[VR-Zone] Microsoft's Security Essentials loses certification after failing AV-TEST

[zalbard]

I can hear the gales of laughter echoing through the Internet from all those people who love nothing better than smack talking Microsoft and its products following the news that the company's free security software package Security Essentials has lost its certification after bombing the security testing done by AV-TEST labs.

While Security Essentials scored exceedingly well when it came to usability - 5.5 out of 6; which included false positives and system resource impact, but fell down really hard when it came to zero-day protection where it only picked up on 64% of new threats in comparison to the industry standard of 89%.

Apparently its heuristics engine is where the problem seems to be, and which has been reported as a problem before, and the lack of a solid behavioral scanner, something that has increasingly become an industry standard requirement. On a slightly positive note though MSE did manage to detect 100% of malware that was three months or older.

The other areas that failed to impress the team at AV-TEST was the less than stellar way that Security Essentials handled the removal of "critical system modifications" with a repair score of only 3.5 out of 6.

As a fan of MSE it is sad to see, what was once regarded as a really good security software package by the industry, start this kind of downward slide. I guess it's time to find a new anti-virus package.

More here.

Those using MSE, watch out, it may be potentially dangerous.

[wez]

Not like there are any other alternatives, unless you enjoy over-bloated crapware.
Common sense > Any AV.

[mattkosem]

Common sense > Any AV.

[SKYMTL]

That really is too bad. I detest nearly every other AV scanner out there.

Hopefully MS will pick up on this and fix things sooner rather than later.

[Final8ty]

Not like there are any other alternatives, unless you enjoy over-bloated crapware.
Common sense > Any AV.

Another

[metachronos]

The only AV program I liked was NOD32.

[BababooeyHTJ]

BTW, av-comparatives and dennistechnologylabs came to a similar conclusion. I lost faith in MSE a long time ago. That program has been going downhill for a long time now.

Not like there are any other alternatives, unless you enjoy over-bloated crapware.
Common sense > Any AV.

Legitimate websites never get compromised.

That really is too bad. I detest nearly every other AV scanner out there.

Hopefully MS will pick up on this and fix things sooner rather than later.

Its been like this for at least six months now and apparently getting worse. Hopefully this will get their attention. I still have my doubts.

I honestly find just malwarebytes to be far more reliable than MSE at this point.

[=SOC= Admiral]

I too use common sense over an AV. The only reason I have an AV on my laptop is so that my colleges network will let me onto the internet. My desktop usually doesn't run an AV but I have been too lazy to Uninstall MSE since lanfest.

[masterg]

I got Norton 2010 for like 2.99 in a clearance bin used it to upgrade to 2011/2012 and I love it, its seamless, i never notice it at all even though its always running. don't notice scans and doesn't use anything system wise.

[Hornet331]

doesn't use anything system wise.

No, just no, stop fooling yourself... it guzzles resources like crazy. A SSD system with norten feels like a HDD system in case of launch times.

[BababooeyHTJ]

No, just no, stop fooling yourself... it guzzles resources like crazy. A SSD system with norten feels like a HDD system in case of launch times.

No it doesn't its one of the lightest AV softwares on the market.

I can't speak for Norten IS even though I've heard good things but the anti-virus is no more intensive than MSE.

[STEvil]

common sense wont always protect you unfortunately.

Just go visit deviant art for an example of a "legitimate" website that isnt safe.. bogus ads roll through about once every two or three months it seems.


Norton just straight up sucks.

[stangracin3]

I got Norton 2010 for like 2.99 in a clearance bin used it to upgrade to 2011/2012 and I love it, its seamless, i never notice it at all even though its always running. don't notice scans and doesn't use anything system wise.

So you bought a virus?

I too use common sense over an AV. The only reason I have an AV on my laptop is so that my colleges network will let me onto the internet. My desktop usually doesn't run an AV but I have been too lazy to Uninstall MSE since lanfest.

same here. never use it though

[dasa]

most av will slow boot\load times and any that dont are not very secure
avast can add ~25% to the time it takes to boot a laptop
mse is one of the lightest and it still slows things down

[Generic user #2]

Legitimate websites never get compromised.

well, common sense involves using UAC, not torrenting bad files, and actually running security updates on both your browser, its plugins, and your OS.

also involves using ad-blockers as well, or at the very least 'on-demand' mode for plugins.

honestly, i have not seen ANYTHING get through UAC* that didn't come from torrenting and on up-to-date systems.

