Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 (Morro MSE Free Anti-Virus)

In my experience, people want install and forget type of AV, without any pop ups, any nags, any alerts. Just working in background as if doesn,t even exist. Morro seems to fullfil most of these requirements. I am pretty sure it will beat all other free AV by a big margin.

I even myself will recommend it over current free AVs. All free AVs have problems ATM.

Avast- registaration issues
AVG- no rrotkit protection
Antivir- update issues, nag screen

Accpet it or not, these issues are there although some one will think them as minor issues. Morro will be the best option as a free AV without any doubt even from its earliset days.

 

registration for avast and the nag screen for avira are not that big of a deal. I would not call these problems.But as for the lack of rootkit in AVG i agree.

 

Not problems for us but for ordinary user, sure these are.

 

Not to forget the poor interface of Avast and the increased differences that will exist betwenn the free and pro when Avast 5 is released.

 

There were some updates issues years ago, but not anymore as for nag screen, it can be disabled.

 

You people are not getting my point. These are issues for ordinary users not for the members here. As far as updates of Antivir are concerned, it,s well known issue that I read every now and then with opposie claims as well. So reality, IMO, is that some people do get this issue.

 

Actually, I'm eager to see it come out as a RTM. If it turns out to be a good product, as some reviews make it see, then it sure will provide more useful than the free AVs.

I agree with aigle.

Avast, has a damn awkward UI. Both AVG and Avira have the nagscreens. AVG lacks anti-rootkit. Avira has issues, and it cripples people using USB Internet connection devices. I've seen quite a few people complaining. It was needed to install without web guard and e-mail guard.

Not to mention, system slowdowns.

Microsoft Security Essentials being a good product, there's no reason for people not to use it. Hopefully, it will be light on resources. I'm going to wait and see and then give a final opinion. Until then...

 

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Yes, some of the posters here are not looking at security apps from the point of view of the average user. The average user can't disable a nag screen, doesn't know what to do if the AV can't update (because the servers are slow or overloaded) and is confused by a product that's free yet requires registration (Avast). A product that's free, simple and automatic is a good thing. By the way, it can be argued that since MSE requires "validiation" (WGA) it's not really free. It implies that users have paid for the operating system and Microsoft is providing added value to it's paying customers.

 

That brings me to my question (one I ask for every security product, after having been burned before): does Morro have any self-defense that you guys can see? Any form of termination protection, registry protection, or anything else?

 

It looks like a standard service protection, which requires admin privileges to be shut down, in other words UAC disabled.

 

I've installed Avast on a number of users' systems, and most don't know how to re-register. They don't even think to log on to www.avast.com

Good points there aigle.

 

Does anyone know if this AV has any kind of web scanner? I thought I heard someone on another forum claim that it stopped a download before it hit their disk. If it does have one, then it's super light cause I see no browser slowdowns whatsoever.

 

Good to hear, and I wouldn't worry too much... just testing an Eicar-test-file and it would suspend it straight away. I can now see why that's is the best solution, where I would otherwise "complain" as I usually do about non-automatic operation. MSE is doing just great.

 

But keep an eye on the CPU time for the Antimalware Service Executable

Installed the pre-beta on Windows 7 here; too unstable on my machine. Looks promising though.

 

Don't see any cpu usage by that one at all here on Vista x64. Perhaps it's just a 7 thing? All is well on Vista...

 

Could have been my OS/software mix.

However, detection and cleaning ability appeared good.

 

Yep, I have seen that before myself...

 

Blackcat, could you provide any specific information on what you tested - some self-owned sample set? Just out of interest.

 

Yup,we've got 10 people in our family who have had no other antivirus,other then antivir free and none have any update issues

 

Yes just some home-spun samples, from zero-day to much older ones.

Viruses, worms, trojans, keyloggers, adware etc. Mainly picked up from our University "honey pot" but some from my malware collecting as well. ALL amateur stuff.

 

FYI, just installed 7 here with MSE and no cpu issues... must've been a bad software mix for you... Seems fine here. But I'll keep an eye on it. This is x64 btw...

 

I think you are splitting hairs, to use any Windows OS implies it has been either bought or installed on a new computer with a proper license, no discounts to piracy.

 

Okay, nice - was it something that MSE missed, and in that case what? Was it a serious miss in that case?

 

The tray icon reminds me of the Outpost Firewall icon in the early days (version 1 or 2...can't recall which). The icon is just an icon...it's alright.

Runs pretty good on my Windows 7 laptop along side Iron's browser and of course SRP. Ran it with DefenseWall for a while but had problems with MSE announcing every now and then that it has been turned off. Uninstalling DefenseWall fixed that problem. I need to tell Ilya about that one.

MSE does seem to use quite a bit of resources though. Both msseces.exe and MsMpEng.exe together total over 30Kbytes and I can notice a slight drag on my system.

Later...

 

Yep, the 2 are using about 30MB here on 7 x64 also, which is much lighter than it was on Vista for me. 30 isn't bad at all. That's nothing.

I don't care about the tray icon either, it's a bit silly looking, but who cares? The tray icon is about the least important thing I can think of.

I thought I noticed a faint overall drag on Vista, but then after experimenting a bit with Avira and MSE, I realized it was mostly my imagination. Seems pretty light overall on both Vista and 7 as far as performance goes.

Going to use it here on 7 I think. Seems fine.