Questions about MSE and privacy....

I've always used security suites (currently using Norton that is provided by my ISP). Was thinking about trying Security Essentials, I've read that it offers decent protection and isn't a resource hog. As far as privacy goes and info that is relayed back to microsoft, is MSE fairly safe to use? Would you recommend that I use the MAPS feature or leave that disabled?

Also, would running windows firewall in the default setting really offer much protection? Trying to make things as light as possible while still maintaining a decent level of protection.

 

Personally I use MAPS on full, but if you're concerned about privacy you should probably disable it.

 

Some info. about your setup/OS would make all the difference. If you're using a post-XP OS, MSE has virtually no footprint to my experience. And is very simple... only resident file protection, which IMO is what an AV should be, bells & whistles be damned. The detection rates aren't very good but if you're the type of person that would otherwise go AV-less anyway... then why not just go with it?

On XP on the other hand it runs like crap. It's heavy & buggy, and would be about my last choice of AV's.

Depends on how much you download stuff too. If you rarely ever do anymore, then I find it better to just shell scan things with an on demand AV before recovering them from Sandboxie, instead of running a real-time AV. Something like VT Hash Check, VT Uploader, Hitman Pro, MBAM Free, etc... that offers a right click/context menu. At this point in my life I've downloaded every movie/album/TV series/game/program/tool/etc... I've ever wanted, and have them triple backed up. There's nothing else I want. My only downloads are really updates for my software these days.

 

The PC in question is a newer dell desktop 3rd gen i5 with 8gb ram and the OS is win7 home premium (64-bit). I really don't download much at all and cannot remember the last time I had an infected machine. My browsing habits are quite boring and routine so I'm not overly concerned about having the best or one of the best AV's out there. Just want something that works half way decent and is light weight.

Browser is FF, extensions are AB plus (merged ultimate list), better privacy (remove all lso on exit), ghostery, WOT, flagfox and https everywhere. No third party cookies allowed and the browser is set to clean everything on exit. Ccleaner is run daily and bleachbit weekly. I run malwarebytes and hitmanpro at least several times a week and once a month I run emsisoft emergency kit deep scan. I run secunia PSI weekly to make sure everything is patched and up to date.

 

On Win7, with your specs MSE will have a virtually non-existent footprint... or at least one you won't recognize. And since it's 1'st party and resident file protection only (IMO, what an AV should be), no fear of conflicting with other 3'rd party security software. If you're not downloading a bunch of stuff and/or using P2P, in your position it's what I'd be using personally.

But also grab a 2'nd and even 3'rd opinion, on demand scanners... like MalwareBytes, Hitman Pro, etc... because MSE's detection rates aren't that good. Just to get it's back.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

MSE is decent. Leave MAPS enabled.

 

as far as privacy and efficiency to microsoft goes, mse is very decent indeed.

 

MAPS will only report things like suspicious actions etc ... Not the entire sample.
I'd recommend you to let it by default.

 

I would not use MSE. And I would not use MAPS.

I have an advanced Windows 7 x64 machine and use Avast! (free).

I would esp. not use MSE if you used cracks/patches as it will catch a good no. of them.