Microsoft Security Essentials

I tried it but didn't like it. Despite being a replacement for the subtle Defender this one adds a notification icon, a lot of process overhead, changed my Microsoft Update settings, complains about turned off real-time protection, etc.

From the little time I spent with it, it seems okay, even good for the price you pay. I was just annoyed it wasn't a silent "upgrade" of Defender but a full blown app that hides Defender, which I don't need.
 
I've been running it since I recently installed Win 7. I used to use Live One Care however that doesn't operate on Win 7, so I just found a download for this. Seems to work OK and has a lower footprint than One Care does (but then its not a "complete PC care" app).
 
I've been running it since I recently installed Win 7. I used to use Live One Care however that doesn't operate on Win 7, so I just found a download for this. Seems to work OK and has a lower footprint than One Care does (but then its not a "complete PC care" app).

I remember last year when I was working for a computer wholesaler that our Microsoft OEM representative stressed the advantage of One Care's three licenses per product. Then they canceled the product a few months later. I think I still have the One Care water bottle they gave us.
 
Yes, the three licenses was one of the reason I looked at it - it worked out well for the PC's we had at home.
 
I am running it. Had to turn off one of the options because even deleting a folder had become a pain then. As soon as I turned it off my machine went back to its awesome fast old ways. It is not hindering me in any way at all so I am still going to keep it for the moment. Lets see how it goes. Making me use a little more ram I think but is not a big deal.
 
I've been testing MSE on several different machines/OS :

Acer Tablet PC + Windows 7 (x86)
Acer Tablet PC + Win XP
Dell Oltiplex (Pentium D) + Win XP
Core 2 Duo system + Win XP
Core i7 + Win 7 x64

MSE has performed well on all systems. Seems much less bloated than AVG 8/8.5 free.

The only slow down I've noticed (over AVG) is when extracting Zip files with large numbers of small files. But this is only a minor niggle.

So far I'm very impressed.
 
Less bloated than AVG? AVG's not exactly bloated... Norton 360, Trend Micro Internet Security, McAfee Internet Security - those are bloated.
 
I have no complaints so far with this software. Thats the good thing about a good av software is I shouldnt even know it is running.
 
When my computer starts up it takes about 50MB of ram ("Working Set"). After running a full system scan it's taking up 150 - 160 MB of ram, and even when it's finished it never drops back - I have to reboot to get it back to 50 ish MB.

On top of this, the full system scan does something (no idea what) that causes / results in all system ram being used up (although no process is listed as using it). The memory is released once the scan finishes. Perhaps it's a driver thing, and not related to MSE. This seems to be a separate issue from the app itself swelling to 150+ MB of ram use (and then keeping it).

Can't say I'll be sticking with it.
 
Mine is using 5 MB at the moment. I have scheduled scans disabled fwiw. I also disabled the "System Restore" option but I enabled the scan removable drives option. Other than that I'm using default options.

I'm using the latest version.
 
Less bloated than AVG? AVG's not exactly bloated... Norton 360, Trend Micro Internet Security, McAfee Internet Security - those are bloated.

Ok yes 'All-in-one' security suites are much much more bloated.

I just ment that AVG 7 or MSE is less bloated* than AVG 8 or 8.5.

And by bloated* I mean slower startup times, system feels less responsive...more gludgy.
 
Mine is using 5 MB at the moment. I have scheduled scans disabled fwiw. I also disabled the "System Restore" option but I enabled the scan removable drives option. Other than that I'm using default options.

I'm using the latest version.

I just checked again, this time using "show processes from all users" and the anti-malware engine is using almost 60 MB of memory. :oops:
 
Well, there's something it can't find/remove. Nor does Malwarebytes, so it's not worse :). They both report that all is clean, although something launches IE and weird things start to happen.

I installed a "real" antivirus and now Windows restarts right on bootup. Well, I planned a reinstall anyway..:cry:
 
There's a beta available now for the next version of the Security Essentials. It offers more and better, as always...or so it claims anyway. ;)

If you wanna check it out I suggest you hurry to sign up, because there's apparantly a limited number of user slots available.

Btw, been using the first iteration for a couple months now, it's good... Nothing to complain about really, considering it's free... It scans real fast too, but not sure how accurate it is, considering I never get infected by anything. It did stealth-change the windows update settings to fully automatic which kinda bugged me, but I put it back where it was and after that it didn't mess around any more so it's not worth making a fuss over.
 
I use MSE on all of my home machines, and so far have been happy with it. Especially like it on my wife's Atom-based Dell Mini, as that one was having problems with the crap McAfee install from Dell.
 
I tried to install the beta a few days ago. I kept getting an error that said it was an invalid Win32 program, but I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. I tried both the 64bit and 32bit installs, and both gave me the same message.
 
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