- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/7
- Date added: September 29, 2009
- Total Downloads: 66,235
- Downloads last week: 4,323
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 97 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on September 28, 2009
The successor to Microsoft Live OneCare, Security Essentials (full review here) takes a different approach to securing your computer. The program is free with core security features intact, but abandons the additional heft of a firewall, performance tuning, and backup and restore options. Under a clean and uncluttered interface, Security Essentials wraps antivirus and antispyware engines, rootkit protection, and real-time detection courtesy of Microsoft SpyNet, the unfortunately named cloud-based service that compares file behavior across computers.
There are four tabs, each with a concise, understandable label: Home, Update, History, and Settings. From Home you can run a Quick Scan, Full Scan, or Custom Scan, and a link at the bottom of the pane lets you change the scheduled scan. In the Settings window you can schedule scans, toggle default actions, adjust real-time protection settings, and create whitelists. An Advanced option here is still fairly basic, allowing you to set Security Essentials to scan archives, removable drives, create a system restore point, or allow all users to view the History tab. Security Essentials uses labels imported from OneCare: green for all good, yellow for warning, and red for an at-risk situation.
Independent test numbers for Security Essentials weren't available at the time of writing, although OneCare scored high detection rates. On a real-world machine, the Quick Scan completed in less than 30 seconds. Benchmarking tests from CNET Labs reveal that Security Essentials actually makes starting up and shutting down faster, but the Full Scan is much slower than many competitors. RAM usage was not insignificant, with 85 to 90MB used during a full scan, but it felt lighter. Security Essentials is basically a good set-it-and-forget-it security program, but if you want more options, you should look elsewhere.
Watch the CNET video review of Microsoft Security Essentials:
Publisher's description
From Microsoft :With Microsoft Security Essentials Beta, you get high-quality protection against viruses and spyware, including Trojans, worms and other malicious software. And best of all, there are no costs or annoying subscriptions to keep track of.
Security Essentials is easy to install and easy to use. Updates and upgrades are automatic, so there's no need to worry about having the latest protection. It's easy to tell if you're protected - when the Security Essentials icon is green, your status is good. It's as simple as that.
When you're busy using your PC, you don't want to be bothered by needless alerts. Security Essentials runs quietly in the background, only alerting you if there's something you need to do. And it doesn't use a lot of system resources, so it won't get in the way of your work or fun.
What's new in this version:
This is the first version on Download.com.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.3 stars out of 97 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 97 user reviewsSee all 97 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0.1611.0
"Very satisfied by product MSE"
Pros: -real time security ( protection can wipe out threats even before the first full scan)
-automatic updates(couse I have use Windiws update)
- 8.5MB download installs in about a minute
-installations went smoothlyCons: - long timeing for scan :(
- full installation occupied over 170MB of my disk space
-requested a reboot to complete the cleanupSummary: Installing the free Microsoft Security Essentials will protect your system from malware more effective if You use Windows 7 (like me) 'couse W7 have already built in Network firewall protection option !!!
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0.1611.0
"Perfect for the everyday user...."
Pros: Simple to install, tiny footprint, set and forget in the truest sense, daily updates and all for free. What more do you want? Avast is also great, but this just pips it in my opinion. Perfect for your everyday user.
Cons: None. It's great.
Summary: As mentioned above, just install it and forget all about it. It's removed all viruses it's detected on my machine without a problem. Highly recommended.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0.1611.0
Pros: First it's a great product being that it is free. I mean what product has a better detection rate than lets say, Norton. Second is light weight and it updates on its own, although I do it manually just to stay ahead.
Cons: No cons what so ever people say its slow, it boges down the computer. no it doesn't. its faster than avast, norton, mcafee.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0.1611.0
Pros: Sure it may not detect everything, but it does really good. After downloading something that you know that has viruses, custom scan the file you, it should get rid of it; but don't download anything from major pirate sites, it can't remove major ones
Cons: Absolutely nothing.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0.1611.0
"Praise Go up for Microsoft Security Essential, it is #1"
Pros: Suddenly my computer was attached with a Exploit:Win32/Pdfjsc.Cr Microsoft Security Essentials immediately stop the virus and request me to clean my computer it was able to remove it right away. A trojan:Win32/FakeXPA was quickly stopped by MSE
Cons: Nothing- Everything is perfect for what I get
Summary: Without the Microsoft Security Essential telling me what to do when the Trojan horse got into my computer I would have been out of all my computer files and passwords. Thank You Microsoft Security Essential, Someday I may be able to afford the paid ... read more >>
- See all 97 user reviews Write review
