Virus and Malware Protection On The Cheap Via Microsoft Security Essentials

Recently, I’ve started using Microsoft Security Essentials after running into trouble with my computer in a rather odd manner. The program resolved the problems I was having, was easy to install, is light on computer resource usage, and best of all is free. I’ll describe the problems I encountered with my previous antivirus software and how MSE has successfully resolved even some issues that I thought were unrelated.

Can’t Open Adobe PDF File Regardless of Windows Version

A few weeks ago, I ran into an annoying problem. I received a PDF file that I couldn’t open. It was yet another letter from my ex-wife’s lawyer. Although I hate reading these hateful diatribes of distortion, lies, and false accusations, I did need to read it because they usually end up being filed with the court and various other parties and I would probably need to respond. Although I could save the file on my computer, I couldn’t open it!

I tried on three different computers running Window Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit. All of them would save the file, but none of them could open it. When I doubled-clicked on the file, nothing would happen. I looked in the Task Manager and saw that Adobe Acrobat 9.x started. I terminated it and tried again on each computer with the same results. This file would not open up!

Could the Culprit Be Third Party Software?

Bizarrely, the file could be opened by a friend who was also running Vista 32-bit. What gives? Why should I have so much trouble simply opening a small PDF file less than 1MByte in size?

It turns out that all of the computers that refused to open the file were running Norton Internet Security 2010 (NIS 2010). The one that would open it was running Norton 360 V3.0. Was this a coincidence? It didn’t seem likely.

Searching for Resolution

To be sure it wasn’t some artifact of “bit rot”, a phrase one of my former coworkers uses to describe how running computer software seems to degrade over time for no apparent reason, I rebooted the computers. Still, none of them could open the file!

I found that Gmail could display the PDF via its web-based PDF viewer. So I could read it, finally. But my reaction to it was the usual revulsion. It was more of the same garbage about how I’m the source of all evil in the world, can’t understand English, violate rules, etc. Somebody else who later read the letter and who has read many such letters in her line of work was shocked by how vitriolic, even bordering on abusive, the scummy lawyer was being. Yet I told her it was tame because it was. Nothing about the endless false accusations regarding being a criminal, sex pervert, child abuser, wife beater, etc. in this letter, kind of nice for a change. Yet it still looked pretty horrible to a person not used to seeing the endless stream of attacks coming from my ex-wife and her negative advocate lawyer. Truth be known, after many years of being harassed like this, I am a bit scared of opening my email and mail because all too often these attacks and others appear and every time I get one of these it leaves me in a bad mood for at least a few days. I love my kids and want to be a part of their lives, yet their mother’s destructive campaign to eliminate me as a father has cost the kids and me dearly.

The hostile content of the attack letter soon became a secondary point because days later it became clear they were off their rockers yet again in ways that just make them look abusive and stupid. With that resolved, my attention shifted to how I was rather annoyed that none of the computers I used could open the file in the installed Adobe Acrobat 9.x versions.

I discovered that the problem wasn’t the Adobe Acrobat version. My friend’s computer was using one of the same versions that didn’t work for me.

I was suspecting Norton Internet Security 2010 could be the problem by now. I uninstalled it from one of the computers that couldn’t open the file. A reboot was needed for fully removing the program. To be on the safe side as the Internet is full of malware and viruses and I’m at particular risk due to the endless hostile activities of my ex-wife and her associates, I disconnected the network cable from the computer.

After reboot, I clicked on the file. It opened right away!

Norton Internet Security 2010 was indeed the culprit.

Trying Microsoft’s Free Antivirus Solution

It’s annoyingly to have to buy upgrades for the usual Symantec, Norton, McAfee, et al virus programs every year for every computer. I had been wondering if Microsoft’s new Security Essentials (MSE) program announced in 2009 might be a good option, but given my inclination to not fix something that wasn’t broken, I hadn’t given it a try. But here was the impetus to try it, even though my subscription for Norton hadn’t run out.

