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Microsoft Security Essentials & Malwarebytes

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Just to re-cap & enlighten you to the comments on this thread, my PC practically locked-up over the weekend & it turned out to be an update from Malwarebytes (unbeknown to me) which apparently crippled my PC + many others using the same program until they released another update. To avoid further side-tracking another thread please post your thoughts here. Smile 

SoccerDude28 - 28 January 2018 05:44 PM
chrissie - 28 January 2018 02:36 PM

EDIT: That’s quite unnerving actually. You get your PC protected as much to the hilt as you can & the protection is the thing that brings your PC to almost a standstill!  Embarassed 

I know I am sidetracking here so sorry about that. This is exactly why I don’t use any anti-virus/anti malware programs anymore. The overhead of those running is worse than taking the risk of getting a virus, plus microsoft windows 7 -> 10 has a not-so-bad anti virus software built in. Just run windows not as an administrator, do not click any attachments from unknown contacts in email, do not browse shady unknown websites, and you should be good.

Jabod - 30 January 2018 02:10 PM
chrissie - 30 January 2018 01:25 PM

Thanks for the advice SoccerDude!  Thumbs Up I just have the in-built Security Essentials but do pay for the Premium version of Malwarebytes following some nasty stuff I needed to get rid of - must be all those shady sites I visit!  Laughing Seriously for the most part I don’t but have ended up with trojans anyway so I’ll hang on to Malwarebytes for the time being! Smile

Apologies for continuing the side-tracking but needs must Smile

Microsoft Security Essentials is absolute rubbish and dangerous to rely on. Ask any IT professional (I’ve been in the business since 1971 ) and can tell you that not only wouldn’t I go near it but every anti-virus tester I’ve read would agree.
Should anyone want any further information then drop me a PM or post a request in the Hints And Technical Support Forum.

 

 

     
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Jabod - 30 January 2018 02:10 PM


Microsoft Security Essentials is absolute rubbish and dangerous to rely on. Ask any IT professional (I’ve been in the business since 1971 ) and can tell you that not only wouldn’t I go near it but every anti-virus tester I’ve read would agree.
Should anyone want any further information then drop me a PM or post a request in the Hints And Technical Support Forum.

Hey Jabod, what do you think of the built in MS anti-virus in windows 10? So far I have been using it and it seems good. I have other issues with Win 10 performance (like the dreaded mandatory telemetry Pan  Pan), but when it comes to anti-virus, it seems to be doing its thing in the background without hogging my CPU resources. I have not had any malware/virus incident for the last few years (knock on wood). I have used many anti virus programs over the years(Norton, Mcafee), and they all seemed to take way too many CPU cycles and resources, that they felt like viruses themselves.

     
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SoccerDude - 15 February 2018 12:22 PM
Jabod - 30 January 2018 02:10 PM


Microsoft Security Essentials is absolute rubbish and dangerous to rely on. Ask any IT professional (I’ve been in the business since 1971 ) and can tell you that not only wouldn’t I go near it but every anti-virus tester I’ve read would agree.
Should anyone want any further information then drop me a PM or post a request in the Hints And Technical Support Forum.

Hey Jabod, what do you think of the built in MS anti-virus in windows 10? So far I have been using it and it seems good. I have other issues with Win 10 performance (like the dreaded mandatory telemetry Pan  Pan), but when it comes to anti-virus, it seems to be doing its thing in the background without hogging my CPU resources. I have not had any malware/virus incident for the last few years (knock on wood). I have used many anti virus programs over the years(Norton, Mcafee), and they all seemed to take way too many CPU cycles and resources, that they felt like viruses themselves.

You say that you’ve had no infections, but how do you know? If they’ve got past your protection and are using the PC as part of a botnet it’s unlikely you’d ever know. That’s the one big problem of PC security software. It leads us to believe that, as it’s installed, we’re safe. As recent scares have made people aware (Wannacry, Meltdown, Spectre) you can be infected with something that isn’t widely known about.
Anyway. Back to your question. The answer being, to my mind, is it’s crap. You’ll be far better off paying for one. The big trouble being, what one?
Of the two you quote I’d steer well clear of McAfee. I did hope that when Intel bought the company things would improve but it appears that was false hope. Norton, on the other hand, has improved massively in not being a resource hog. It deservedly earned that reputation some years ago but they completely re-wrote the software and how it went about its business and is now one of a few I’d recommend.
Personally I use Kaspersky and have recently bought again for the coming 12 months. It’s been complained about for being a touch complex to play around with for the average person in the street but you can just install and forget about it. Some years ago I switched from Norton (for precisely the reason you complained of) to Bitdefender. I moved off that one about 3 years ago for various reasons and stopped suggesting it. From reports I’ve read over the last 9 - 12 months it appears to be a very good product again and is often the recommendation of choice, particularly if you just install, set it to auto-pilot (this may well be the default setting) and forget about it. Of the free ones then the only one really is Avast. That does get annoying with constantly urging you to upgrade to the paid version but, other than that, does a reasonable job.
All the other free ones I’d avoid.

     

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Jabod - 15 February 2018 01:52 PM

You say that you’ve had no infections, but how do you know? If they’ve got past your protection and are using the PC as part of a botnet it’s unlikely you’d ever know. That’s the one big problem of PC security software. It leads us to believe that, as it’s installed, we’re safe. As recent scares have made people aware (Wannacry, Meltdown, Spectre) you can be infected with something that isn’t widely known about.

I tend to look at processes running in the task manager (which is how I learned about MS’es telemetry program because it kept hogging disk and CPU). Usually, if I see anything running beyond 1% CPU or disk, and I don’t know what the program is, I take note and do research about it. So far it seems to have worked as I get pretty optimal CPU/Disk usage, but if there is something malicious that is running and barely uses any resources, that I cannot know.

     
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SoccerDude - 15 February 2018 03:48 PM

I tend to look at processes running in the task manager (which is how I learned about MS’es telemetry program because it kept hogging disk and CPU). Usually, if I see anything running beyond 1% CPU or disk, and I don’t know what the program is, I take note and do research about it. So far it seems to have worked as I get pretty optimal CPU/Disk usage, but if there is something malicious that is running and barely uses any resources, that I cannot know.

I’m certainly not going to criticize that SD as I do the same thing myself when trying to sort out laptops and PCs for people that appear to be misbehaving. However, have you spotted the flaw in your approach?
If you find something untoward via Task Manager that is malicious it means you’re already infected and have to take action. Decent security should mean that it doesn’t happen in the first place. You’ll no doubt say that, so far, you’ve not found anything untoward and long may that continue. I still wouldn’t rely on MS’s security though.  Smile

     

Life is what it is.

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