Microsoft Security Essentials
A newer version of Microsoft Security Essentials is available.
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Excellent
Full user review
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"Better Than I Thought"
Pros
Just works! No nag screens, no adverts, no constant downloads. Easy up-dates. Using it for over a month and no bad items have gotten through. It uses far fewer resources than I thought - so it lets you surf faster - faster than Avira, Avast, AVG. Pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it program.
Cons
Scans run a little slow.
Summary
All these so-called AV labs that post reviews of AV software keep writing claiming Microsoft Security Essentials sucks - but who owns them and is paying their bills? And they all post different results. I've found (to my surprise) MS Security Essentials keeps the bad guys out, is easy to use, doesn't bombard you with nag-screens and adverts, and speeds up surfing over the other free AV programs.
Even these so-called AV "Lab" reviews all showed MSE gave zero false positives. Say hello to your donkey for us.
Updated on Apr 20, 2012