Microsoft From Cellar to Stellar in New Antivirus Test

Agata

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Microsoft Goes From Cellar to Stellar in New Antivirus Test


Many independent antivirus testing labs have taken to calling Microsoft Security Essentials their baseline, separate from the products undergoing testing. If an
antivirus can't do better than Microsoft, it's a poor product indeed. However, Dennis Batchelder, director of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC), contends that lab tests don't reflect the product's actual user protection, and that in the real world Microsoft is much more effective than the tests show. A recent test suggests that just might be true.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
Just the thought that AVG is now rank 11 makes me not want to believe a word in this article, but it does hold some truth.

Even myself have always viewed Essentials as that the essentials. It is by no means the best, and it isn't the worse. It's free, and can find many viruses.I also don't know why Mcafee is rank 2 now but I won't even began on that one...(unless they talking the business/government level stuff then it's the bombshell..I had 8.5i a long time ago through my employer and my dad who worked there showed me all the controls and stuff it was like every little part was configurable.

Anyway off topic... sorry...If a client ever asks me what I would suggest as far as a free one I always direct them to Essentials.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    iBUYPOWER
    CPU
    AMD 8320
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon 7850
    Screen Resolution
    1024x768
    Case
    Azza Solaris
    Internet Speed
    50MBps download/10MBps upload
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes PRO
The MMPC website offers visitors a lightweight summary of current statistics.
Very lightweight, without a detailed methodology of testing, it is useless. I could provide a statistic like that.
99.6% of our customers running Microsoft real-time protection reported no infections.
Well if it can not detect some infections, it will report the system as clean. That is the problem of all AVs. :sarc:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo E525
    CPU
    AMD A4-3300M @ 2,0GHz
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6480G 512MB shared
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    WD 465GB
    Cooling
    Fusion Tweaker
    Keyboard
    Logitech K360
    Mouse
    Logitech M705
    Internet Speed
    50/50 MBps
    Browser
    Yandex
    Antivirus
    No AV & No Firewall
    Other Info
    Headphones: Sennheiser RS170
My tests with MSE are very positive and I strongly recommend it, paired with MalwareBytes Premium for personal computers.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
Perhaps you had better have a look at what the "prevalence" testing means.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
My tests with MSE are very positive and I strongly recommend it, paired with MalwareBytes Premium for personal computers.



Why Premium over the free version of MalwareBytes?

And what about the Exploit app from them?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 23-N010
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    8Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel 4600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" touch built in
My tests with MSE are very positive and I strongly recommend it, paired with MalwareBytes Premium for personal computers.



Why Premium over the free version of MalwareBytes?

And what about the Exploit app from them?

The exploit app for the most part is an excellent tool as well to use. I use it on my machines. The Premium is probably mentioned as it is the version with real time protection. The free version does not always protect you it's merely a scanner/remover when you tell it to, the PRO version will automatically scan items.

Edit:

I will say this about the exploit tool...there has been more than one time where the tool has blocked me from doing something I actually wanted to do. For example I deal with a lot of java applets you have to disable the program while using java applets.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    iBUYPOWER
    CPU
    AMD 8320
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon 7850
    Screen Resolution
    1024x768
    Case
    Azza Solaris
    Internet Speed
    50MBps download/10MBps upload
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes PRO
The Premium version has real-time protection, which the free version doesn't have and it has proven to be well worth the $25 a year for three devices. I'm testing the Anti-Exploit product right now and I'm not ready to give my opinion about it yet...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
Thanks for the feedback.

I noticed on MalwareBytes site that there is an Exploit Premium also. Unfortunately they don't seem to have a somewhat discounted bundle subscription for both. Seems odd.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 23-N010
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    8Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel 4600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" touch built in
I looked at Malwarebutes Anti-Exploit free and it didn't seem to offer much protection for me.
The free version doesn't cover much I use and isn't customizable.
I don't have Java on my systems, and use PaleMoon as my primary browser.
See the free/paid comparison:
Malwarebytes | Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit - Free Zero-Day Exploit Protection

I use MS EMET (free).
It covers a lot more and is customizable.
I've added apps such as PaleMoon, Nitro, Kingsoft, ... and haven't had any problems.
The Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit

Here's a SF EMET tutorial by Brink:
Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) - Windows 7 Help Forums
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Multi-Boot-PCs W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 x2 5600+ Dual Core
    Motherboard
    Abit nf-m2-nview
    Memory
    4GB ddr2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD 4670
    Sound Card
    on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32"
    Screen Resolution
    1360x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung EVO 250 GB, Samsung 1TB Sata, many others
    Keyboard
    Dell USB wired
    Mouse
    V7 USB wired
    Internet Speed
    Uverse 12D/1.5U
    Browser
    PaleMoon, Firefox, IE
    Antivirus
    Panda or Avast or Avira + MBAM Premium
Thanks for the info on emet. That's more work that I really want to do.

