control Panel/Programs it does indeed say its 15.3Mb but then thats the program and does not include the virus definition files and database. After installation it downloads all the up to date files which increases it's use of disk space dramatically.
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[quote user="Quillan"]I know have a better understanding of why Microsoft made their claim and in a way we are both right. If you look at the program under Control Panel/Programs it does indeed say its 15.3Mb but then thats the program and does not include the virus definition files and database. After installation it downloads all the up to date files which increases it's use of disk space dramatically.[/quote]

This thread is getting a bit surreal.[:)]

May I suggest the adoption of the following procedure to finally put the Microsoft Security Essentials to bed.

1)  Uninstall MSE and clean the register.

2) On the desktop double click on My Computer....Right click on the Boot Disc....Click on Properties.....Note the amount of disc used.

3) Reinstall MSE including definition download and initial scan.

4) Repeat Section 2 above....note the new amount of disc used.

5) Extract the difference between the two numbers and put me out of my misery.[geek]

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[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="Quillan"]I know have a better understanding of why Microsoft made their claim and in a way we are both right. If you look at the program under Control Panel/Programs it does indeed say its 15.3Mb but then thats the program and does not include the virus definition files and database. After installation it downloads all the up to date files which increases it's use of disk space dramatically.[/quote]

This thread is getting a bit surreal.[:)]

May I suggest the adoption of the following procedure to finally put the Microsoft Security Essentials to bed.

1)  Uninstall MSE and clean the register.

2) On the desktop double click on My Computer....Right click on the Boot Disc....Click on Properties.....Note the amount of disc used.

3) Reinstall MSE including definition download and initial scan.

4) Repeat Section 2 above....note the new amount of disc used.

5) Extract the difference between the two numbers and put me out of my misery.[geek]

[/quote]

Thats basically what I did but as I had not installed it before I didn't do step 1. As I said the program does not take up so much its the definition file which will not show up in the Control Panel/Program Files size of program. Anyway here are my figures (in my previous post I was thinking in Bits not Bytes, sorry).

Before Installation.: 374,803,767,296 bytes free

After Installation but prior to update and download of definition file/database.: 374,886,330,368 Bytes free thats a difference of 82,563,072 Bytes or 78.73Mb

After update and download of definition file/database.: 378,083,418,112 Bytes free thats a difference of 3,279,650,816 Bytes or 3.05Gb

I have to say it seems an awful lot to me but I was very careful to check the numbers (3 times) as I installed it so I have no reason to think it is not correct.

 

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[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]Or not just worry about it because 150mb really is,'t a lot anyway.[/quote]

Quite true by todays standard but I have a laptop (Sony) which came with Windows XP Pro and only a 40Gb HDD (its and old machine) and by the time you loaded MS Office Pro and MS Project there really wasn't much space left in which case 150Mb could seem like quite a bit. So I am sure there are others around who have old laptops with small drives and see no reason to change as their laptop runs fine and serves them well for what they want. With modern PC's these days that have 1/2Tb of disk space then of course it wouldn't be much of a problem, one could say a bit like a pea in the ocean.

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[quote user="f1steveuk"]That lost me for a while! I think I'll stick with it! Ta!
[/quote]

Frankly I cant recommend it too highly.  I surf on websites where Q would fear too tread. In real time it stops downloading a web page as soon as it encounters something doubtful.

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[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]Been using it for a while, it is good.

Don't get rid of your anti virus program though, it will pick stuff up MSE will miss.

I use it along with avast and super antispyware. Between the 3 of them, I'm pretty well protected.[/quote]

Microsoft say -" If you use more than one

antivirus or antispyware program at the same time, your computer may

experience decreased performance, become unstable, or restart

unexpectedly. Before you install Microsoft Security Essentials, you

should disable or uninstall other security-related programs.
" LINK

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[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="f1steveuk"]That lost me for a while! I think I'll stick with it! Ta!
[/quote]

Frankly I cant recommend it too highly.  I surf on websites where Q would fear too tread. In real time it stops downloading a web page as soon as it encounters something doubtful.

[/quote]

Enough said, wink,wink, nudge, nudge although I always thought you surfed the web and visited websites [;-)] [;-)]

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[quote user="Jimmy"][quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]Been using it for a while, it is good.

Don't get rid of your anti virus program though, it will pick stuff up MSE will miss.

I use it along with avast and super antispyware. Between the 3 of them, I'm pretty well protected.[/quote]

Microsoft say -" If you use more than one

antivirus or antispyware program at the same time, your computer may

experience decreased performance, become unstable, or restart

unexpectedly. Before you install Microsoft Security Essentials, you

should disable or uninstall other security-related programs.
" LINK

[/quote]

Mine's been good.
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[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"][quote user="Jimmy"][quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]Been using it for a while, it is good. Don't get rid of your anti virus program though, it will pick stuff up MSE will miss. I use it along with avast and super antispyware. Between the 3 of them, I'm pretty well protected.[/quote]

Microsoft say -" If you use more than one antivirus or antispyware program at the same time, your computer may experience decreased performance, become unstable, or restart unexpectedly. Before you install Microsoft Security Essentials, you should disable or uninstall other security-related programs." LINK
[/quote] Don't get rid of your anti virus program though, it will pick stuff up MSE will miss.[/quote]

Hang on a minute I thought this was suppose to be an antivirus, anti spyware program that was better than AVG so why would you want to run two different antivirus programs or are you saying both individually don't do the job but combined they do? You must narf go to some dodgy places and download stuff.

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I didn't know it was supposed to be an antivirus program to replace the likes of avg etc.

However, it is not 100% secure like all other anti virus / spyware programs so it's advantageous to run a couple to be totally sure if your system can handle it.

It certainly has missed several email attachments that avast has picked up.
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[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]I didn't know it was supposed to be an antivirus program to replace the likes of avg etc. However, it is not 100% secure like all other anti virus / spyware programs so it's advantageous to run a couple to be totally sure if your system can handle it. It certainly has missed several email attachments that avast has picked up.[/quote]

Richard, honestly, no wonder you keep getting virus's etc if you don't read what you are downloading and installing on your computer. Personally I can't remember when I last had a virus, it must have been years ago and I have something like 8 active email active (personal and business). Min you I do get enough emails for Viagra which if I bought from would probably give me enough Viagra to give every chap a stiffy for at least the next 10 years. [;-)] Fortunately most of this is caught with MailWasher on my servers before it even gets to me.

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