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  1. #1
    High Overlord
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    Security Software Question

    Hello all,

    For the past two years I have been using a combination of Microsoft Security Essentials with Spybot Search & Destroy and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
    However, I recently heard that MSE has a very low detection rate, and is thus suboptimal in comparison with other security software.

    My question to you is whether this is true, and if so, what would be a better alternative. Or, how/where to find out what the better/best alternative is.

    Eagerly awaiting your responses!

  2. #2
    http://www.av-comparatives.org/ lots to read here.
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  3. #3
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    Unfortunately, antivirus software effectiveness is about as volatile as the tide. Whatever AV anyone has had, has likely been #1 at some point in the past 3-5 years. I know MSE recently got #2 from Toms Hardware just a few months ago. But it also ranked low from one time to another. New stuff is specifically being written to get around them, so whatever is good now, will miss something later.

    If you really are unhappy with MSE, I'd probably recommend Kaspersky, or Avast, AVG, or Trend Micro. They usually always rank pretty high. I would avoid Norton and McAfee, for being a craptastic suite that usually causes more problems than it fixes, and also avoid Panda. I don't trust any company that used to be a trojan, and now fights them.

    Personally, I don't have antivirus on my system, which seems strange for a veteran technician. It may be because I know how to fix it things go south, however I find that Malware is a bigger problem than Viruses, and you already have two of the better tools to deal with that. Of course, I also don't use facebook, which seems to be a huge source of malicious crap, so it may be that as well.

    EDIT: I did a little googling, and I should point out, I see "BitDefender" as #1 on a LOT of sites... and it almost makes me wonder if thats paid placement. A lot of the website seem like shady SEO junkyards. I don't have any opinion of it, but still seems odd to me, so take things with a grain of salt if they have no actual 'review' and it's just a list.

    EDIT2: The report that nocturnal posted indicates BitDefender (at the time of test) scored well. So, I guess it is actually good. There's also a number of decent ones I've never even heard of. Awkward. I guess I just haven't kept up with the AV industry.

    EDIT3: Sort of odd. MSE got #2 from TomsHardware, a pretty respectable tech site. Despite that, just a few months later literally failed the preliminary certification from another test to even be included in the comparison. Just goes to show how volatile it can be, and how everyone has different testing methods. Considering that the virus market is something that is changing and improving itself on a daily basis.
    Last edited by chazus; 2013-01-15 at 09:21 AM.

  4. #4
    High Overlord
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    Thanks for the reply.
    And i figured it would be subject to change. Didn't expect it to be so extreme though.
    I will have a look, thanks for the replies!

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by MythiaX View Post
    However, I recently heard that MSE has a very low detection rate, and is thus suboptimal in comparison with other security software.
    Question is if you want 95% or 99% protection, and how much you want to pay for the difference. Unspoken ugly truth of all AV products is that none of those catch current zero-day vulnerabilities in java, flash, browsers or operating systems. Advanced trojans such as Stuxnet, Flame etc will never be caught by any AV product you can buy off the shelf or download for free before those are exposed publicly.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  6. #6
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    just stick to what works. It's not worth to keep jumping between AV's, especially since they "get to know" your system after a while and you actually risk more by installing a new one than you risk by running one that isn't as great.

    Only reason to swap is system load, really.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Elapo View Post
    Only reason to swap is system load, really.
    MSE is probably the lighest AV product when it comes to system load or boot times.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    MSE is probably the lighest AV product when it comes to system load or boot times.
    yea, so no reason to swap here

    It did however make opening my downloads folder an extremely long process, that's the only time I noticed it, and one of the earlier versions had a little bit of a problem with CPU usage on my system (used up to 25% CPU constantly), that's why I swapped it with Avast!. Haven't found a reason to get rid of that, so I'll stick with it.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Elapo View Post
    Avast!. Haven't found a reason to get rid of that, so I'll stick with it.
    In your face advertisements was my reason to get rid of avast/avira.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  10. #10
    High Overlord hitmanblood's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    In your face advertisements was my reason to get rid of avast/avira.

    Using Paid version of Avast, i think the newer versions of Avast do not have those annoying please pay/upgrade now after every 5 min or update.


    Also to the OP, from my experience, from using Avira Paid to Norton 2012 Paid, to AVG free and MSE, Switching to Avira even the free version, for performance, and virus detection, was a huge jump up in quality for me. Back in the day Avast used to be horrible, AVG free should be avoided like the plague, Avoid Macafee, from what i hear its still horrible for gaming and Antivirus in general.

