MSE vs Avast?

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I’m keeping an open mind and looking for opinions. Not trying to start a fight!

I like Avast. I have used it for years. Lately it’s gotten rather bloated and everybody says switch to MSE, which supposedly takes less RAM, etc.

I tried MSE about a year ago, for about a month or two. I ended up switching back to Avast. Here’s why.

With Avast, I know it looks for updates every four hours (configurable). I also know – thanks to the popup and voice notification – when it is updated. It’s not so important to know when it’s been updated, but it’s peace of mind to know that it has been updated.

With MSE, I was never sure if it was even checking for updates, let alone being updated. Sure, the icon was always green, but that just means it was up to date the last time it checked – which could have been when I installed it.

Maybe things have changed since then. Maybe MSE has incorporated some sort of easy-to-find notice of when it was updated last. Or how often it checks. Can anybody give a hearty recommendation for MSE over Avast? I don’t mean just a half-hearted “yeah, try it, what have ya got to lose”, but a real endorsement, like “you’re nuts if you’re still using Avast, everyone should be using MSE or be banned from the internet.”

Or should I just stick with Avast?
Thanks!

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I think MSE still updates once per day automatically. But you can open the program and click the update tab to read the date/time of the last update. And click the update button there at any time to manually update within about a minute. But I don’t think Windows 7 would let it slip for long before telling you that your antivirus is not up-to-date. The latest Microsoft Security Essentials Prerelease 4.1.204 may be faster than previous versions.

BTW, you’re nuts if you don’t use it. 🙂

Bruce

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I also use MSE in Win 7 and Windows Defender in Win 8 RP. In fact Avast has not been updated for Win 8 yet (unless it was recently done) I have never suffered a successful virus or malware attack, and until recently MSE or WD were the only security apps running in real time (I also use both S/W and H/W firewalls)

I did try the beta version of AVG 2013 on my Win 8 RP install and had problems with it and subsequently went back to WD in Win 8 RP.

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I think, speaking from personal experience, it depends what other security is installed.
I use Outpost Firewall Pro on both my computers, if it is installed when MSE is on my PC, it gives NO notification of any compatible issues. My CPU then runs at almost maximum, making my PC almost unusable.
If Avast is installed, OP FW Pro informs me it’s not fully compatible and does not allow install of it’s Web Control & Antispyware modules. As I don’t use these modules, I can safely install my FW and only have to add Outpost to Avast’s exclusions list. PC runs perfectly.

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I don’t use any other security software (firewalls, anti-malware, etc) just Avast. I have been running Windows 7 like that for over a year with no issues. I do use NoScript on Firefox. And Windows Defender updates every time I check Windows Update, but I have no idea if it is running, how it runs, when it runs, how it works, etc. I did use it momentarily, with the little icon in the tray, but the icon no longer shows up there, so I assume it’s not running….

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I still use Avast! and I’ve tried each publicly available version of MSE. I prefer the extra configuration options available with Avast.

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MSE will display a different icon if the virus and malware data are out of date.

31413-MSE

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MSE will display a different icon if the virus and malware data are out of date.

31413-MSE

I guess my point though is that Avast is never out of date, because it’s always updating itself. This image just reinforces my thoughts that I have to keep vigilant when using MSE. With Avast, I don’t have to think about it.

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I guess my point though is that Avast is never out of date, because it’s always updating itself. This image just reinforces my thoughts that I have to keep vigilant when using MSE. With Avast, I don’t have to think about it.

Actually no. The image is from my Windows XP mode, which i use very infrequently. If it was always online, this would never happen.

The image was meant to show that MSE will inform you if it is out of date, but if you are online and everything is properly configured, it won’t get out of date.

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You should use what you are most comfortable with.

My system gets turned off or placed into a deep sleep mode when I am not using it, so virus def updates do get missed.
I use MSE because it is low on resources and has a small footprint. I don’t have any problem whatsoever updating virus defs manually, which is
what you have to do if your power down frequently. It takes a few seconds and one or two clicks to get it done.
There is also cross updating with WU, if you leave WU on and actively downloading/installing, which I don’t.
There can also be custom update and scan options configured via the taskscheduler.

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