I went to the web site for Microsoft Security Essentials. The program will easily work on Vista and Windows 7. I noticed it is also available for Windows XP although the installation files are much larger because XP is so old and didn’t include some of the newer features built into Vista and 7 which MSE uses. The Windows XP version only supports 32-bit XP, not 64-bit. By contrast, MSE supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Vista and 7.

The only big catch to MSE is that you have to be using a genuine copy of Windows. For me, that’s no problem. I guess this is Microsoft’s way of providing an incentive to people to use legitimate copies of Windows as it can save them the recurring cost of third party internet security software.

MSE doesn’t include a new firewall. It uses the one built into Windows. It also turns off Windows Defender because it replaces its malware detection and reporting functionality.

The installation was very easy. I installed it on both a computer running Vista 64-bit and another running Windows 7 64-bit. Both had no problems. Initially the program wants to do a quick system scan, but I opted for a full system scan. While the scan took hours, it had little impact on my perceived performance on a two year old computer with an Intel Core 2 Quad processor and 8GByte of RAM even though it was scanning hundreds of gigabytes of files. While it was scanning, I tried to open up the nasty PDF file. It worked just fine. So did all of my other usual activities. If I didn’t look at the hard disk drive activity light or MSE and Task Manager screens, I wouldn’t have been aware the scan was still running.

At the time of writing this, it has been more than a month since I started using Microsoft Security Essentials. I haven’t noticed any interference with opening files. The slow jerky mouse pointer behavior that I sometimes used to see on one of my computers with NIS 2010 was nearly gone. Even better, that computer could finally go to sleep and restart without crashing and could also shut down! I hadn’t been able to get it to cleanly shut down for months, starting maybe a few weeks after I had installed NIS 2010 on it. Given the time lag, I hadn’t realized NIS 2010 was the likely culprit for that problem, too.

Comparing NIS 2010 and MSE

Although I have found mostly good comments on the web about NIS 2010 and how it is faster than previous versions, my experience with it has been quite dissatisfying. By contrast, MSE has been problem-free. In theory, the NIS 2010 features that communicate information about files to Norton and share it with other users to determine which files can be trusted and which can’t might catch some malware that MSE may miss. The NIS 2010 advantage in this area is possibly small given that MSE uses Microsoft SpyNet to do similar monitoring.

NIS 2010 has more granular control over scanning and reporting options. But if you’re like most computer users, you probably just use the defaults so may never even notice this.

NIS 2010 also can display more information about your computer performance. MSE doesn’t even attempt to address this. However, this is really a nonissue because Windows Task Manager and the Resource Monitor included in Windows Vista and 7 are far more comprehensive. The version in Windows 7 is really nice, able to show you about how every program uses memory, CPU, disk, and network resources right down to how many virtual memory disk operations per second are occurring for each program. That can give you a much better clue as to which programs chew up a lot of memory and use it frequently than the simplistic Task Manager display can. If you haven’t used Resource Monitor previously but have wondered just what your computer is doing inside, check out the web pages How to Open Resource Monitor in Windows 7 for basic information.

If you’re having problems with stuck programs like I was having due to NIS 2010 and wonder if you might be able to find the cause with less hassle than it took me, refer to How to Use Windows 7 Resource Monitor to Troubleshoot Unresponsive Applications for an example of how it can be used to troubleshoot programs that aren’t responding normally.

One thing you can’t turn off is participation in SpyNet. You can select either a “basic” or “advanced” amount of information MSE will send to Microsoft about the software on your computer, but you cannot turn it off entirely. Microsoft promises not to use any confidential information to identify or contact you. Given their potential for being Big Brother, I have my doubts about this. But those doubts apply to any of the big name companies providing this kind of software, too.

Although NIS 2010 does have some benefits that MSE doesn’t have, in my opinion none of them individually or together are worth the trouble and annoyance of a jerky mouse pointer, inability to open some files for no apparent reason, and constant problems with sleep, resume, and shutdowns.

Although I am generally not a fan of Microsoft anything, I’d like to give them a thumbs up on Microsoft Security Essentials. I strongly recommend you give it a try before you shell out for another annual upgrade to whatever internet security software you may be using today.