Hmm if you don't trust Microsoft for security, why do you use their OS Windows? If the OS is unsafe your security will be bad even with the best anti-virus--and anti-virus programs are the least important element in computer security.

I think there must be few people who thought like that. :P I think MS stopped offering a paid product because they hadn't been very successful competing in the anti-virus market. They actually don't publicize MSSecEs a lot, if the Windows Security Center finds no anti-virus installed it directs you to a list of third-party vendors:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/49500

Now MS sticks with Windows Defender (which is now in Vista and 7 an OS component that you can't un-install) and MSSecEs. I don't know if MSSecEs is really worse than the late OneCare in terms of protection, or if it's customer support what they decided to dump as unprofitable.

Hmmm... I am not expert, but I think there would be better Internet Security solutions such as Russian Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS), Comodo Internet Security, Russian Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro (OSS).

Good news! Comodo and Agnitum have free versions! However, I don't know if Comodo Antivirus would be reliable. And Agnitum uses Hungarian VirusBuster AV technology. :what: :dunno:

On the other hand, I think Comodo Firewall and Agnitum Outpost Firewall have the best reputation amongst firewalls. :2thumbs:

And about Kaspersky... no comment. I think its Internet Security is better than McAfee, Symantec and other well-known security solutions. :2thumbs:

I am currently using Outpost Firewall Pro (lifetime license :clap: :OK: :2thumbs: :rocks: :kuger:) and avast! Free Antivirus. It works fine!

About Anti-Virus solution, I guess the best and well-known ones are Kaspersky AV and Slovak ESET NOD32.

OK, I know Symantec, McAfee, Panda, Trend Micro and Microsoft(?) are huge and also world leading security companies, but size does not matter. And besides, smaller companies have usually faster, easier and more reliable security solutions!

By the way, BullGuard uses Agnitum Outpost technology. And besides, many security solutions uses Kaspersky technology such as Online Armor, Check Point ZoneAlarm, F-Secure.

@ Darth & Japo. It seems MS Security Essentials is virus protection only, with no firewall, back up, spam filter, scheduled scan, etc. I like to have an all-in-one package. :whistling:


@ Mystvan. I had Kaspersky for a few months last year, before I went on to AVG, and it was the worst. It slowed my pc down to snail's pace, and it kept corrupting itself (I kept getting error messages about it's white list being corrupted). Check Poin Zone Alarm is one I had forgotten about. It does look good. Maybe I'll download trial version of it. Thanks. :rolleyes:

*Cough* http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/l...lmet86/mse.png

Windows already has a Firewall, if I am trusting there security service (which has worked better then the paid service...i.e no false reporting of files as viruses when they aren't and accurate spotting of real threats.) I think I can trust their firewall. But I can understand if you don't want to use the program. Just putting what I use out there.

I don't really know what you mean by spam filter...email spam? Cause my Gmail catches that by itself.

Okay, I was wrong about scheduled scan. Sorry about that. LOL
And I appreciate your, and everyone else's comments about this, thanks. :3:

And yeah, I meant email spam. :perv:

Really? I am very surprised. Well, I am using Outpost Firewall Pro, Kaspersky Internet Security and McAfee (:headslap: :suspicious:) with no problems.

Anyways, I hope you would find your best security solution! Good luck! :hello:

I am sorry, but if you are talking about Windows Native Firewall... I really wish you good luck! :whops:

Windows Firewall vs. Kaspersky & Comodo & Agnitum Outpost & Online Armor!? The winner!? They all but Windows Firewall. Windows Firewall really sucks since it lacks very essential features. You can get good free firewalls.

I think some products from Microsoft really suck as Windows Internet Explorer. :headslap: :whops:

That's fair enough. In my case, Opera takes care of the spam, and I do my backup with a custom WinRAR profile. And I disabled the default scheduled scans because they were always negative... If your scheduled scans catch anything, obviously it means that all that software let something in.

But I object to the firewall, all that about outbound filtering (which Windows has in Vista and 7) and application monitoring being necessary, is simply not true. I used that kind of software in the past, but when I learned my way around computers better, I discarded it and went back to the Windows firewall. Not to mention that anything behind a router with NAT is already firewalled inbound regardless of its software.

You say that like I actually have a choice...

And no, Linux is not a choice. Not when 99% of all the programs you can purchase works out of the box in Windows and not on other OSes...

And Mythvan is right about the Windows native Firewall. At least in XP. Its not even a firewall, it is a cheese hole. Better not use it than use a firewall at all!

Or better yet, get a real firewall... One which works!

MS Security Essentials was originally a component that came free with Windows, but they were legally required not to include it owing to monopoly legislation or anti-competition fears. It's designed to work from the side of knowing what should be running to keep your OS working properly, and so it can remove malware without worrying about too many virus definitions. I know an ex-NASA programmer who swears by it.