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T'was the Week Before Christmas — Parallax Forums

T'was the Week Before Christmas

ercoerco Posts: 20,260
edited 2010-12-22 01:34 in General Discussion
Dunno if Bill Gates is suddenly feeling philanthropic towards Vista users, but my latest Microsoft update included Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), an antivirus/malware suite. I don't normally run any antivirus software since it usually bogs down the whole system, so I was sorta-kinda surprised/pleased/concerned. So far so good, I haven't noticed any speed problems yet. And I scanned my whole system and it says I'm clean. Clean living pays off, as does not visiting questionable sites.

I subsequently forced an update of the wife's computer with WinXP, but she didn't get the MSE update.

Just curious, anybody else get it? If so, using Vista or other OS? Does Win7 come with MSE?

Comments

  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2010-12-20 22:35
    I don't normally use my Windows Vista as the machine is a dual boot with Ubuntu Linux and my version is Chinese language only. I'll boot up the Vista and see what comes my way.

    I am using a free version of Avasta anti-virus with it and also on my Windows 7 netbook. Norton Security both bogs down the system and hooks itself so deeply into Windows that other anit-virus options often can't be installed. So with Windows 7, my first task was to remove Norton. It was easy the first time around, but I had to reinstall my system because I stripped too much of the M$ apps from it and the second time, it was a bit more complex to do so. (The sense here is that Norton doesn't really want to give you a 2nd chances to remove it.) There are free products that work fine. I am in a very virus hostile environment, Taiwan. We have a huge population of users that run on bootlegged XP and are not welll protected. The same community refuses to pay anything for protection.There are free anit-virus products that don't bog down and dominate the system.

    On my XP machine, I have installed a 'corporate version' of Symantec AV that was provided by a friend that worked for a major corporation. That is a goodie - no hassle, no annual renewal. But the consumer versions will beat you to death with paranoid messages and demands for pay up.

    I find Ubuntu Linux far more pleasant in daily net surfing. I just wish M$ would provide the software to properly clean up its own Registry as that I cannot find for free and it s really seems to me that it is a central OS utility that should be part of the Windows product, not a whole after-market industry.
  • chasingchasing Posts: 14
    edited 2010-12-20 22:45
    I have been using MSE for close to a year. I had it installed on both my laptop and my desktop when I was still running XP Professional. I have since upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. i don't remeber is MSE was included or if I downloaded it. (that was six months ago.) I have not had any issues with MSE since upgrading to 7 either.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2010-12-20 23:17
    I've read good things about MSE but have not used it. I may switch to it from McAfee, though, when my license expires in January. McAfee is a good anti-virus program, but their updates require occasional reboots, and they've begun pop-up advertising, which is a deal-killer for software I have to buy.

    -Phil
  • CameronMCameronM Posts: 57
    edited 2010-12-20 23:34
    MSE is not always installed but you can down load it from ms.

    http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx

    I too have been using MSE for quite some time now. It seems to be pretty good compared to the other free and paid antivirus.

    CameronM
  • Roy ElthamRoy Eltham Posts: 3,000
    edited 2010-12-20 23:50
    I've been using MSE for a while now. I manually installed it back when it first became available. It doesn't seem to impact my system performance at all, unlike most of the other anti-virus programs I have used in the past.

    I've got it on Mom's machine too, and it's saved her several times. :)
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2010-12-21 05:32
    Both Avast and Microsoft's tool have gotten very high marks recently from some of the reviewing sites. I've been using Avast with my systems and customer systems as using MSE seems a little like asking Mr. Fox to guard the hen house, but I'm pleased that Microsoft has come up to speed on security.

    OBC
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2010-12-21 08:20
    Pop ups have become an across the board deal killer with me. Now we have websites that grey out the page while inserting a bit of adware - even more annoying.

    I do realize that we do benefit to some extent by advertising subsidizing the web, but there are a lot of blurbs that insult our intelligence. Even TV would have a logically placed commercial break rather than run rough shod over you.

    For a long time under XP, I tried to run System Mechanic and Norton AV. That was a nightmare as Norton AV just stomped anything System Mechanic and removal was difficult. And of course, there were the 'bad old days' of trying to use both Apple's and M$'s media player on one Windows computer. Each would ruin the configuration of the other.

    So I've side-stepped to Linux in dual boot installations. Commercial consumer OSes create a rather unique set of support problems that are petty, exploitive, and annoying. Buyer beware.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2010-12-22 01:34
    T'was the week before Christmas...

    ...and monkey boy was troubled..."It's nearly 2011 and there is still someone out there making money from software that is not us, curses"

    They have the audacity to make a living by fixing all the holes in our operating systems with anti-virus software,

    I know, this will make them squirm, like SpyGlass and Internet Explorer before, let's get some anti-virus software and give it away for free.

    Excellent.
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