Windows 7 Microsoft Security Essentials Gets Certified

AV-Test.org, a group with more than 15 years of experience in the area of anti-virus research and data security, has given Microsoft Security Essentials their certificate of approval. They tested 19 anti-virus and security applications in the second quarter this year, all but four certified: Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010, BullGuard Internet Security 9.0, Norman Security Suite 8.0 and McAfee Internet Security 2010.

The AV-Test team said, "During April, May and June 2010 we continuously evaluated 19 security products using their default settings. We always used the most current publicly available version of all products for the testing. They were allowed to update themselves at any time and query their in-the-cloud services. We focused on realistic test scenarios and challenged the products against real-world threats. Products had to demonstrate their capabilities using all components and protection layers."

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Source; Neowin.net - Microsoft Security Essentials gets certified

It is great that this is the case, but there are still many instances where MSE fails to live up to the gold standard. MSE consistently will not detect malware/viruses/and trojans embedded in phishing sites, nor will Internet Explorer's phishing ScreenFilter technology. It simply can't keep up with the pace of these attacks. Paid software, especially NOD32, is updated almost 3 or 4 times a day on most days with new definitions, and when we look at anti-virus we divide the capabilities into two sections, mainly:

1. Definition-based Detection (based on definitions supplied by the vendor)
2. Algorithmic-based Detection (or detection that is based from the software's heuristics and not pre-defined definitions)

NOD32 really stands ahead of the game in both categories. I have never seen an anti-virus detect a virus, from the host computer, on a virtual machine, but with NOD32. For me, it is the gold standard, and it has had consistently strong ratings in lab test results published at AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Welcome to AV-Comparatives.org AND AV-Test.org

These are independent study groups, and not magazines, which get paid endorsements (some I would suspect under the table - especially when we are talking about these mags actually recommended McAfee or Symantec)

By far, it can't match this paid solution. I have seen no better anti-virus, and probably never will. The Smart Security version is even better with its anti-phishing, anti-malware, and network filtering technology.

Thanks for the info Mike, but I wasn't looking for a lengthy discussion on who has the better AV.
I merely posted some general information that MSE was certified as a good AV. As pointed out in the article, all 19 products were tested using their default settings and was tested by AV-Test.org as you pointed out that your AV has received strong ratings from, so, MSE was not tested by some "magazine, which get paid endorsements (some I would suspect under the table - especially when we are talking about these mags actually recommended McAfee or Symantec)"


Regards,
Don