Microsoft From Cellar to Stellar in New Antivirus Test

[Agata]

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.

 

[loveandpower]

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.

 

[TairikuOkami]

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.

 

[azasadny]

My tests with MSE are very positive and I strongly recommend it, paired with MalwareBytes Premium for personal computers.

 

[SIW2]

Perhaps you had better have a look at what the "prevalence" testing means.

 

[lparsons21]

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?

 

[loveandpower]

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.

 

[azasadny]

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...

 

[lparsons21]

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.

 

[DavidE]

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

 

[lparsons21]

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!!

 

[robinb9]

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.

 

[SIW2]

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.

 

[davehc]

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.

 

[jimbo45]

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

 

[azasadny]

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.

 

[jlsound]

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.

 

[Nuccii]

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.