News
Microsoft Security Essentials gets thumbs up from Virus Bulletin test team
November 2009 by Marc Jacob
Virus Bulletin, the independent security certification body, has
completed its first full review of Microsoft’s new free consumer
product Security Essentials and declared it to be a strong
addition to the line-up of free solutions currently on the
market.
Virus Bulletin’s test team put Security Essentials - the
long-awaited replacement for the Windows Live OneCare package -
through its paces, finding excellent stability and impeccable
behaviour, even when faced with sets of files that previously
have caused problems for other scanning engines.
Detection rates closely mirrored those achieved by the product’s
enterprise-level big brother, Forefront, in VB’s last
comparative test while both on-demand and on-access scanning
speeds were found to be around one third faster than those
displayed by Forefront.
The product also demonstrated excellent detection of malware in
a test set made up of samples collected after the product had
been submitted for review - thus not previously seen by the
product.
The test team reported that the product’s performance would
easily have qualified it for a VB100 award had it been tested
under official VB100 conditions, and that it is highly likely
that it will earn VB100 certification on its first attempt.
Virus Bulletin’s Test Directory John Hawes concluded: ’Security
Essentials provides an extremely respectable level of detection
of known malware, some top-notch heuristic and generic coverage
of emerging threats, and a simple, clear approach that will make
it user-friendly even for the most technophobic of users.’
