Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: Tobias4051 on January 10, 2012, 07:07:53 PM
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I've been using Avast for years, but I keep hearing / reading that Microsoft Security Essentials is good. Has anyone tried MSE? As this is the avast forum I presume readers are using Avast, why do you consider it the best choice?
I hear that MSE doesn't do a boot scan, what else does Avast free edition do that MSE doesn't?
Also, can you have 2 av programs on a machine if only one is resident and the other is only used as an on-demand scanner?
Many thanks for your help.
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As this is the avast forum I presume readers are using Avast, why do you consider it the best choice?
Because it is 3rd party. Because it uses the Freemium model. Because it maintains high word-of-mouth recommendation status over time. Because it is light but effective. Because it has Prevention and also Protection After Infection. Because it is an antivirus not made in America (the opposite of my usual mindset). Because it is orange. Because it has pirates.
Also, can you have 2 av programs on a machine if only one is resident and the other is only used as an on-demand scanner?
Not reccomended. You are free to try it....you are also free to try swimming the breadth of the Atlantic......
More plainly put, just don't do it. I tried, it went well for around 3-4 months.....then I got blue screens, weird detections, slowdowns, etc. There are vanilla scanners that work well with a installed resident AV. Here are 2 of them>>
http://www.superantispyware.com/
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
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No you shouldn't have two AV's on the same system, running or not.
Avast has an Email Shield, Behaviour Shield, Auto sandbox - free version, more configuration and lower resource usage with a fast and friendly forum ;D
Thats not to say that MSE isnt a good AV though because it is, im using the new MSE 4 Beta on one of my systems at the moment and it's working well but it just doesn't have those little extras that iv come to love about Avast so much :)
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As others have stated, Never use two A/V programs, It's just asking for problems.
As for MSE, I have it on all my users systems. The reason: It's install and forget. You get no ads,no up-sell or pop-ups and you don't have to remember to re-register every year.(Which comes in handy when you have 12-15 users to take care of) It's VERY stable ( I have yet to see MSE crash) also I've seen Zero false-positives. And the main reason, I get fewer calls because if MSE finds something it deals with it.
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I've tried to run both by accident.
Windows Update offered MSE as an optional installation.
I had a clear conflict that required MSE uninstallation.
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Tried MSE for a while, but yeah it doesn't have all the features Avast has, some reason though i don't know if it's Avast related or what, but having issue with Secondlife Search in both Offical Client and 3rd party one, but i guess despite all that, i'll just stay with Avast and live without a few things in the game
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One feature about avast! that I really love is the screensaver scan. It seems that most of my nasties are found during this scan. There are more features, believe me.
Any wonder why I have 5 paid versions? :)
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One thing that makes Avast beat Microsoft Security Essentials in my opinion is the autoSandbox.. ;D
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Tobias.
The only two free AVs recommended in Dell Security " Virus & Spyware " Forum are Avast! and MSE. Both are good. Avast for the more oriented user who like to tweak his security programs and MSE is for the user who does not want to be bother with it. However, if you ask me, and I have ran Norton, McAfee, AVG, Avira, and MSE in my comps or family comps, which is better. I would say Avast! of course. ;D
Regards.
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They're both good. I think it just depends on what you want to use each one for.
I prefer Avast because it offers more. But on one machine I couldn't get Avast to work properly no matter what I tried so I installed MSE. It was very stable and worked good. The machine I put it on doesn't have any private or sensitive information and it's not my primary computer so I figured MSE in conjunction with Windows Firewall would be fine, which it was. I wouldn't recommend MSE though if you have a dialup internet connection. As is typical of Microsoft their updates are bloated beyond belief. It usually updates three times a day and normally one of them will take 30-45 minutes, no joke. This was so unacceptable to me I ditched it.
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I have sold avast! to many companies and school districts bailing off of Microsoft Security Essentials. Many hated it, and another group has no faith in Microsoft's ability to stop infections. They cite Windows Defender as their example, which is worthless, and we remove off of every PC.
Also, as I recall, some of the latest A/V comparisons had them at the rear of the pack, also with too many FPs.
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Thanks for the personal experiences. They worth much more than cold-technical reviews.
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I have sold avast! to many companies and school districts bailing off of Microsoft Security Essentials. Many hated it, and another group has no faith in Microsoft's ability to stop infections. They cite Windows Defender as their example, which is worthless, and we remove off of every PC.
Also, as I recall, some of the latest A/V comparisons had them at the rear of the pack, also with too many FPs.
You sell avast! and MSE can't be sold, does that taint your opinion???
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As is typical of Microsoft their updates are bloated beyond belief. It usually updates three times a day and normally one of them will take 30-45 minutes, no joke. This was so unacceptable to me I ditched it.
Actually each MSE update is only around 200 Kb, it's the microsoft servers that are slow.
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Also, as I recall, some of the latest A/V comparisons had them at the rear of the pack, also with too many FPs.
