Microsoft Security Essentials Scores Incredibly Well in New Antivirus

essenbe said:

That was the results for Windows 7. Windows 10 has a much improved version and it wasn't rated.

Ups....! Sorry.....!

sygnus21 said:

One of the things that Norton does is scan files for usage - this is if a download/file is rarely used or downloaded, Norton will "question" it and that can be alarming for some that aren't computer savvy and have to make a decision whether to keep the file or not. That's said, you can always exempt files from being scanned or flagged.

I've got a printer program on my PC which NAV constantly false positives one of it's exe's and remove it. I've had to exempt it from being scanned and mark it as safe.

I just liked the fact that Norton's scored so high in the 1st report.....#2 is not a bad spot. So tired of folks flaming Norton.

I remember when Symantec issued an announcement stating that AVs are no longer relevant - they provide limited to questionable safety. That was a bombshell that shook the industry. Over the following years many users dropped AVs totally - I see it on a lot of forums. They claim they have been virus free for years - even those who still use XP. Now these guys have mult-layers of security installed so it is not as if they have no protection what-so-ever., so that has to be taken into account. I understand that MSE on W7/8 has been updated to W10 Defender level. Zero-day is not an AV strength - has to be acknowledged, but for me, even though I have layered support, I still have an AV installed. MSE has improved tremendously over the past 2 years and with browser safety turned on, it is a good addition, IMHO.

Leopard said:

I remember when Symantec issued an announcement stating that AVs are no longer relevant - they provide limited to questionable safety. That was a bombshell that shook the industry. Over the following years many users dropped AVs totally - I see it on a lot of forums. They claim they have been virus free for years - even those who still use XP. Now these guys have mult-layers of security installed so it is not as if they have no protection what-so-ever., so that has to be taken into account. I understand that MSE on W7/8 has been updated to W10 Defender level. Zero-day is not an AV strength - has to be acknowledged, but for me, even though I have layered support, I still have an AV installed. MSE has improved tremendously over the past 2 years and with browser safety turned on, it is a good addition, IMHO.

Yeah, I also own Malwarebytes Pro, which runs right next to my Nortons. They can both be on at the same time, and get along fine. I even have a 3rd AV program, that only runs when I turn it on. So think I got things covered. :)

The elephant in the room is that there aren't so many 'viruses' around now. Instead, virtually all infestations I see on client's computers are PUPs and AV programs don't stop these as they are invited in.

My client record is 3,300 entries in Malwarebytes but others have seen even bigger numbers.

I have only used MSE for years and, yes, it will let PUPs in.

But still encouraging results from Clusterhead, even though I don't place much store in these tests.