Reviews of Microsoft Security Essentials

1. 
   garretthylltun

   Reviewing 1.0.1611.0 (Jan 22, 2010)

   After using MSSE for a few months I am more than happy with it's performance and abilities. It does not use a lot of resources as noted by someone below, in fact, it uses less resources than say Explorer itself, the printer spool, the search index, the sidebar..
   
   One thing I look for, besides the actual security abilities such a program offers, is how it reacts with a user's normal usage of their computer. Most of the time, live scanning, or real-time scanning usually causes stuttering or lagging while a user does normal operation. This is the biggest annoyance ever to me and every anti-virus program I have used suffers from this. I am amazed at how MSSE does not suffer from this.
   
   And of course we come to the meat... Does it catch all them little buggers? Yes it does! Well, I can't say it will catch everything of course. I have a test drive that I pop in that has a few nasties on it and as soon as I popped it in and went to browse it, MSSE did it's job quickly.
   
   It plays nice with your system, it's simple to use and it does the job it's intended to do... Best of all, it's free!
2. 
   doctorsmith

   Reviewing 1.0.1611.0 (Dec 25, 2009)

   According to AV-Comparatives.org Microsoft makes the best free anti-virus program on the market.
   AV-Comparatives.org ran a series of real-world tests running through common scenarios like downloading, extracting, copying, and encoding files, installing and launching applications, and they also ran through an automated testing suite as well.
   Microsoft Security Essentials was the only one to block and remove malware well, while hardly chewing up any resources at all.
   According to the firm, Microsoft Security Essentials was the best-performing free antivirus solution, and one of only two that received a "very fast" rating on all of the real-world tests, earning it the company's top award, an "advanced+" ranking.
   
   Hmmm now who to believe AV-Comparatives.org or @ Floodland .
3. 
   jitgos

   Reviewing 1.0.1611.0 (Nov 10, 2009)

   I love the simplicity of the program which is really important if you are installing this for the less than tech savvy. Also, it is suppose to have a great detection rate. The only reason I went back to Avira for now is that this did use a very large amount of resources (up to over 100mb). It might be because I'm on a 64bit system. Looking at the support forum it looks like that is an issue. Once they get that figured out it will be extremely likely that I'll switch.
4. 
   TC17

   Reviewing 1.0.1611.0 (Oct 15, 2009)

   Excellent antivirus program. The sending info thing is the only negative I see. But not a huge deal. It detected and blocked that fake "antivirus 2009" trojan that tries to install from popups... something that Avast antivirus never once detected.
   
   And unlike other posts here, it is NOT bloated. Its actually very light on resources. I'm sure the competition is worried, so they have their goons posting fake reviews. Either that or its diehard fans of other software who don't want some free program showing their expensive program up.
5. 
   Floodland

   Reviewing 1.0.1611.0 (Sep 30, 2009)

   Resourse hog, unreliable (nothing new coming from M$) and spyware coming from Microsoft... Even if you do not "do anything wrong" I seriously recommend to stay away from it. It will send your data to MS in background, no way! Privacy is first.
   Spyware used to come from obscure small companies wanting fast profit, but a company like Microsoft releasing such crap, that is terrible
   Shame you cannot rate less than 1... My -1 for it

Discuss Microsoft Security Essentials

1. Sep 30, 2009 - 11:36 AM
   rbailin

   How do you download a version other than the one appropriate to the O/S you're currently running?
   
   Answer: Click on the "Locales & Languages" link just below the big "Download Now" button at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
   
   For United States (English), there are 3 versions available:
   
   Windows XP 32-bit
   Windows 7/Vista 32-bit
   Windowns 7/Vista 64-bit
2. Sep 29, 2009 - 10:19 PM
   The MAZZTer

   Download links to English XP 32-bit version.
   
   To download versions for other OSs (Vista/7 32/64bit) or locales, use the "Homepage" link and click the big Download Now button in your face.