MSE; Does Anyone Still Use It?

Did it actually scan the file? Last I used 360, it didn't scan downloads from 64-bit browsers like it did for 32-bit ones.

 

There is nothing to think about, you hit the nail, Garret-Spybot, AhnLab, Rising and similar do not offer better protection than Avira, Avast, Kaspersky, Norton, Symantec, Eset, BitDefender and similar, they just only have much smaller customer base than all of these mentioned AV giants.

 

Maybe it didn't, I'll try again with the Eicar test file.

 

Exactly.

Sadly the guy doesn't even understand that he proved my point with his next question.

However, your post tells me that my thoughts behind that post got through loud and clear.

Thank you, Garrett76.

Fingers crossed that we can all enjoy constructive debating moving forward.

 

Fresh report out that shows impressive results for Microsoft.

(I know there's a thread about this new report elsewhere on Wilders, but in this post I focus on the portion of that report that relates to Microsoft/MSE/Windows Defender and therefore post in this thread where the following naturally belongs.)

Not so long ago we saw the annual report from Dennis Technology Labs, that summed up testing done in 2014.

Link : http://www.dennistechnologylabs.com/reports/s/a-m/2015/DTL_2015_AR.pdf

In that report we saw that an Windows 7 SP1 installation that had NO further Microsoft updates installed apart from SP1 and that was running MSE 4.6.305 - that combination blocked 58% of the threats that was fresh at the time.

In that report we also saw that an Windows 7 SP1 installation that was kept FULLY updated with ALL Microsoft updates and third-party apps updated and still running MSE 4.6.305 - that combination was capable of blocking 99% of those same threats that was fresh at the time.

Quite impressive and that report clearly show the importance of ALWAYS keeping fully updated. It has massive impact on security.

Now a fresh report is out from Dennis Technology Labs.

Link : http://www.dennistechnologylabs.com/reports/s/a-m/2015/DTL_2015_Q3_Home.1.0.pdf

Test are again done on Windows 7 SP1 with no further Microsoft updates installed apart from SP1.

Now before anyone starts to complain about test being done on a not fully updated system, then please keep in mind that with any report you encounter, privately or at work, then you always have to extract the essence.

And the essence here are that with two reports that are done with a year between and both being done on a Windows 7 SP1 system without further Microsoft updates, then what we can measure are the effects of Microsoft's massive investment in improving both the local installed clients and also the entire cloud backend - since although the tested system are static, then the local client and cloud backend are updated.

I have linked to these things earlier in this thread and it's more then clear that Microsoft are serious about making Windows secure.

Windows 10 are without a doubt the most impressive and most secure, and even though the two linked tests are done on Windows 7 then they clearly shows that Microsoft's work are successful.

A year ago a Windows 7 SP1 installation with NO further Microsoft updates and running MSE 4.6.305 blocked 58% of the threats that was fresh at the time.

Today on a Windows 7 SP1 installation with NO further Microsoft updates and running MSE 4.8.204 - that combination blocked 94% of threats fresh today while having zero false positives.

Very noticeable improvements.

This shows that all the improvements Microsoft has done to the local clients and to the cloud backend has raised the protection of a Windows 7 SP1 system with NO further Microsoft updates from 58% to 94%

That's an improvement of 36% !!!

And further - keep in mind that those 94% block rate from MSE are on a NOT updated Windows 7 SP1 system.

If you then factor in upgrading to Windows 10, keep fully updated with all Microsoft updates and also keep in mind all the improvements that are built into Windows 10 that Windows Defender and SmartScreen are capable of utilizing only on Windows 10, then the end user will see even better results on Windows 10.

