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Security That's Free Seems Not That Secure

This post has been brought to you by Michael Domingo, executive editor of new media. Michael's filling in for Doug, who'll be back for Friday's edition.

I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials for a few months now, ever since it was downloadable. Good thing too -- the license to my other AV solution expired just as MSE went online and I had no budget to buy anything else.

MSE has been solid so far, quietly alerting me to intrusions once in a while. But, like anything that's free, I've got two worries with MSE: One, how much longer will it remain free? Two, how long will it continue to keep out the riff-raff (that is, will I have to pay in more ways than one later on)?

So tell me: Am I foolish to be so trusting of MSE? What else should I be doing as a fall-back plan? If you're using it, what are your experiences with MSE so far? Send in your answers to dbarney@redmondmag.com.

Posted by Michael Domingo on 11/04/2009 at 2:39 PM


Reader Comments:

Mon, Nov 16, 2009

MSE is working well on computers I installed it on. One client had an expired (80 days) commercial product. Upon installing MSE it instantly found an infected file, then three more, and after a quick scan three more. Similar experience when transferring data from a Win 98 computer - instantly picked out the infected files.Using WOT to filter dangerous web sites helps to prevent rogue installations.

Thu, Nov 5, 2009 Thomas Lee UK

From what I have seen, MSE is a solid product without some of the downsides that have traditionally plagued some AV products over the years. It's free at the moment, and therefore represents great value for money. Will it go up in price? Yeah, probably, but that's some time away and until then, you have value. It reminds me of a telecom company in the UK, Red Hot Ant. They were offering (this is 1992 or so!) dual channel ISDN dialup for £40 pounds per year. It was clearly too cheap to last, and it didn't. But in the meantime, I saved several hundred pounds in fees that would have otherwise gone to British Telecom! Eventually things like this change - but until they do, is there a good reason to change? Rather than focus on cost, I hope Redmond Magazine focuses on quality - how GOOD is the product? Thomas Lee http://tfl09.blogspot.com

Thu, Nov 5, 2009 Dan Iowa

Foolish for trusting MSE? To do what? I use it myself. Do I trust it to prevent infections? No. I wouldn't trust Antivirus to do that. Antivirus is there to tell you when it notices a well-known probable piece of malware. At the time it notices the malware, it may be too late. It might stop something before you're infected or it might not. In order for something to become well known, in many cases, it has to infect some systems first. Good computing habits are far more useful for prevention. Antivirus is more of a measure of how dangerous your behavior is. If your Antivirus is detecting viruses regularly, then sooner or later you'll be infected antivirus or not.

Wed, Nov 4, 2009 KaBarbor Travishmal

Try running AVG as well. It is free and seems to work well. I have never had any problems with it. Good Product

Wed, Nov 4, 2009 Jon

MSE is working well for me. I recently worked on a friends computer and replaced Avast with MSE. The first scan found a trojan and other adware that Avast had missed. While no AV software is perfect, its proven its effectiveness. I compliment MSE with on demand scans with MBAM and ESET online scan.

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