Microsoft Security Essentials Updates

Hello,

Considering connecting an older computer (Windows XP SP2, will upgrade to SP3) to the internet and may want to use MSE on it but have a few questions first.

I am wondering how often does Microsoft Security Essentials update (hourly, daily, weekly)?

I would also like to know how it updates (does it use Windows Update, or does it update via the program itself?)

Is there a way to schedule when it will automatically check and install new updates?

I don't use Microsoft Update, just Windows Update, will MSE still work?

How it is for resource usage?

Thanks!

Mark

 

On my system it used to update nearly daily when i was using it.

It uses both windows update and the program itself to update.

No there isn't any official way to schedule updates, though a scheduled task can easily be created for updates.

Yes it will update fine without using Microsoft update.

I dont think MSE would be so great for an older system on XP, especially if its a single core machine. My previous P4 2.8 on XP used to crawl when it encountered many exe files. The memory usage is around 75MB (combining both its processes), if i remember correctly, on Windows 7 32bit... it uses 50% of the cpu (i have a dual core now) when it scans exe files as they are encountered in windows explorer. I think its processes are limited to using one core, but i may be wrong.

My recommendation is Avira for older systems.
Hope this helps.

EDIT: The scan time taken for executables is quite long...

 

Hello,

Thanks for your reply!

The computer has 2GB RAM (upgraded from 256MB) and a 2.4GHz Intel single core processor (Pentium D I think). Do you think those specs are suffient to run MSE or will the computer slow down a lot? It runs well now since there isn't a lot of crap on it because it has never been connected to the internet (basically it has been used for playing The Sims 2 and working with Office).

When it updates automatically on a daily basis, does it normally use Windows Update or the program itself? (I know you said that it uses both methods, but now I'm wondering which one it normally uses.)

Regards,

Mark

 

By itself it will use its own update method...

If you happen to check for updates in windows update it would list the MSE definitions update as an optional update, but i guess you need microsoft update for this to happen...

but anyways it should update by itself without any problems since i remember on xp i had even checked this by setting windows update to disabled and yet it updated fine.

i think you made a typo there, if its a pentium d then its got 2 cores in which case you should be ok...you should just install it and see whether it suits your needs. though it will probably run just fine...

and you're welcome.

 

I have a question about MSE that is not releated to this thread, but I thought it was better to ask it here than start a new thread.

Does MSE use "fingerprints"? (remember the files it has scanned and dont scan them unless they are changed?)

The reason for this question is that when I started a quick scan earlier today MSE said that the first scan takes a little longer time.

I use MSE latest version downloaded from microsoft. 1.xxx