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Windows Defender (also Microsoft Security Essentials MSE) - Mini-Review

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Darwin:
Thanks for the review, Iain. I used MSE exclusively, and without any problems, for about 3 years (2009 to 2012). I now have a Norton AV subscription (base AV, no firewall or anything else), because in April 2012, on my Windows 7 install, MSE stopped working entirely. After fussing and farting around for a couple of days trying to fix it (including loading an image file predating it ceasing to function), I started researching alternatives and settled on Norton. I am REALLY pleased/impressed - this is not the Norton that I recall from 2003 or so - as the hit on my computer resources is nil and the AV functions well.

Now, in July I started running Windows 8 preview, then the RTM version, and could probably be running MSE. However, havning paid for three years of Norton protection (got a deal when I purchased), and I can't bring myself to dump Norton, yet... I did dump Bitdefender, VIPRE and Spyware Doctor with AV with years left on their respective subscriptions when they started to hog resources, so we'll see how this goes in the future.

TaoPhoenix:
For me for some time now MSE runs really heavily at boot up, enough so that I am starting to think about replacing it. There was a report elsewhere with the generally disturbed tone that AV isn't as good as most people hope it is, remarking on some delays for it to pick up brand new malware. MSE scored straight in the middle of their tests, with a couple of (newer?) companies I hadn't heard of scoring higher. 

Unless it's just really good at background protection, I can sorta count the number of MSE blocking events on one hand all last year.

IainB:
In October 2010, I heard about and downloaded MSE for trial as soon as I read about its being released free for personal and small business use. Previously, I had tended to follow my eldest son's advice and used Avast! and then AVG. When I asked him about MSE (he was supporting the network operation for a kiwi bank at the time) he exclaimed "It's free? I didn't know about that. We use the MSE virus-checking engine on our servers and it's regarded as being one of the best there is. It has to be a good deal at free. Go for it."

The only real trouble I have had so far with MSE was when a critical Windows Update affecting MSE just would not complete, so I deinstalled MSE, ran CCleaner at max clean level, restarted everything, and then reinstalled MSE, and then the update went OK. I suspect that the problem was of my own making, as I had been switching between MSE ß releases and final releases, and I reckon I could have got the registry entries for MSE versions in a bit of a conflicting bind.
I have not otherwise experienced MSE causing any problems - e.g., a severe CPU load or lockup as may have been the case in some comments above.

IainB:
2013-08-24: Minor update and new example of threat (Worm) quarantine.
Latest version details updated:

* Antimalware Client Version: 4.3.215.0
* Engine Version: 1.1.9800.0
* Antivirus definition: 1.157.246.0
* Antispyware definition: 1.157.246.0
* Network Inspection System Engine Version: 2.1.9800.0
* Network Inspection System Definition Version: 107.2.0.0

IainB:
2015-05-14: Opening post updated and renamed as "Defender/MSE" to reflect the reality and implications of Defender now being built-in to (bundled with) the Windows OS for Windows 8 and upwards, though it is still available separately as "MSE" for earlier versions of Windows.

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