Early Evaluations of Microsoft’s Antivirus Software
On Tuesday, Microsoft made a test version of its free basic anti-malware service available in the United States, Brazil and Israel. A day later, downloads ceased in the United States as Microsoft reached its limit (75,000 downloads) for the beta. A reader rightly asked whether the product, dubbed Microsoft Security Essentials, was a quality one and how well it stacked up to the many other anti-malware products out there.
Microsoft Security Essentials hasn’t been put through its paces by the industry’s independent, third-party testers yet. However, the malware-detection engine behind it is the same as the one used by the put-to-pasture OneCare consumer product from Microsoft, which has done quite well against both free and paid rivals.
Comparing security software isn’t straightforward because of many new detection technologies developed in recent years, but there are multiple third-party tests that help paint a picture.
- Virus Bulletin’s April 2009 test of anti-malware products running on Windows XP with service pack 3 installed showed Microsoft OneCare’s detection rate was 81.2 % and, also good, it fired off zero false alarms. That score put OneCare among the top performers. It didn’t do as well as Kaspersky (92.2 %), McAfee (86.5 %) or AVG (89.7%, also free). However, it bested Symantec (75.2%) and Sophos (80.7 %).
- Antivirus Comparative’s May 2009 test measuring proactive detection of new attacks (as well as false-alarm rates) put OneCare in its top category of Advanced+, along with Kaspersky and ESET. In this test, it beat AVG, McAfee and Symantec.
Microsoft Security Essentials is also getting good reviews for usability. Paul Thurrott at Supersite for Windows says that it, as promised, runs very light, calling any impact on PC performance “imperceptible.” Moreover, installation “couldn’t be easier” and updates occur quietly without constant annoying pop-up messages. Ed Bott at ZDNet agrees.
However, all these positives don’t mean you should go ditch your paid security software programs. Microsoft Security Essentials doesn’t really include all of today’s security essentials –- there’s no managed firewall, for instance –- and it can’t manage multiple computers on a home network.
Security-software makers are certainly out defending the value of their more comprehensive products. “Referring to Microsoft’s basic antivirus and anti-spyware product as an essential security solution is misleading. Consumers need firewall protection, Web protection, antispam and identity safeguards,” said Symantec in a statement. “You can only get them through a full Internet security suite provided by security experts.”
Randy Abrams of ESET quips that Microsoft Security Essentials reminds him of an ad he once saw for Shoei motorcycle helmets reading, “If you have a $10 head, wear a $10 helmet.”
