Microsoft Security Essentials - Verdict?

At Wilders its hard to believe MSE even exists, there is so little mention of it.
Similarly G-Data.
Now I raise this because both AVs have received consistently good reviews in recent years. Also I gather the use of MSE is growing steadily.
My own experience of MSE, is that it works, it is light on resources, & it auto updates file definitions almost daily.
Of course its is just not possible to say how well it is doing compared to how other SW might have performed.
One difficulty seems to be that MSE conflicts with most other AVs regardless of what is said, or workarounds. For example I could never get Malwarebytes to work properly. You also have to disable Windows Firewall which then prompts a warning which you have to disregard.
Also full scans on my PC (intel quadcore i7-860 @ 2.8GHz with about 2Tb of data) can take as long as 22 hours. It seems nigh impossible to get the CPU load above 2 or 3% during scans so this is something of a problem if you suspect an infection.
Anyway please lets hear the experience & verdict of others here.
Thanks

 

Re: Microsaoft Security Essentials - Verdict?

I used it awhile back, but this is why I don't now:

1. The detection of malicious content is good, but not as good as other software that I tested. Examples: Avast, Avira, Comodo, Panda, Unthreat, Etc.. At least with the tests that I performed.

2. I know this isn't good practice, but I run Windows Update manually, not automatically (My preference). The problem is, is that Microsoft Security Essentials requires that the Windows Update service to be set to automatic, since that is how it obtains its signatures. Since it does work this way, it doesn't work the way I want it to. You can always set to manual, but Microsoft Security Essentials always sets it back to Automatic.

3. MSE program updates and full scans were kind of sluggish.

It does have it's strong points:

I think Microsoft Security Essentials is still a fantastic piece of software. Their detection rates are getting better in each build, the interface is nice and simple, has absolutely no advertisements (Almost all freeware ones do), and you can use in a small business environment.

Verdict:
There is just too many better alternatives out there.

 

Re: Microsaoft Security Essentials - Verdict?

I've tried MSE many times over the years, including testing it against malware. I see no good reason not to choose a different AV over MSE, unless you are a small business. For individuals, there are many other free, better choices IMHO.

 

Re: Microsaoft Security Essentials - Verdict?

lets keep it in one referenced thread