I'm very conservative about where I go on the 'net and have been one of those over the years that hasn't had any malware of any kind.

Now off to look for cross-platform (OSX/Windows) password managers/keepers. Keychain spoiled me!! :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 23-N010
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    8Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel 4600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" touch built in
I use MSE and malwarebytes pro in windows 7 , both protect in real time and both can be set up to do scheduled scans. I also use Malwarebytes anti exploit. Free. Sits in startup, uses nothing in memory and gives extra protection. This is enough protection, unless you do not safe surf, then it really does not matter what you use for protection.

In windows 8 i use WD and the rest i put above.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    4 Windows 7 Pro Sp1- 4 Win 8 Pro, 1- xp pro sp3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 390, 380, 3 Vostro Laptops (7 computers in all)
    CPU
    desktop/laptop
    Memory
    4gigs
    Graphics Card(s)
    atm randioum
    Hard Drives
    350,250
I am curious where contributors to these threads get their ideas from .

Hard for me to comment. Never had an infection, and never had an a/v warn about anything that was dangerous. A few FPs, that is all.

I used Avast for a long while. Now I am using Baidu , because it is is not annoying.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Like S!W2.
I would not care to say I have never had an infection in the past 31 years. But, those I have picked up have been minor inconveniences, rather than damaging.
I am not naive. Of course I could easily pick up a virus. But, I think the average user worries too much. Make sure any confidential data is safe and you should have no neurotic fears.
Heavy virus protection, I would suggest, is for the gamers and those who roam around those "doubtful" sites - particularly in the sex areas.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
Hi there

This is WINDOWS 8 or 8.1 so why are we even mentioning MSE which is for W7 !!! Windows 8.1 has built in system Windows defender --based but SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED on MSE.

For home users this is probably as much as you need -- in any case POST AV report comparisons are always a 100% waste of time since they are usually several weeks out of date -- and a NEW virus could appear at any time rendering the results of the previous report as totally USELESS.

These days AV isn't actually as big a threat as it used to be -- the money is in scamming people by directing them to bogus sites, making them open email with "nasties" in them which can get at private info or simply by people giving away too much private info on social media sites so that the criminals can get hold of passwords / bank account details etc etc.

Viruses are still around but the threat is actually much less than it used to be -- there's NO MONEY in it usually in attacking individual computers. There's a FORTUNE to be made (sadly) in identity theft, banking scams etc etc - and that's where you need to be mega careful.

Even downloading Video or music from torrent sites won't cause any problems if the files are genuine .MKV or .MP3 (or recognized video / audio codecs) type of files - don't open .rar, .exe, .zip etc. Anything say embedded in an MKV video file or an mp3 music file would either be treated as noise and skipped by the media player or wouldn't play at all.

The best AV system BAR NONE is YOU the user. Use the web intelligently and you'll find the built in Windows security system of W8/W8.1 mega OK.

(For Corporate / workplace computers different considerations apply - my remarks here are for HOME computers)

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Almost every single PC I've worked on for the past few years has had browser hijacks, fake AV, adware, toolbars galore, "driver update wizards", "download managers", etc.... that are nothing but garbage and load additional malware and ads on the PC. These people don't know what they're doing, don't have any AV or have expired AV on their PC and they have a ton of "freeware" that they downloaded that was the source of infection. They don't usually surf porn sites, it's mostly from CNet and other shareware download sites that get them into trouble. If you search for "Adobe Reader" on Google, the 1st few entries are malware sites....

After I'm done cleaning these PC's, they run much better and I install Malwarebytes as well as MSE (Win7) or make sure that Defender is enabled on Win8.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
newbie question

2 newbie questions:

In the past I've been told to not have more than one antibvirus installed / running at one time. I presently use Windows defender on my windows 8 computer and MSE on and older windows 7. Is it safe / ok to also install another program (ie malwarebytes pro) with real time protection at the same time?

We have a computer that we share at home with my teens and their friends also use at times with them. I insist that they don't download from web sites onto that computer. Is there still and increased risk visiting potentiallly dangerous sites if they don't download but only browse?

Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Windows Defender and Malwarebytes run well together, no problem. Whether your browsing or downloading you have to be vigilant there is always a risk. Any sign of trouble you should take corrective action. Nothing is 100 per cent fool proof.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
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