Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0.657

garretthylltun

Reviewing 2.0.657 (Dec 18, 2010)

Compared to Avira and just about all other AV programs out there, this *IS* the lightest resource AV available.

I was seriously skeptical of MSE when it was release thinking it would be a re-badge of their previous bloated AV software, but boy was I left with my jaw on the floor! It was light on resources, it didn't bring games to a halt, it didn't make my downloads slow, it didn't make browsing the file explorer a stuttering pain and it seemingly is doing it's job well.

I have been critical of resource usage in AV programs since they became prolific in the PC market. They have always been resource hogs and usually bring a system to it's knees just as bad and as much as the software they're suppose to protect you from. I have even referred to Norton's AV as a Virus or Trojan itself because it digs it's claws so deep into your system that you can't get rid of it unless you wipe your system and start from scratch, that and the fact that it takes over your PC and makes your PC experience a nightmare.

The other issue I've had with AV programs are the constant false-positives they produce. It's constant and annoying, it's as if they do it on purpose to justify their use to you so that you continue to pay them for their updates. MSE has not once given me a false-positive. I intentionally downloaded some virus infected software and some trojan infected software and MSE jumped right on them, but have yet to see one false positive from MSE, and I've been using it since it's initial release.

Please don't mistake me for a MS fanboy, because I'm not! I've been a MS hater since XP and more so when Vista hit the market. But Windows 7 gave MS some new street creds and MSE just gives it that extra push. MSE is the one thing MS has done right thus far.

As a note, do not use the update feature in the help menu of MSE, just download the latest from the MS site. When you run the install it will(should) detect your current installation and simply update it. Though I noticed one reviewer mentioning it didn't update his XP install :-(

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