SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Microsoft Security Essentials (Free Antivirus from MS)

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

What should have been free for the last 10 years is now officially released for MS customers.

Free anti-virus from the OS developers.

URL: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/

I haven't tested it... yet. Installing it now.

Update: Installed very fast, I am using the Windows 7 64-Bit version and it installed in about 1 minute. It didn't require a reboot. The "At Risk" status remained even after the first update until I manually clicked the update button one time. It found no updates but changed the status. Everything else seems to be running fine. It is scanning my machine right now and using very minimal resources. About 15%-20% CPU and 60-75MB of RAM during full load.

Posted: Oct 06 2009 11:36 am

Now, is this the kind of antivirus that will kill my computer if I have another antivirus (McAfee in my case) installed? I went through that once with my first laptop, never want to do it again.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

You MUST uninstall any other AV product you have before you install this utility.

Posted: Oct 06 2009 12:00 pm

Does that include things that don't constantly run in the background like SpyBot and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware?

Posted: Oct 06 2009 12:02 pm

Also, that's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. It's one thing to offer your own free AV program. It's quite another to prevent people from using others, especially if this AV program will be built in to the next Windows OS.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Syd Lexia wrote:

Does that include things that don't constantly run in the background like SpyBot and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware?

No, those are fine as long as you turn off Windows Defender (Vista/7 Only)

Syd Lexia wrote:

Also, that's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. It's one thing to offer your own free AV program. It's quite another to prevent people from using others, especially if this AV program will be built in to the next Windows OS.

This product is stand alone. You can choose to install it or not. If you choose to install it, you cannot use another AV product at the same time. It can be removed and another AV product can be used in its place. It is no different than AVG/Avast/Avira all offering free AV solutions.

Also, I was not aware it would be built into any OS.

Posted: Oct 06 2009 12:13 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

You MUST uninstall any other AV product you have before you install this utility.

Roger, thanks for that clarification. Not ready to take the plunge yet since I get McAfee for free, but if I hear its vastly superior, I might get my household to switch over.