Belated said:
RufusMcLaser said:
Over the last few years I've used McAfee, Norton, and Microsoft Security Essentials on my various household computers and my vote is with Microsoft for this one. It's an all around winner- unobtrusive, stable, and not at all a resource hog (the best selling point of all!). And it's free.
From time to time I hop online and use a web-based scanner from another company to check for blind spots.
I'm thinking Microsoft Security Essentials, but I'm a little concerned. If I scan files with that program, will the nature of those files be collected and logged by Microsoft? Will they know everything that's on my computer?
Within the settings of Microsoft Security Essentials, there are 3 levels of what information is relayed back to Microsoft, known as the Microsoft Active Protection Service (MAPS):
I don't want to join MAPS said:
No information is sent to Microsoft. You won't be alerted if unclassified software is detected running on your PC.
Basic membership said:
Send basic information to Microsoft about malware and potentially unwanted software that has been detected, including where the software came from, the actions that you apply or that apply automatically, and whether the actions were successful.
Advanced membership said:
In addition to basic information, more information is sent to Microsoft about malware and potentially unwanted software, including the location of the software, file names, how the software operates, and how it has impacted your PC.
These options are easy to find and are completely transparent, and are also covered by a privacy policy that you can read before choosing an option and running MSE.
You have nothing to lose by installing MSE and reading the MAPS settings and privacy policy for yourself, before you decide whether to let it scan your computer.
You can also specify which files and folders it scans, so if you have anything you don't want to be scanned, don't select it.
I think Microsoft Security Essentials is a great "free" anti-virus, except it's not really free as you pay for it as part of your Windows licence and Microsoft have a vested interest in ensuring that every computer that runs their operating system is kept malware free, which means will be supported just as well as, if not better, than any other anti-virus software.