Microsoft Security Essentials Makes the Grade

As reported by Computerworld, independent testing results by AV-Test.org indicated that Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) antivirus software passed a preliminary antivirus exam with flying colors.

"AV-Test GmbH tested Microsoft Security Essentials, the free software Microsoft launched yesterday in beta, on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, putting it up against nearly 3,200 common viruses, bot Trojans and worms, said Andreas Marx, one of the firm's two managers. The malware was culled from the most recent WildList, a list of threats actually actively attacking computers.

'All files were properly detected and treated by the product," said Marx in an e-mail. "That's good, as several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet.' "

Microsoft Security Essentials was also tested by AV-Test.org against legitimate files and there were no false/positives. Since I am a firm believer in using System Restore before making any system changes, a particularly nice feature of Microsoft Security Essentials under "Settings > Advanced" is the pre-checked option to "Create a system restore point before applying actions to detected items."


In the event a false/positive should occur, using System Restore will quickly resolve the issue. I am not aware of any other antivirus software using that feature.

Should you use USB flash drives on public computers, I strongly recommend checking the box to "Scan removable drives".

According to the report, Microsoft Security Essentials also did well in anti-rootkit tests and its ability to remove malware from the system.

Reference:

• Antivirus testing outfit: Microsoft Security Essentials makes the grade

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