Microsoft Security Essentials problems and what has to be fixed
Sunday, 11. October 2009, 16:52:13
The program is very simple to use since it doesn't offer all that many settings.
However i've noticed quite some problems that need to be addressed.
First and most important is performance hit. After testing, it turned out that MSE is scanning archives on-access. This indeed offers early detection of malware inside archives, but also results in a significant performance hit. I see no reason to scan archives on-access (don't mistake archives for runtime packers!). Malware inside archives is benign until you extract it in one or another way. And once you do that, the usual file scanner will pick it up. So i really hope Microsoft will add option to disable on-access archive scanning (the option in settings is for on-demand btw).
Second issue that's also very important is the update process. Checking for signatures only ever 24 hours is just not enough these days, because 24 hours is a huge time frame for threats today.
If you've just updated and new threat just emerges, Microsoft creates definitions for it and you won't recieve it for next 24 hours. For one whole day! That's just not acceptable.
Every antivirus, be it free or payable should check for new definitions each time internet connection is detected and after that at least every 2 hours. This way it's ensured that antivirus has the newest signatures when it's the most important.
These two issues are the most important and i hope Microsoft will fix them fast. Because on-access archive scanning is really bogging down my netbook. And i even cought it few times to bog down my main system with Core i7 920 and 6GB of RAM. And that's what was worrying me the most.
Issue regarding definition signatures is also important.
However i've noticed quite some problems that need to be addressed.
First and most important is performance hit. After testing, it turned out that MSE is scanning archives on-access. This indeed offers early detection of malware inside archives, but also results in a significant performance hit. I see no reason to scan archives on-access (don't mistake archives for runtime packers!). Malware inside archives is benign until you extract it in one or another way. And once you do that, the usual file scanner will pick it up. So i really hope Microsoft will add option to disable on-access archive scanning (the option in settings is for on-demand btw).
Second issue that's also very important is the update process. Checking for signatures only ever 24 hours is just not enough these days, because 24 hours is a huge time frame for threats today.
If you've just updated and new threat just emerges, Microsoft creates definitions for it and you won't recieve it for next 24 hours. For one whole day! That's just not acceptable.
Every antivirus, be it free or payable should check for new definitions each time internet connection is detected and after that at least every 2 hours. This way it's ensured that antivirus has the newest signatures when it's the most important.
These two issues are the most important and i hope Microsoft will fix them fast. Because on-access archive scanning is really bogging down my netbook. And i even cought it few times to bog down my main system with Core i7 920 and 6GB of RAM. And that's what was worrying me the most.
Issue regarding definition signatures is also important.
WIDGETIZE