*one time when i intentionally DLed a suspicious file**, it got through my test AV and only UAC caught it. removing it took another 3 anti-malware tools.

**was trying to see how easy it was to catch a virus; I hadn't got one on any of my systems for 4+ years at that point

[Andrew LB]

Norton just straight up sucks.

I really hate to admit it... but the latest Norton Antivirus is actually very good. I've used it for 6 months now and it has caught everything i came across, almost to the point of being just annoying because it had a habit of flagging and quarantining non-virus'.

I have been a norton hater since the windows 95 days, but their current product is solid.

[rado992]

I really hate to admit it... but the latest Norton Antivirus is actually very good. I've used it for 6 months now and it has caught everything i came across, almost to the point of being just annoying because it had a habit of flagging and quarantining non-virus'.

I have been a norton hater since the windows 95 days, but their current product is solid.

See, it's not just about catching the cr@pware, it's about not catching false positives. For instance, if I make an AV that blocks or sandboxes any executable because "it might be a threat" (which, technically, it could be) it will still score great on catching the viruses, but at the expense of extreme user annoyance. The closest I've gotten to an unobtrusive AV seems to be Avast (in silent mode I forget that it's even running), though that also spends some of its time disabled because of a nasty a habit of sandboxing every application that I compile and run manually. I know, understandable since it could just as well be malware that's running hidden, but quite annoying since i compile a lot . The best-case scenario would be no AV + a solid dose of common sense, but I prefer to have an option for that one time when something goes wrong.

EDIT: Here's their latest report on various AV solutions, I found it interesting enough to share: http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home...7/sepoct-2012/

[BababooeyHTJ]

I really hate to admit it... but the latest Norton Antivirus is actually very good. I've used it for 6 months now and it has caught everything i came across, almost to the point of being just annoying because it had a habit of flagging and quarantining non-virus'.

I have been a norton hater since the windows 95 days, but their current product is solid.

Yeah, it felt just wrong installing Norton but it does appear to work pretty well. I also don't notice any hit in performance. Sadly like you I had a few false positives too. I would rather that than it not catch anything at all like MSE.

[paulbagz]

Wonder what this is like for Endpoint Protection as it is effectively and extension of MSE...

-PB

[zalbard]

Wonder what this is like for Endpoint Protection as it is effectively and extension of MSE...

-PB

Probably about the same.

[paulbagz]

Would wanna hope not!

-PB

[Chickenfeed]

I've used Comodo's firewall in tandem with various AV software over the years and its been solid ( not to mention a plethora of other tricks and safeguards). If software can't phone home in the event that something malicious gets through, it stops there. The majority of the security suites have average at best software fire walls ( and windows firewall is a complete joke )

The issue with proper security is it can and will impact the user no matter what. If it doesn't it isn't true security. Its a placebo. Its unfortunately an all or nothing thing for it to be truly effective. User friendliness and convince have to take a back seat when security is involved. That said the average person is unwilling to go to such lengths nor is knowledgeable enough to do so which is why cyber crime is as lucrative as it is. Given the whole thing is such a cat and mouse game pleading common sense is pretty laughable.

[safan80]

Let's think for a moment...

How many windows machines have you had to clean malware/tojan/viruses/whatever where the user had been using Internet Explorer?

99.9% .. and my experience some were even using Security Essentials and it was update to date... In most cases you switch the other to any other webrowser Opera/chrome/firefox and advise the user to only use IE on web sites that don't work without it and they rarely ever have a problem. MS can't even stop MSN or hotmail from being hacked so why would you trust their av/firewall products??

One might say there's a pattern there I personally would use the above MS products, but at the same time it's MS' way of keeping IT going and that's important.

[Santas]

^^^ winner

[mattkosem]

Legitimate websites never get compromised.

Most of my browsing is done on a Linux system with NoScript installed in the browser and set to block all except those sites with exceptions. I've not encountered anything getting through such a setup, nor heard of anything getting through it. Even on Windows systems, though, appropriate security measures avoid 99.99% of any problems you may encounter.

AV software, by nature, makes your computer slow. It cannot effectively prevent/detect malware (especially 0 day threats) without monitoring everything that is going on, and that monitoring isn't resource-free. You do whatever you like, but I'll stick with a not very permissive script blocking strategy, browser running with heavily restricted access, and common sense approach. I've not encountered any malware infections in years using that strategy, and I'm sure the same is true for many others.

--Matt