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Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one here
have any thoughts on this AV program?

On Sun, 2 Sep 2012 21:55:14 -0400, Edwin T wrote:

> Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
> reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
> trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
> install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
> didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one here
> have any thoughts on this AV program?

Ok..got rid of MSE and installed Avast AV (free). Hopefully one day MSE can
update or make a better product.(lol..microsoft?) However, what can one
expect from something thats free?

Edwin T wrote:
> On Sun, 2 Sep 2012 21:55:14 -0400, Edwin T wrote:
>
>> Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
>> reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
>> trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
>> install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
>> didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one here
>> have any thoughts on this AV program?
>
> Ok..got rid of MSE and installed Avast AV (free). Hopefully one day MSE can
> update or make a better product.(lol..microsoft?) However, what can one
> expect from something thats free?

There are a couple sites, that specialize in testing AV applications.
AV-comparatives comes to mind. But I think there was one other site
someone mentioned the other day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AV-Comparatives

Those review sites will tell you what percentage of malware is
detected. There are two kinds of detection to consider. Detection
by signature (known malware). Detection by heuristic (malware
tried to attack system, AV senses attack and stops it, based
on what the malware is attempting to do). No product rates a 100% rating.
But some are pretty bad (in the sense that, if you surf infested sites,
your computer is not going to stay malware free for very long). And if you
find the review documents, you can figure out, just how bad, and what
product you might want to buy.

If you look at those reports, you'll see that the commercial companies
vary a lot, in the kinds of products they sell. Microsoft is just
"in the pack", in terms of skills. I don't think it's particularly
the price of the product that matters here - even the commercial
companies vary a lot in terms of skills, so it could be a function
of how good the people working there are.

Paul

"Edwin T" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
> reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
> trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
> install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
> didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one here
> have any thoughts on this AV program?


MSE works very well for virii that you do not actively install. Of course,
this assumes you do not turn MSE off.

When you get a message WE ARE GOING TO CHECK YOUR SYSTEM FOR ANNOYING
THINGS, do not click OK because the checker of annoying things will
install -- wait for it -- annoying things.

NEVER EVER allow something that volunteers to do stuff do the stuff it
volunteers to do.

One thing that a virus does VERY WELL is it protects itself from stuff like
MSE. If you get a virus, it will prevent MSE from even starting, and it can
prevent Websites that offer other virus detection applications from opening.
You might be able to open Yahoo.com, but Microsoft.com will fail to open. Of
course, Avast.com and Norton and McAffee might all fail to open also.

I've been using MSE since they first put it out, and it has worked for me
perfectly. The only times it has not worked is when people -- other machines
that I put it on -- turn it off OR they allow random offers to find annoying
stuff to install annoying stuff.

"Edwin T" <> wrote in message
news:15mqxw06nv8ct$....
> On Sun, 2 Sep 2012 21:55:14 -0400, Edwin T wrote:
>
>> Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
>> reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
>> trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
>> install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
>> didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one here
>> have any thoughts on this AV program?
>
> Ok..got rid of MSE and installed Avast AV (free). Hopefully one day MSE
> can
> update or make a better product.(lol..microsoft?) However, what can one
> expect from something thats free?


Avast is free, what can you expect from it?

MSE is way better than Avast.

"Jeff Strickland" <> wrote in message
news:k22gp9$bf5$...
>
> "Edwin T" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
>> reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
>> trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
>> install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
>> didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one here
>> have any thoughts on this AV program?
>
>
> MSE works very well for virii that you do not actively install. Of course,
> this assumes you do not turn MSE off.
>
> When you get a message WE ARE GOING TO CHECK YOUR SYSTEM FOR ANNOYING
> THINGS, do not click OK because the checker of annoying things will
> install -- wait for it -- annoying things.
>
> NEVER EVER allow something that volunteers to do stuff do the stuff it
> volunteers to do.
>
> One thing that a virus does VERY WELL is it protects itself from stuff
> like MSE. If you get a virus, it will prevent MSE from even starting, and
> it can prevent Websites that offer other virus detection applications from
> opening. You might be able to open Yahoo.com, but Microsoft.com will fail
> to open. Of course, Avast.com and Norton and McAffee might all fail to
> open also.
>
> I've been using MSE since they first put it out, and it has worked for me
> perfectly. The only times it has not worked is when people -- other
> machines that I put it on -- turn it off OR they allow random offers to
> find annoying stuff to install annoying stuff.
>
>
Jeff,
You seem to have just contradicted yourself:
"> One thing that a virus does VERY WELL is it protects itself from stuff
like
> MSE.
Then
> I've been using MSE since they first put it out, and it has worked for me
> perfectly. "

Reason I'm asking is I've used AVG and Avast Free version and just recently
removed them. PC was bogging down while online while the Avast globe whirled
in systray. I installed MSE just to see if any better integration with IE8
and still 'hangs' when loading a complex page ( like Yahoo.com - full of ...
crap). If I use Firefox or Chrome, then Yahoo.com loads fine with any AV
program. So I was gonna go back to Avast or AVG. MSE nags every week that I
have not done a full scan. I've got 280gb and 168GB drives but C partition
is only 30gb. MSE doesn't have a very tweakable interface.

Of all of these AV prgs, NAV is the only one I've found that has had a
choice of " Shutdown system when scan is completed" . At least with that I
used to be able to run full scan and just leave the house - rather than
having system on until I come home.