I better add to this last section above before anyone starts attacking this statement about Windows 10, that the reports shows an increase in protection of UNpatched Win7 SP1 from 58% to 94% and a protection of FULLY patched Win7 SP1 with MSE at 99% - it's then only logic that a fully patched Windows 10 system with latest Windows Defender will also gain from the 36% increased protection shown on UNpatched systems over the past year and therefore be above the 99% that the fully patched Win7 SP1 system with MSE was capable of last year.
That will bring the Windows 10 system above the 99% and even closer to the 100%

The built-in security in Windows are surely proving itself in the best possible way, so end users can focus on their PCs as a tool for work and entertainment instead of wasting time on worrying about ridiculous security horror stories in the news.

That is great for the Windows ecosystem.

 

If MSE performs badly in test, it's "marketing propaganda"
if MSE goes better, it's "impressive results for Microsoft"
and always each post: a page in size!

Make up your mind : Test organizations are trustworthy or not?

 

Here we go. Another chapter of the story has started

 

This is the same testing institution testing the same product on same platform.

That can be used to measure that one products advancements in that environment.

If you want to measure product against each other and rank them as you are so obsessed with, then it needs to be done according to prevalence in order to provide the end user with a result where they can separate the individual products in real world scenarios.

If you have trouble understanding my posts, then why do you have a habit of showing up and commenting on them ??

Furthermore - if you had read and understood my posts in other testing threads, then you would know that I have touched this exact subject before.

Oh, and now that we're on the subject "Anon" - yesterday when you once again got upset I can see in my mail that you made four (4 !!) replies to this thread that the moderators apparently has had to delete since they are not visible now.

Apparently that upset you further, so you started harassing me by PM.

There's no reason for you to send me PM, Anon.
I have no intention of answering or sinking to your level.

 

Thanks for the feedback and your very kind words!

 

Ditto for me as also. Back with MSE and running well here. Windows 7 64bit. And it gets along quite well with Sandboxie, I might add.

 

Oddly, I've decided to reinstall Avast! Free. Although it's no reflection on MSE's performance, it was starting to be a pain having to manually update it every day.

 

Yeah, that's the only drawback with MSE, you have to have automatic updates on to make it livable.. that's why I use Avast on 7 too.

 

It can be a bit of a rigmarole.

 

I ended up installing Norton on my Win10 machine because I was sick of manually updating too. I know I could possibly of created a task but seeing Command Prompt pop up on my screen would of annoyed me more.

 

I downloaded the eicar test file and it was detected instantly. However, I chose the Run option in IE to launch it as soon as it had downloaded, so it may been detected on execution. I'm away at the moment, but when I'm home in a few days, I''ll try again, and just get IE to save the file to see if it still gets detcted.

 

Use start to hide the window by using the following in the task command line (with -SignatureUpdate as the argument):

Code:

"%COMSPEC% /C start /MIN %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe"

 

OK, thanks, I'll bear that in mind if I ever need to switch back to MSE.

 

Why do you have to update MSE manually? It updates automatically with Windows Update in manual mode. At least it has done so in my case for many years.

 

Agree. That's the way MSE is setup here also with nary a problem.

 

The only requirement regarding MSE and Windows Update is that Windows Update service (and BITS) must be enabled. MSE will update itself whatever you choose, including manual/notify, in Control Panel/Auto Updates.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...date-faq/74e507b8-f6da-4eca-8ce7-d1aca7d3f1ba

[Widows Defender in W8 + 10 is a different matter.]

Except for a couple that had non-MSE issues, it has for each of the machines I've seen it on, as well.

 

Ok, that's good to know. I always assumed that you have to have Win Updates on Automatic for MSE to update. Thanks...

 

You're probably right. But I don't have to do anything to Avast! for it to synch with the cloud/update every 15 mins or so. I was never sure with MSE whether its signature profile was the most recent and I think that there was a slight impact on performance sometimes as it attempted to auto-update. I don't get that with Avast! and I know it is bang up to date. Plus, Avast! is the only AV I have ever run that actually found anything on a computer I ran (PUP's on my old laptop) and it actually took the PUP's out of KMPlayer trying to sneak them in on a routine update. Avast! were also very quick to respond when I submitted a false positive ticket and fixed it within two hours. I've got nothing against MSE and I think it can be a good alternative.