I think you need to go and look at those comparisons again, MSE is pretty much on a par with avast and very few false positives, the downside for MSE is the configurability and scanning speed.
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I used MSE on the Vista machine here a while back. We wound up switching to Avast because MSE had updating problems, sometimes the updates would fail. There also was only one update per day. The big killer though was when program updates were available. On two straight occasions, the upgrade would fail halfway through after partially deleting and completely disabling the older version. This left the machine with no AV protection and the only thing I could do was to manually complete the uninstallation of the old version by searching for files and folders and then thoroughly cleaning out the registry before manually downloading and installing the new version. This would have been an impossible task for the person who uses the machine on a daily basis so after it happened the second time, MSE was history. I had installed it for her because it was much simpler and easier to understand than Avast but she has now been using Avast for about 9 or 10 months with no adverse issues whatsoever.
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I started working in the IT industry in 1974 and I'm still with that same company. I sold many antivirus programs over the years. I believe avast! is the best antivirus bar none! I haven't had a virus spread through an avast! protected network in the 9 years I have been selling and supporting avast! I have replaced Symantec, Norton, McAfee, AVG, Komodo, and MSE due to a virus spreading into every computer on customer's networks.
This is the number 1 I.T. nightmare. I have never had this happen with avast!. This should be the main criteria, in my opinion, when choosing an antivirus program.
There is no perfection in our industry, and there never will be. Every program has it's idiocracies. The best A/V programs, on average, stop 95% of virus, and 70% of spyware.
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In fact, both Avast and MSE are very good applications.
They only have a different approach.
http://www.av-comparatives.org/
Check the link above... and check other forums/blogs/sites
Google around.
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According to the latest VB100 zero day exploits test for WIN 7, it's MSE.
Which brings up the issue of platform dependence and anti-malware performance. For example, MSE scores poorly on XP.
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Also, Avast is very light on resources, while MSE is not as light as someone says. Try to open a folder with a lot of executables files... the system freezes for some seconds.
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They're both good. I think it just depends on what you want to use each one for
Can't wait for the beta of avast! 7 since right now I'm stuck with MSE on the Windows 8 Developers Preview. :'(
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XP is 80% less secure than Windows 7. I have resellers that have specifically asked "How can you secure XP, we can't, so we don't sell it!"
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I have resellers that have specifically asked "How can you secure XP, we can't, so we don't sell it!"
Well, sure you can secure XP. ;)
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XP is 80% less secure than Windows 7. I have resellers that have specifically asked "How can you secure XP, we can't, so we don't sell it!"
??? How does this relate to the Subject of this thread ??? :)
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XP is 80% less secure than Windows 7. I have resellers that have specifically asked "How can you secure XP, we can't, so we don't sell it!"
??? How does this relate to the Subject of this thread ??? :)
Good question ;) ::)
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We alerdy have a review on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AzWIYvl39Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z19BPNYlkd8
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We alerdy have a review on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AzWIYvl39Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z19BPNYlkd8
More youtube rubbish ::)
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As others have stated, Never use two A/V programs, It's just asking for problems.
As for MSE, I have it on all my users systems. The reason: It's install and forget. You get no ads,no up-sell or pop-ups and you don't have to remember to re-register every year.(Which comes in handy when you have 12-15 users to take care of) It's VERY stable ( I have yet to see MSE crash) also I've seen Zero false-positives. And the main reason, I get fewer calls because if MSE finds something it deals with it.
MSE is ok. In fact, for newbies who don't know a thing about computers, I would probably recommend MSE and something like My WOT. It really is "Set it and Forget it."
BUT, I like and use Avast over MSE because of the following:
1.) Avast updates at least 2-3x a day. MSE only once every 24 hours.
2.) Avast has more thorough virus and malware detection than MSE.
3.) Avast has better help. You can come here and get answers. Harder with MSE and MS.
4.) Avast has Boot Time Scan and stronger heuristic detection.
5. BIG PLUS FOR AVAST: Full Scans can be done in about 20-45 mins. Try running a full scan on MSE. It can take 6-8 HOURS (or worse!) That is one of the biggest pitfalls of MSE.
In fact, if Avast had automated registration, I would take it over MSE for everybody.
Marc? Do you personally use Avast? I like your reasons and comments.
Jack
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In fact, if Avast had automated registration, I would take it over MSE for everybody.
There are a lot of users who think this way. You're not alone.
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In fact, if Avast had automated registration, I would take it over MSE for everybody.
There are a lot of users who think this way. You're not alone.
A wish list for Avast 7? ;D
Jack
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In fact, if Avast had automated registration, I would take it over MSE for everybody.
There are a lot of users who think this way. You're not alone.
A wish list for Avast 7? ;D
Too late for avast 7 unless they already have it in the program, nothing new would be included at this late stage, with the beta release towards the end of this month or next.
