Microsoft Security Essentials

I hate paying for anti-virus software. The last time I paid for anti-virus software was back in the late 90's. My computer at home became infected when I took a floppy disk to a school computer lab and later used that floppy disk at home. So, I bought IBM Anti-virus. IBM Anti-virus eventually got bought by Symantec and became part of Norton Anti-virus. I got a free upgrade to Norton and used it for a couple of years until they changed their licensing. A couple of times I bought a new computer and got free anti-virus for a year each time.

However, a couple years ago I was finally forced to decide whether to buy anti-virus protection or use one of the free programs that are available. In the meantime, spyware came along and the malware problem became worse. I started using AVG Free and tried various free anti-spyware programs, including Windows Defender from Microsoft and Spybot Search and Destroy. However, I continued to have problems with spyware. Then one day my laptop became very slow and I discovered it was caused by AVG. So, I switched to Avast. Unfortunately, Avast is big and slow, and Spybot is also slow.

Today I discovered Microsoft Security Essentials. Apparently, it combines something called Windows Live OneCare with Windows Defender to provide both anti-virus and anti-spyware protection. Combine this with Windows Firewall and we are finally at the point where Windows provides full security protection for free.

Symantec's web site said MSE has one of the lowest anti-virus detection rates, and, of course, I know Windows Firewall is only a one-way firewall, not two way like Zonealarm and Comodo. However, I also get tired of the constant popups from Zonealarm, and I get tired of my computers being slowed down by the security programs, so I'm going to give MSE a shot. Maybe it will provide "good enough" protection without being so annoying.