    Before i bought my security software, Malwarebytes Anti malware, Avast Free, CCleaner (for registry) Auslogics Disk defrag, and your choice of a custom firewall IF you want one, was a pretty much locked down and good to go Operating system.


    Also many people don't know this, but go to your control panel and go to your windows defender settings and disable it. Its horrible.
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  11. #11
    I am Murloc! Cyanotical's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    Question is if you want 95% or 99% protection, and how much you want to pay for the difference. Unspoken ugly truth of all AV products is that none of those catch current zero-day vulnerabilities in java, flash, browsers or operating systems. Advanced trojans such as Stuxnet, Flame etc will never be caught by any AV product you can buy off the shelf or download for free before those are exposed publicly.
    ^this

    after it was announced that MSE failed certifiction, i went an actually read the report, it failed because it doesnt catch zero day attacks as well as the others AV programs, however, when you take into account that very few people update their definitions the minute they are released, almost every user still has the same vulnerability, MSE is actually as good or in some cases better than paid AV programs

    and nothing stops government sponsored malware, or advanced true root kits

  12. #12
    Stood in the Fire Loyrl's Avatar
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    I have used Avast! for years and I don't remember seeing pop up windows, maybe you can disable them and I did it when I install it with out remembering? Old version and new version of Avast.
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  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Twoddle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MythiaX View Post
    My question to you is whether this is true, and if so, what would be a better alternative. Or, how/where to find out what the better/best alternative is.
    The answer is we're all being duped, AV is not necessary today at all if you have more than a few brain cells. One of the few reasons to have one is to keep your bank happy for online banking so you have some comeback.

    However, I recently heard that MSE has a very low detection rate, and is thus suboptimal in comparison with other security software.
    Please define "low detection rate". A fully updated Windows operating system will not let in any known viruses (malware) which is exactly what anti-virus software is supposed to do. The only way you can get a virus is if there is an unknown vulnerability or you are gullible or non-tech savvy enough to install one despite all the warnings that pop up! Yes Windows does warn you, granted AV does give you bigger and brighter ones.

    MSE is probably the lighest AV product when it comes to system load or boot times.
    The lightest product would be my own that I have just written myself. Here you go have a free copy you don't even have to download it. It takes no boot time and does no background scanning at all. It's called common sense, feel free to make a donation.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Twoddle View Post
    The answer is we're all being duped, AV is not necessary today at all if you have more than a few brain cells. One of the few reasons to have one is to keep your bank happy for online banking so you have some comeback.


    Please define "low detection rate". A fully updated Windows operating system will not let in any known viruses (malware) which is exactly what anti-virus software is supposed to do. The only way you can get a virus is if there is an unknown vulnerability or you are gullible or non-tech savvy enough to install one despite all the warnings that pop up! Yes Windows does warn you, granted AV does give you bigger and brighter ones.
    I think you are missing the point that there are several weaknesses found in Java and Flash every month. You can get infected by a simple add running flash. Not everyone runs addblocker and some of the ones that run addblocker disables it on some sites they want to support.
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  15. #15
    The Lightbringer Twoddle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by n0cturnal View Post
    I think you are missing the point that there are several weaknesses found in Java and Flash every month. You can get infected by a simple add running flash. Not everyone runs addblocker and some of the ones that run addblocker disables it on some sites they want to support.
    I was gonna mention that but I didn't want to bloat out my post.

    When you install Java you are installing it on your own volition, it is a plugin with vulnerabilities. Humans now know about it because it's mentioned in the news but I know for sure that most AVs don't warn you about it at all so again it boils down to common sense.

  16. #16
    High Overlord
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    Hmm, well I do use addblock and noscript with my firefox, so that should at least help a bit.
    My scans also never find anything, thats MSE, spybot and malwarebytes.
    Only a cookie every now and then.

    But just to be sure

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Twoddle View Post
    It's called common sense, feel free to make a donation.
    Your common sense gets fucked threeway when even clean sites such as mmo-champion.com occasionally has had infected advertisements that can spread trojans.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  18. #18
    And before adblock gets thrown out there as a means of deterrence, it isn't. It's easily bypassed by using a non blacklisted host.
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  19. #19
    The Lightbringer Twoddle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    Your common sense gets fucked threeway when even clean sites such as mmo-champion.com occasionally has had infected advertisements that can spread trojans.
    If it's via an unknown vulnerability then fair enough AV wouldn't have stopped it either. Your point?

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Twoddle View Post
    If it's via an unknown vulnerability then fair enough AV wouldn't have stopped it either. Your point?
    Point is that unless you're running NoScript at full settings on EVERY site you visit, common sense has nothing to do with it.
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