MSE vs Avast! Free

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robertwj

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Yes there are daily posts about choosing a good AV but i would like to know from YOUR personal experience which of these two free packages (Microsoft Security Essentials & Avast!) has worked better for you and why?

What are the detection rates and speeds against each other?
 
MSE is better than Avast in my opinion due to the fact that I have seen it perform better than Avast on a few PCs.

Remember that MS allowes you to install their AV on any PC running legit windows. I guess it is a ploy to encourage users to rather have legit windows than running a pirated version.

Also free to small businesses running less than 10 PCs. - unless that has changed in the last few months.
 
I prefer to put Avast free anti-virus on peoples computers because it offers more features and it just as good as MSE. Otherwise it's a paid copy of Eset.
 
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robertwj said:
Yes there are daily posts about choosing a good AV but i would like to know from YOUR personal experience which of these two free packages (Microsoft Security Essentials & Avast!) has worked better for you and why?
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I install MSE on clients machines & it does what it is designed to do. Its basic without many features which is suitable for some users. It detects suspect files quickly, however a full system scan can take some time.
 
There was a recent study and comparison about all the free anti-virus software packages and it came out that MSE is simply the best. I tend to agree.
 
Had McAfee and that abomination slowed my work laptop to the point of being useless, then installed avast and it was pretty cool. No problems with it.

But then I got bored and installed MSE and it's by far the best I used. It just "stays out of my way" if you get what I'm saying. MSE is the best AV solution for me by far.
 
Using Avast for 2years and with no problem!
Had MSE and Kaspersky and been virused! but it was two years ago and this Av's tend to change a lot, so the lists and comparisons say!
 
MSE has the advantage of being made by microsoft, for microsoft products, so it has a near if not perfect 0% false positive detection rate. Not to say other AV solutions can't achieve this, but MSE is an in house product where as other AV's are third party solutions.

I use MSE for antivirus, router for primary firewall defense and chrome sandbox for browsing. Pretty safe if i don't purposely allow something to run when the UAC kicks in on win7.
 
I've never used Avast, but I've seen MSE in action before and based on that, I'd recommend Avast. It is understandable that MSE has so few false positives, mainly because it has so few positives to begin with.

Sure, if you're using MSE and you're a cautious user, then you probably won't get a virus anyway... but in real life, loading it for a standard user that clicks on anything that pops up and puts flash drives in their computers from just anywhere, it is pretty useless.
 
ViperGTI said:
I've never used Avast, but I've seen MSE in action before and based on that, I'd recommend Avast. It is understandable that MSE has so few false positives, mainly because it has so few positives to begin with.

Sure, if you're using MSE and you're a cautious user, then you probably won't get a virus anyway... but in real life, loading it for a standard user that clicks on anything that pops up and puts flash drives in their computers from just anywhere, it is pretty useless.
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What a load of tolly.

/facepalm
 
I started using MSE from Norton and I love it. Here's why:

>It uses windows 7 security features that are already built into the OS which means minimal resource use.
>Its quiet and does its thing with minimal interference.
>No annoying pop up windows, which I know avast is famous for.
>When the ***** hits the fan, it works and works well. I have had a few cases of viruses from dirty flash drives but MSE handled it quickly and with minimal interference. (I hate it when I get a pop up window saying you F**ed up and theres a virus running lose, >MSE just has a little pop up in the corner of your screen saying your computer is under risk and whould you like to clean it)
>MSE is dead simple and I love it for it.
>Causes no firewall problems with external connecting and sharing
>Its free
>It updates along with your windows updates

and my best reason of all

Who knows Windows better than Microsoft.
 
ChocolateBadger said:
I started using MSE from Norton and I love it. Here's why:

>It uses windows 7 security features that are already built into the OS which means minimal resource use.
>Its quiet and does its thing with minimal interference.
>No annoying pop up windows, which I know avast is famous for.
>When the ***** hits the fan, it works and works well. I have had a few cases of viruses from dirty flash drives but MSE handled it quickly and with minimal interference. (I hate it when I get a pop up window saying you F**ed up and theres a virus running lose, >MSE just has a little pop up in the corner of your screen saying your computer is under risk and whould you like to clean it)
>MSE is dead simple and I love it for it.
>Causes no firewall problems with external connecting and sharing
>Its free
>It updates along with your windows updates

and my best reason of all

Who knows Windows better than Microsoft.
Click to expand...

That has changed in the latest version (4). Now they just remove it without need for your intervention.
 
ViperGTI said:
I've never used Avast, but I've seen MSE in action before and based on that, I'd recommend Avast. It is understandable that MSE has so few false positives, mainly because it has so few positives to begin with.

Sure, if you're using MSE and you're a cautious user, then you probably won't get a virus anyway... but in real life, loading it for a standard user that clicks on anything that pops up and puts flash drives in their computers from just anywhere, it is pretty useless.
Click to expand...

/goes in search of facepalm pic.

Be right back.

EDIT:

Facepalm-1.jpeg
 
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Hamster said:
/goes in search of facepalm pic.

Be right back.

EDIT:

Facepalm-1.jpeg
Click to expand...

Say what you want, but I've seen MSE fail every time when loaded on a non-IT person's computer. This both in our own company as well as with friends and family. There is a reason I recommend to stay away from MSE.

As for Avast, although I haven't used it personally, I know people who do use it and they're very happy with it. Personally I prefer Avira (which is what I was using before converting to a paid anti-virus), but that wasn't in the OP's question.

I like the facepalm pic though
 
ViperGTI said:
Say what you want, but I've seen MSE fail every time when loaded on a non-IT person's computer. This both in our own company as well as with friends and family. There is a reason I recommend to stay away from MSE.

As for Avast, although I haven't used it personally, I know people who do use it and they're very happy with it. Personally I prefer Avira (which is what I was using before converting to a paid anti-virus), but that wasn't in the OP's question.

I like the facepalm pic though
Click to expand...

I'll give you a +1 for mentioning Avira, but still think MSE > Avast on a Windows machine.
 
Avast is better than MSE anyday of the month...finish en kla!!
We have MSE at work and I have Avast at home. Scan a friends flash at work, picked up nothing. Took it home to copy him something, scan at home, picked up 4 virusses...
 
I swear by MSE, the only time I don't recommend it is when the PC is really really old. And by old I mean even Noah would climb off his ark, give the thing a look like -> :wtf:

Anything that is capable of running XP well, get's MSE. It's installed on my laptop, my SO's laptop and just about every other PC that I have spent more than 5 minutes on.

One thing I did like about Avast...the voice clip that played every time it did something - update, detection etc. :D
 
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