MSE becomes most used AV

[nsane.forums]

Microsoft's free antivirus Security Essentials is now the top antivirus product in the world, and Windows XP continues its downward spiral, according to one report.

Security suite vendor popularity in Opswat's latest report.

Microsoft Security Essentials may not have done well in recent independent tests, but it's now the global leader in security suite market share for the first time since it debuted in 2009, says Opswat's latest study.

Opswat gauges usage by looking at the software installed on computers running their AppRemover program. The data came from more than 150,000 computers.

When asked about the differences between Opswat's numbers and research and analysis firm NPD, Opswat marketing manager Elisse Lockhart wrote in an e-mail, "Our data looks at all applications installed on machines and aggregates various versions of products, so that can include people who are using very old applications. I believe NPD's report only looks at new sales, so they would capture more of the upcoming products than the software that people already have installed."

Although the report is imperfect, it does provide a snapshot of the security software running on a large number of Windows computers. While Avast remains on top of the global vendor list, with their free suite and two paid upgrades, they've been bumped to second place in single-product comparisons between MSE and Avast Antivirus Free.

MSE took the most popular product lead with 15.3 percent market share, followed by Avast at 13.6 percent, free Avira at 9 percent, ESET's NOD32 at 6.8 percent, and free AVG at 6.2 percent. NOD32 was the only paid program in the top five globally.

In North America, MSE gained 9.1 percent market share to land at 30.4 percent -- nearly one-third of the entire market. Avast Free came in at 8.4 percent, while AVG landed third at 7 percent, a loss of 0.7 percent from the market. Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus are the first paid products on the North American chart, coming in at 4th and 5th with 4.7 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

Another interesting statistic that Opswat noted was how recently a security suite has updated its virus definition files. While MSE led the pack with more than 94 percent of people running it having also received an update, that doesn't necessarily track with how secure a program is. MSE recently failed AV-Test's certification.

Time since last update in top security suites.

Opswat also provided some initial operating system stats, with Windows 7 usage still on the rise, Windows XP on the decline, and Windows 8 barely leaving a mark. Worldwide, Opswat found Windows 7 on 53.8 percent of computers, an increase of 4 percent. XP fell 6.6 percent globally to 36.2 percent, and fell in the North American market 5.3 percent to 37 percent. Windows 7 rose in North America just under 3 percent to 48.3 percent.

As a point of comparison, Opswat's Windows market share numbers track were hit and miss with the better-known NetMarketShare. NetMarketShare placed Windows 7 at 51.62 percent in North America and 44.71 percent worldwide, and Windows XP at 21.19 percent in North America and 39.82 percent globally.

Opswat's stats on global Windows operating system usage.

Not surprisingly, Windows 8, which was only released three weeks before the data in the report was compiled, accounts for less than one percent of the market on both.

We can see from these numbers that even with bad test scores, Microsoft Security Essentials remains a growing force in computer protection. It will be interesting to see what happens to security suite numbers as Windows 8 becomes more widely used. Will people continue to use security software as they have? Or will the touch-and-mobile Windows 8 force a shake-up in personal computer security, too?

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

BECAUSE IT COMES AS AN OPTION TO IDIOTS ON COMPUTERS IN THE WINDOWS UPDATE SECTION!!! PUT AVAST OR AVG OR AVIRA IN THERE AND LET THEM CHOOSE!!!

I meant no offense to anyone who uses Microsoft Security Essentials but I have found it to incredibly irritating and not secure enough.

[DKT27]

BECAUSE IT COMES AS AN OPTION TO IDIOTS ON COMPUTERS IN THE WINDOWS UPDATE SECTION!!! PUT AVAST OR AVG OR AVIRA IN THERE AND LET THEM CHOOSE!!!

I meant no offense to anyone who uses Microsoft Security Essentials but I have found it to incredibly irritating and not secure enough.

It comes pre-installed with Windows 8 too.

Agreed.

[sanjoa]

BECAUSE IT COMES AS AN OPTION TO IDIOTS ON COMPUTERS IN THE WINDOWS UPDATE SECTION!!! PUT AVAST OR AVG OR AVIRA IN THERE AND LET THEM CHOOSE!!!

I meant no offense to anyone who uses Microsoft Security Essentials but I have found it to incredibly irritating and not secure enough.

It comes pre-installed with Windows 8 too.

Agreed.

Microsoft put this as a mandatory option to noob users.

[nuthut]

BECAUSE IT COMES AS AN OPTION TO IDIOTS ON COMPUTERS IN THE WINDOWS UPDATE SECTION!!! PUT AVAST OR AVG OR AVIRA IN THERE AND LET THEM CHOOSE!!!

I meant no offense to anyone who uses Microsoft Security Essentials but I have found it to incredibly irritating and not secure enough.

It comes pre-installed with Windows 8 too.

Agreed.

