Avast Vs Microsoft Security Essentials

[Tobias4051]

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.

[Gargamel360]

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

[CraigB]

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  

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  

[Marc57]

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.

[Lisandro]

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.

[bikemanAMD]

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

[jadinolf]

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?

[Coolmario88]

One thing that makes Avast beat  Microsoft Security Essentials in my opinion is the autoSandbox..

[iroc9555]

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. 

Regards.

[norel]

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.

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

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.

[Lisandro]

Thanks for the personal experiences. They worth much more than cold-technical reviews.

[rdmaloyjr]

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???

[CraigB]

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.

[CraigB]

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.