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i find it hilarious that Tobias4051 started this topic 4 days ago and hasn't participated since ;D can anyone tell me why i should use avast rather than avira? i heard avira is better ;D
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i find it hilarious that Tobias4051 started this topic 4 days ago and hasn't participated since ;D can anyone tell me why i should use avast rather than avira? i heard avira is better ;D
The only real way your going to know is to test it for yourself otherwise it's i heard this and i heard that ;)
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Please not again; an almost useless "comparison", started from the middle of another *almost troll* "comparison".
(I might get a bad response about this comment, but I say this with no bad intention. And of course, I can avoid reading this topic, but IMHO this type of topics may tend to add very little while mostly adding confusion to most users. Now, if anyone wants it, go ahead and keep posting "comparisons".)
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After reading the former posts of yuerkxkbcwpfwb i suspect troll >:(
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After reading the former posts of yuerkxkbcwpfwb i suspect troll >:(
See his list of posts. At least he is not a "frequent" troll (if any) :)
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After reading the former posts of yuerkxkbcwpfwb i suspect troll >:(
See his list of posts. At least he is not a "frequent" troll (if any) :)
He certanly is as he promotes Avira over avast!
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=91694.msg729970#msg729970
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He certanly is as he promotes Avira over avast!
Hi guys!
Did you never heard, that Avira brought in a Trojan horse? I had two of them upon 2 computers of my friends. And there was no chance of rescue! So I had to kill the HDs with installing the system and every program. >:( >:( >:(
But after that I installed avast! and everything was ok. ;D
That's my experiance. Somebody must learn it the hard way.
Best regards
HDW38
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He certanly is as he promotes Avira over avast!
HDW38, I never said that. You've missquoted me :)
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He certanly is as he promotes Avira over avast!
HDW38, I never said that. You've missquoted me :)
The quote was made by YoKenny not Tech, ???
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The quote was made by YoKenny not Tech, ???
Yes, definitely an error.
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I doubt MSE has code emulation technology and heuristics...
correct me if i am wrong.
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I doubt MSE has code emulation technology and heuristics...
correct me if i am wrong.
Being that your supposed to be in computer repairs :-\ so i would think you should already know the answer to your question, Mse does use heuristics and code emulation through it's behaviour monitoring feature.
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I doubt MSE has code emulation technology and heuristics...
correct me if i am wrong.
Being that your supposed to be in computer repairs :-\ so i would think you should already know the answer to your question, Mse does use heuristics and code emulation through it's behaviour monitoring feature.
thanks for the info craigh i have never used or recommended MSE To anyone...my grandfather has it i never have paid attention to it though...i have always move around avast and avira for my clients pc which i have cleaned :)
No doubt, i personally prefer,use and like avast!
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Around 6 months ago, I've installed MSE on my brother's laptop as he wanted to have it. However it's lightweight but lack of advanced features N settings. But my bro experienced a virus attack while having MSE (Win32 or some sort of thing) via USB flash drive. MSE detected that virus after being attacked and couldn't remove it. Then I used AVG on same laptop as I couldn't find avast setup on his laptop. Same happened and failed to remove. After that I've downloaded avast N installed on that laptop. Avast detected it and once after restart, the threat has been removed. So still my bro using avast without any problem.
Just my experience... :)
Cheers...
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i know..even my cousin's USB stick had Autorun malware..he said he was clean..he had mcafee...
and then when i visited him i removed mcafee and installed avast....immediate detection of INF-Autorun@bhv
his pc and his USB was cleaned subsequently...
My experience :)
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We all know that no AV is perfect. MSE does use heuristics and other things that are not visible to the user. When it finds something suspicious, it checks the AV servers for new definitions that have not been released in a package yet and if there are any, it applies those. According to MS, it looks through databases of all it's security systems in that process. MSE, Smart Screen, Defender, and the MRT might even be used to remove anything detected. It actually is not a bad product at all but I had problems with it and I prefer Avast. MSE is heavier on resources and much slower in scanning speed.
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MSE can improve if they can just directly block connections with the virus rather than going through a cleanup process that takes some seconds...i guess ::)
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I honestly can't see how you can make this comment, given your previous statement, "i have never used or recommended MSE To anyone".
I doubt MSE has code emulation technology and heuristics...
correct me if i am wrong.
Being that your supposed to be in computer repairs :-\ so i would think you should already know the answer to your question, Mse does use heuristics and code emulation through it's behaviour monitoring feature.
thanks for the info craigh i have never used or recommended MSE To anyone...my grandfather has it i never have paid attention to it though...i have always move around avast and avira for my clients pc which i have cleaned :)
No doubt, i personally prefer,use and like avast!
But that doesn't seem to stop you.
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I honestly can't see how you can make this comment, given your previous statement, "i have never used or recommended MSE To anyone".
@true indian,
As a true American Indian once said:
"I think he speaks with fork tong."