And it comes uninstalled after 5 minutes of being online to have Avast installed

[Ambrocious]

What Microsoft is doing is artificial and a delusion. Give people the choice to use other products and then we can take a real poll. Someone needs to make an OS with a completely non-partisan outlook on it which gives us the option to use other antivirus software. A good OS will have a whole knowledge base installed by default and updated regularly which can be accessed to learn about free solutions including links as suggestions. Maybe someone could make such a program for Microsoft, it would be well used I bet. Just think if it integrates or replaces the security center as a true non partisan security solution. It would include links to all of the free antivirus/antimalware solutions as well as links to many other computer related issues which would be P2P based supported where professionals in their own rights can upload tutorials and other helpful tips.

Someone please use these ideas if they sound like a good idea, I won't even get mad.

[DKT27]

And it comes uninstalled after 5 minutes of being online to have Avast installed

When did one have an ability to uninstall an integrated Windows software? :P

Jokes aside, people are big noobs. They don't know what they are using and what they are doing. Hence, I'll say atleast something than nothing. As for geeks, I don't think MSE was ever good enough.

[CODYQX4]

Eh, I've just used MSE in W8 because I don't really need to install another one.

In W7, if I had to choose, I'd pick NIS over MSE.

I really only put in AV on W7 to shut up action center (did not want to disable it). If you watch what crap you run you won't get infected

Unless of course it is 0-day targeted hack stuff, then you are probably gonna get owned, AV or not.

Also NIS has become more FP happy for cracks than MSE in my case, so I just kept it default on W8.

[calguyhunk]

Technically, the product in Win8 is called "Windows Defender". It's just that unlike earlier versions of the eponymous product, this one has got real time protection, making it a full fledged AV - for all practical purposes, the same product as MSE for Win7, the way I see it ;)

The better part though is that you can choose to manually update the definations at your convinience after the criticism they faced for making auto-updates mandatory with MSE. :)

[Ambrocious]

MSE shoots first and doesn't ask questions later (when it comes to cracks/keygens/patches it assumes that it should be deleted without even asking you what you would like to do). I consider it to be like a trigger happy 105 year old Great Great Great grandmother with an anger issue.

[nIGHT]

:huh:

[calguyhunk]

MSE shoots first and doesn't ask questions later (when it comes to cracks/keygens/patches it assumes that it should be deleted without even asking you what you would like to do)...

That actually it doesn't. You need to set the options for that. Settings > Default Actions > Uncheck "Apply Recommended Action" > Save Changes. That way, it won't 'Apply' any of the actions it deems fit by itself and instead ask you before acting. :yes:

If I had allowed MSE to act on it's own, I wouldn't have Daz's Loader, Cody's Office Toolkit etc. left on my PC :P

You should also turn off MSE before downloading such programs from known safe sources, like Nsane FP, MDL programmers etc. and add them to the exclusion list from "Excluded Files and Locations" and "Excluded Processes" before switching MSE (or any AV for that matter) back on to avoid annoying red alerts for known harmless programs etc ;)

[Ambrocious]

OK, I retract what I said in part, by DEFAULT it shoots first and doesn't ask questions. I suppose we all have our preferences for protection.

An antivirus is sort of like a body guard; it usually illuminates most threats but sometimes you take a bullet before he takes out the threat. I have had little problems with avast in comparison to MSE. I suppose that's all there is to it with me.

[Tweety.Abd]

MSE isn't that bad..

[irefay]

BECAUSE IT COMES AS AN OPTION TO IDIOTS ON COMPUTERS IN THE WINDOWS UPDATE SECTION!!! PUT AVAST OR AVG OR AVIRA IN THERE AND LET THEM CHOOSE!!!

I meant no offense to anyone who uses Microsoft Security Essentials but I have found it to incredibly irritating and not secure enough.

I am not a fan of MSE, but having an AV installed out of the box is a good thing. I have run into many computers where the owner didnt have anything, a website told them they needed AV and told them to install malicious "AV". It would be cool if during setup, W8 offered a list of the top 20 AV products on a page that was randomized in placement.

Edit: And I am sure MS would make this happen with those god damn tiles.

[MAXS]

MSE is probably the less secure antivirus within the few top used...

[bwop]

MSE shoots first and doesn't ask questions later (when it comes to cracks/keygens/patches it assumes that it should be deleted without even asking you what you would like to do). I consider it to be like a trigger happy 105 year old Great Great Great grandmother with an anger issue.

Really? I have never once had any of these auto deleted by MSE on my computers. I'm always asked. Did you change the setting that controls the removal behavior?

I posted this too soon. Any way to delete this?

[Catoja]

Do you guys remember WINDOWS DEFENDER ??? MSE big brother lol

[calguyhunk]

I posted this too soon. Any way to delete this?

Sorry if I didn't get your question, but what do you want to delete? The entire post is it? Just delete your post and post a few full stops or an apology/acknowledgement :)