MS antivirus
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From: Crawley
MS antivirus
For those who rely on this product here is a warning that it may not be the best software to use. There are a number of members who advocate using this product, perhaps they may now wish to amend or comment on that recommendation.
Security Essentials fails latest AV-Test | Security & Privacy - CNET News
pm575
Microsoft's free antivirus suite did not pass the most recent efficacy test by AV-Test.org -- the only one out of 24 suites tested to not earn certification.
pm575
More bang for your buck
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From: land of the clanger
And their result for the one a lot of us use on here, Avast free version:
AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute: Test Reports[report_no]=123615
AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute: Test Reports[report_no]=123615
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From: Earth
And their result for the one a lot of us use on here, Avast free version
As with all these sorts of tests and reviews, it all depends on the scope of the tests, many AV testers will run a series of tests with different scopes and so you need to take an overall view across all scopes rather than just focusing on one.
You should also never depend on a single review/test to determine a products suitability, sure AV-Test.org are well known, but they're not the only respected and well established AV testers on the block.
Finally, you need to remember that Anti-Virus should form part of a layered security model. You should not rely on it exclusively for your protection.
Last edited by mixture; 4th December 2012 at 10:21.
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From: Earth
Is there a simple solution rather than starting again with a different Anti Virus system?
Two replies for the price of one ....
Honestly, how difficult is it to uninstall one piece of software and install another ?

-or-
Yes. Do nothing, but watch the next 2-3 months of tests... if Microsoft are still lagging, then bite the bullet and change. It might just have been they had a bad month.
Last edited by mixture; 4th December 2012 at 12:30.
More bang for your buck
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From: land of the clanger
I use MSE with no problems - so what have I been infected with that I am unaware of?
What do I do next?
What do I do next?
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From: Earth
Witn Win8 there's no choice to be made - AV is built into the OS (as it should be).
Microsoft got into a lot of hot water with the competition regulators over the Internet Exploder bundling debacle. Just as IE is now an option, the bundled AV is also optional.
If the built-in AV shows third-party AV is installed, then it will deactivate itself and defer AV roles to the third-party AV.
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From: Cambridge, England, EU
I've just started using MSE on the laptop in preference to McAfee, following a catastrophic failure.
Sitting in a guest house room with a dodgy wifi connection in a third world country, McAfee decided it needed to upgrade itself. Part way through the network connection failed. McAfee cleverly decided that this meant that I never wanted to use the internet ever again, and screwed up the machine completely so that I couldn't connect again when the wifi came back.
I got back online (without McAfee) after a couple of days of fiddling around, but I'm not going to run any software that crap again if I can help it.
Look, the whole point of anti-virus stuff is to improve your uptime, yes? If it gives you guaranteed 100% downtime then it hasn't worked, has it, and I'd be better off with something that detected slightly fewer viruses but didn't render my machine useless, no?
Sitting in a guest house room with a dodgy wifi connection in a third world country, McAfee decided it needed to upgrade itself. Part way through the network connection failed. McAfee cleverly decided that this meant that I never wanted to use the internet ever again, and screwed up the machine completely so that I couldn't connect again when the wifi came back.
I got back online (without McAfee) after a couple of days of fiddling around, but I'm not going to run any software that crap again if I can help it.
Look, the whole point of anti-virus stuff is to improve your uptime, yes? If it gives you guaranteed 100% downtime then it hasn't worked, has it, and I'd be better off with something that detected slightly fewer viruses but didn't render my machine useless, no?
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From: Earth
Gertrude the Wombat,
Nobody to blame but yourself my dear.
You should have come on here before starting your McAfee crusade, even the most modestly computer literate here would have told you McAfee are a name to be avoided. I certainly would have.
Nobody to blame but yourself my dear.
You should have come on here before starting your McAfee crusade, even the most modestly computer literate here would have told you McAfee are a name to be avoided. I certainly would have.
Psychophysiological entity

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From: Walton on the Naze Essex.
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Cambridge, England, EU
Nobody to blame but yourself my dear.
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From: Earth
Yes there is - Dell. McAfee came with the laptop
Symantec Internet Security comes regularly bundled on laptops I see, its the first thing that gets uninstalled and either replaced with an alternative AV.
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From: .
Norton is a Symantec product.....
Norton IS and Symantec IS are the same thing
However there are additional Symantec business products which often are more effective than the Norton branded ones...
I've said it before many times. Avast is one of the most consisitent high scorers in the AV test stakes. If you also turn on the "PUP" screening and automate the action it takes upon finding a problem, then not a lot gets past it.
I tried lots of programmes over the years, and Avast is the only one where I've never had a customer come back to me afterwards with a reinfection
edit
PS - the Microsoft AV products are a total waste of time. I've seen them penetrated loads of times. The only case where the product may be useful is if you have an old granny who goes on the internet once a month to do her shopping from Tesco, and her computer doesn't have the guts to run anything more advanced
Norton IS and Symantec IS are the same thing
However there are additional Symantec business products which often are more effective than the Norton branded ones...
I've said it before many times. Avast is one of the most consisitent high scorers in the AV test stakes. If you also turn on the "PUP" screening and automate the action it takes upon finding a problem, then not a lot gets past it.
I tried lots of programmes over the years, and Avast is the only one where I've never had a customer come back to me afterwards with a reinfection
edit
PS - the Microsoft AV products are a total waste of time. I've seen them penetrated loads of times. The only case where the product may be useful is if you have an old granny who goes on the internet once a month to do her shopping from Tesco, and her computer doesn't have the guts to run anything more advanced
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 5th December 2012 at 17:34.
Psychophysiological entity

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From: Walton on the Naze Essex.
It seems Barclays are offering Kaspersky to some of their customers. I can't imagine a full version being free indefinitely.
Anyone taken advantage of this?
Anyone taken advantage of this?






out of this.