June 25th, 2009

AV-Test calls Microsoft Security Essentials "very good"

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 5:54 am

Categories: Security, Software

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Security, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

I know that it’s hard for some people to accept it, but Microsoft is capable of getting things right. One such example of “getting it right” is Microsoft Security Essentials beta. While some security vendors have been quick to dismiss this new tool, the independent testing company AV-Test ranked the beta product as one of the best security products tested.

Check out the Microsoft Security Essentials installation and UI gallery

AV-Test GmbH tested Microsoft Security Essentials, the free software Microsoft launched yesterday in beta, on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, putting it up against nearly 3,200 common viruses, bot Trojans and worms, said Andreas Marx, one of the firm’s two managers. The malware was culled from the most recent WildList, a list of threats actually actively attacking computers.

“All files were properly detected and treated by the product,” said Marx in an e-mail. “That’s good, as several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet.”

Not only that, but Microsoft Security Essentials didn’t throw up false positives, and also worked well at removing rootkits.

The way I look at it, if Microsoft Security Essentials actually turns out to be a good product, then that’s good news for all of up. First, it provides a good security baseline for those folks out there who don’t want to pay for security. Secondly, it’ll mean that other commercial security vendors will have to raise their game. After all, there’s plenty of scope - maybe keeping an eye on patches (both Windows and third-party ones), highlighting installed apps that contain a vulnerability, better network and device management, or maybe even real-time sand-boxing.

There’s plenty left to do!