"- Bobb -" <bobb@noemail.123> wrote in message
news:k22m95$ib5$...
>
> "Jeff Strickland" <> wrote in message
> news:k22gp9$bf5$...
>>
>> "Edwin T" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> Guys...does Microsoft Security Essentials suck as a virus scanner? The
>>> reason I ask is that in the last 6 months ive been hit by 2 malware
>>> trojans. Both times Ive had to do format the hard drive and do a full
>>> install. One of the viruses was called "sirefef.ab" Im not sure how MSE
>>> didnt catch these or even able to clear it out of my system. Any one
>>> here
>>> have any thoughts on this AV program?
>>
>>
>> MSE works very well for virii that you do not actively install. Of
>> course, this assumes you do not turn MSE off.
>>
>> When you get a message WE ARE GOING TO CHECK YOUR SYSTEM FOR ANNOYING
>> THINGS, do not click OK because the checker of annoying things will
>> install -- wait for it -- annoying things.
>>
>> NEVER EVER allow something that volunteers to do stuff do the stuff it
>> volunteers to do.
>>
>> One thing that a virus does VERY WELL is it protects itself from stuff
>> like MSE. If you get a virus, it will prevent MSE from even starting, and
>> it can prevent Websites that offer other virus detection applications
>> from opening. You might be able to open Yahoo.com, but Microsoft.com will
>> fail to open. Of course, Avast.com and Norton and McAffee might all fail
>> to open also.
>>
>> I've been using MSE since they first put it out, and it has worked for me
>> perfectly. The only times it has not worked is when people -- other
>> machines that I put it on -- turn it off OR they allow random offers to
>> find annoying stuff to install annoying stuff.
>>
>>
> Jeff,
> You seem to have just contradicted yourself:
> "> One thing that a virus does VERY WELL is it protects itself from stuff
> like
>> MSE.
> Then
>> I've been using MSE since they first put it out, and it has worked for me
>> perfectly. "
>

When you click ACCEPT or OK or some other form or affirmation, then you are
inviting stuff to invade your machine that ANY antivirus program is likely
to ignore. Back in the olden days it was required that you disable the AV
program to install a new EXE file because the action of installing something
was by definition an invasion. The problem was that people complained that
things they wanted to install were installed incorrectly or not at all
because of the work that the AV program is designed to do. So, they taught
AV to allow most installations and only seek out virii that is embedded in a
file of some type.

Now, you want to install Google Chrome (for example), and are asked to
accept a crap-load of Toolbar Add Ons and other stuff that is supposed to
make your life better. You become accustomed to clicking OK, then OK again
for the license agreement, then ACCEPT again and again. You stop reading the
dialog boxes, and click the affirmatives that keep popping up. Life goes
on...

Before long, you visit a page that you intend to go to and there is a dialog
that pops up, WE DETECT AN ANNOYING PRESENCE, DO YOU WANT US TO CLEAN IT FOR
YOU? You react as if your AV program is telling you this, but it isn't. The
page has code built into the middle of it that makes the dialog pop up, and
when you click OK, then you just gave permission for the AV to take a break
while a new EXE is installed. Buried in the EXE is the virus you hope to
avoid. Basically, the dialog that offers to save you from an annoyance is
itself asking permission to install the annoyance you want the AV to avoid.
There is no AV program that can detect against this. Well, a good AV can
protect against a poorly written execution of this, but what self-respecting
virus writer does a poor job of writing a virus?

So, when you visit a page that is viurally enhanced, your AV program will
catch it -- in my case this is MSE. But when you visit a page with a simple
pop up that encourages you to click YES (or a variation of yes), then you
are asking for trouble when you click.

Always click NO unless you specifically took action that resulted in the
question of clicking Yes or No. If you did not specifically do something
that causes the equivelent of ARE YOU SURE, then click no. If you were the
safety minded person you make yourself out to be, you would stop everything
and invoke which ever AV program you have running and have it do a Quick
Scan.




> Reason I'm asking is I've used AVG and Avast Free version and just
> recently removed them. PC was bogging down while online while the Avast
> globe whirled in systray. I installed MSE just to see if any better
> integration with IE8 and still 'hangs' when loading a complex page ( like
> Yahoo.com - full of ... crap). If I use Firefox or Chrome, then Yahoo.com
> loads fine with any AV program. So I was gonna go back to Avast or AVG.
> MSE nags every week that I have not done a full scan. I've got 280gb and
> 168GB drives but C partition is only 30gb. MSE doesn't have a very
> tweakable interface.
>

You can set MSE to scan whichever partition you want on any schedule you
want. All you have to do is leave the machine running overnight, and set teh
scan to run while you sleep. Any AV program will demand the machine be on,
and if the scan is taking place while you are working, then of course the
machine will slow down.

I don't even know MSE is running most of the time


> Of all of these AV prgs, NAV is the only one I've found that has had a
> choice of " Shutdown system when scan is completed" . At least with that
> I used to be able to run full scan and just leave the house - rather than
> having system on until I come home.
>
>

What's wrong with setting your Sleep Settings in the Display Properties
(right click on the Desktop and choose Properties, then Screen Saver) so
that the display goes dark after 10 minutes <whatever>, then 10 minutes
later set the HDD to go off? Then you can walk away at any time, and when
the scheduled scan time comes around then the machine will wake up and scan
itself and then go back to sleep until you come around and want to do
something.

Your issue isn't with MSE, it's with IE. IE is a pig.