Comments on: Microsoft Security Essentials is doing well

By: woody

woody — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:44:34 +0000

@Ed -

Any brokerage house worth its salt will have you log in under a secured connection (”https”). So your big worry isn’t from sniffing – from people eavesdropping on your conversation.

The big problem with public PCs is keyloggers – rogue programs that record what you type, and then send the info to Kazbukistan.

If you’re using your own PC, and somebody else’s WiFi, with traffic over a secured connection, that greatly reduces the chances of having problems.

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:04:27 +0000

Hi Woody,
I like to use the wi-fi (of my isp) or the library free hotspot to log on to my brokerage accounts. What kind of software /hardware I should use to prevent my user id and password being intercepted? Will MCE do the job?
Thanks for your help.
Ed

By: harry eckert

harry eckert — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:07:33 +0000

Thanks Woody !!

By: woody

woody — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:48:57 +0000

Harry -

Absolutely. MSE is its own antivirus and antispyware program. And it’s a very good one.

Oh. Did I mention? It’s also free….

By: harry eckert

harry eckert — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:38:02 +0000

You’ve got a great discussion group. I take from what I read that you can use MSE as a stand-alone with no need for any other protection such as AVG.

By: woody

woody — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:49:48 +0000

Sanda -

No danger, as long as you don’t open your wallet and pay for “protection” you don’t need.

By: sanda

sanda — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:16:24 +0000

I’m tech-slow. Since so far, AVGfree is doing OK, I’d like to stay with it, plus the other things Woody, you have suggested such as Firefox. Is there any danger? If the only complaint is the scare warnings, well – I’ve been through it before. The thought of having to learn another thing in that area….only if really necessary, p l e a s e…

By: woody

woody — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:17:25 +0000

I’ve seen the Avast scare screen and it’s… scary.

Don’t know about Comodo.

All of my downloads are from the US, same as you. I use 100% US versions of all software, although I’ve lived in Phuket, Thailand for almost ten years now.

By: Bob Primak

Bob Primak — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:34:20 +0000

Footnote to previous post: I have never used Avira. It was AVG Free and Paid, as well as Zone Alarm Free and Paid, which I have dropped, along with Norton 360 Version 2. (Norton 360 would not allow Firefox 2 to update its Extensions — a definite Deal-Breaker for me.)

By: Bob Primak

Bob Primak — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:30:30 +0000

And Sanda —

So far, there have been few if any reports of widespread problems with MSE or its updating mechanism. Which is more than I can say for AVG Free.

Avast, Malwarebytes and Comodo have been trouble-free for me, except that there was a brief problem when I added PC Tools Threatfire to the mix. With Threatfire gone, all is well with my little laptop. (And Woody, Threatfire also never used any nags or “scare screens” to prompt an upgrade, although there are reminders at their web site that there is an upgrade available.)

I am planning on upgrading to a new Windows 7 laptop when the initial fuss dies down. Then I would like to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and use MSE — just to encourage what for Microsoft seems to be a turning point in their attitude towards Home User security issues.

Why encourage the Third-Party Security Racket when you can let Microsoft do what they should have been doing all along — offering their own solution to their security issues. But don’t dump those free secondary scanners just yet! They still have their place, in my opinion.