Microsoft Essentials
By secretbear
@secretbear (19448)
Philippines
October 18, 2011 12:47am CST
My co-worker recommended Microsoft Essentials instead of Avast as my computer anti-virus. I have not encountered problems with Avast but my co-worker is strongly recommending Microsoft Essentials since my OS is licensed and Microsoft essentials is very compatible with my OS. I can update Microsoft Essentials anytime and it effectively works against virus especially from flash disks.
What can you say about Microsoft Essentials?
8 responses
@jjzone44 (917)
• United States
18 Oct 11
I use MS Security Essentials on most of my Windows machines (probably about 6 of them) and I have never had any issues with it. But I also have Avast on one, and I don't have any issues with that either.
I can't comment about the speed change with the 2 products because even though I have 2 identical Lenovo Thinkpads, one has Vista, and the other XP, so any speed difference could be attributed to the difference in the OS.
One nice thing about Avast, is that pop-up and the audio announcement "Virus Database has been Updated".
2 people like this
@keihimekawa (2009)
• Philippines
18 Oct 11
I also use Microsoft Security Essentials with my personal laptop and I still have AVAST in my machine :P So, I'm running two antivirus in one machine :P So far, Microsoft Security Essential is working real well and it's updated with the latest update.
@keihimekawa (2009)
• Philippines
19 Oct 11
I'm using a quite powerful laptop so I really don't look into the performance case much :) The reason why I use 2 different antivirus is mainly for programming purposes. There are times (which is frequent) when I download third-party components that miss AVAST free edition's virus database. Though this does not happen always, it's better be safe than sorry :P Another reason why I had these 2 items installed is to test the security feature of SharePoint server :) I want to check the security of the application on Microsoft-certified products and non-Microsoft products :)
1 person likes this
@keihimekawa (2009)
• Philippines
21 Oct 11
I do use virtual box in work a lot and point well taken. Thanks for the information. 
1 person likes this
@pardhu8 (390)
• India
27 Oct 11
Hi secretbear,I have used both softwares and i feel both perform quite well.I prefer Microsoft essentials when i reccomend free versions because its simple and cool than anyother antivirus.It sits at the bottom and does its job very quietly.It alerts the user only if its very important.And regarding avast i hate the voice whenever its gets updated.Its shows the pop up and also shouts as if the world is ending and i protected you.
1 person likes this
@ReViewMeMedia (3785)
• United States
22 Oct 11
Microsoft Security Essentials is a great antivirus software. It's very good and it's caught many viruses and stopped them from being on my computer.
1 person likes this
@Bushin (141)
• Philippines
21 Oct 11
Microsoft Security Essential is recommended for genuine Operating System because it is free, unlike Avast that you need to buy license just to enjoy the full features of it. But, Avast Free Edition is somewhat pretty good compare to commercial Anti-Virus Software and it is good in detecting new and upcoming viruses. The one thing that lets me down about Microsoft Security Essential is its long scanning time.
Overall, its good to have a Microsoft Security Essential installed at you're system to protect it against malwares and alike.
@andreyeurope (150)
• Romania
19 Oct 11
I like MS Essentials. I especially work with Image Video Maker.
I do videos, I paste them and later I convert them into one big movie.
@rahul2u (200)
• India
18 Oct 11
as i'm also one of the happy user of microsoft security essential i will strongly recommend it.as i'm using it science 9 months i didn't face any problem with the virus.just do regular scan twice or thrice a month.update it regularly.as your OS is licensed it will won't give any pain to your pc.always microsoft will care for customer satisfaction only.don't go for any other anti-virus.
