What is the performance impact of MSE

Topic

New Reply

I’ve been using only Comodo (CIS) as an active protection (mbam is my normal non-active or scan only protection). I’ve noticed that Microsoft has been pushing MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) as an optional update and I was honestly thinking of trying it out but, I don’t want to risk it if the programs going to slow down my system or report any info non-anonymously. I expect a slight decrease in performance but, I want to know if it will be a noticeable difference. Other than CIS my computer also runs (constantly): WD Smartware Monitor thing (2 WD EHDD’s), Gadwin printscreen, Power Menu, Tomboy Notes, and Catalyst Control Center. I may also be running at any given time: Thunderbird, Firefox, Opera, uTorrent, Proxifier, your-freedom, + another program. My computer has a dual core processor running at 2.1GHz and 4 GB’s of PC6400 DDR2 RAM.

P.S. The only program mentioned up there that I’m not running at this moment is Opera and my computer is using no more than 50% processor (it’s fluctuating between 6% and 50%) and about 45% of my memory (RAM).

Reply | Quote

Replies

Hi Gregory,

I believe you will find MSE to be less demanding on resources than CIS. I have been using MSE and Windows 7 Firewall since MSE was first released, and it runs lean and mean. My computers have been as safe on the Internet as they have always been. I too use MalwareBytes AntiMalware as an on demand scanner. Many on the Lounge have found this combination to work well.

Check out this article by Ed Bott on ZDNet for some interesting and enlightening reading about MSE.

Also check out AV Comparatives.org for some interesting comparisons involving MSE and other major players. The latest .pdf on their site is dated August 2010, which is the “on demand” comparative.

Reply | Quote

Hi Gregory,

I believe you will find MSE to be less demanding on resources than CIS. I have been using MSE and Windows 7 Firewall since MSE was first released, and it runs lean and mean. My computers have been as safe on the Internet as they have always been. I too use MalwareBytes AntiMalware as an on demand scanner. Many on the Lounge have found this combination to work well.

Check out this article by Ed Bott on ZDNet for some interesting and enlightening reading about MSE.

Also check out AV Comparatives.org for some interesting comparisons involving MSE and other major players. The latest .pdf on their site is dated August 2010, which is the “on demand” comparative.

What about running both of them together though. Though it can be annoying I do like how Comodo will ask me about just about everything that I let through it. At the same time I’m afraid I may let something through that was part of another program.

I suppose if there’s an alternative to CIS that works similarly and works well with MSE I might consider that as well I just don’t want to completely depend on something I have so little control over.

Reply | Quote

I also have to second what Gerald said. I must advise however that it generally is not wise to run two AV apps in real time as they tend to conflict with each other.

Reply | Quote

Gregory, read this on how to use Comodo. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-install-comodo-firewall.htm

Reply | Quote

Gregory, read this on how to use Comodo. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-install-comodo-firewall.htm

Sounds like CIS should be able to work side by side with MSE. Still, what would be the performance impact of running both at once (FYI I don’t use the antivirus scanner but, do use Defense +). I am thinking that if I do choose to go with MSE with CIS I could probably disable Defense+ (Works much the same as the firewall part except for programs running on the computer).

Overall, I’m still kind of up in the air with it. Anyone know what MSE actually sends to Microsoft or any 3rd party peoples?

Reply | Quote

Sounds like CIS should be able to work side by side with MSE. Still, what would be the performance impact of running both at once (FYI I don’t use the antivirus scanner but, do use Defense +). I am thinking that if I do choose to go with MSE with CIS I could probably disable Defense+ (Works much the same as the firewall part except for programs running on the computer).

Overall, I’m still kind of up in the air with it. Anyone know what MSE actually sends to Microsoft or any 3rd party peoples?

Gregory, I have used Comodo as in the link I gave, and its so secure, UAC (User Account Control) can be disabled. I suggest trying the full Comodo package without anything else.
I, at the moment am experimenting with a different set of security apps. As to MSE ! it kept telling me my OS was not genuine.
Happy Hunting.

Reply | Quote

As to MSE ! it kept telling me my OS was not genuine.
Happy Hunting.

RR,

Are you confusing MSE {Microsoft Security Essentials} with WGA {Windows Genuine Advantage}?

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

RR,

Are you confusing MSE {Microsoft Security Essentials} with WGA {Windows Genuine Advantage}?

If WGA says your computer isn’t valid then MSE won’t install. My dad had this problem with a really old XP disc (that’s been used many times legitimately and probably quite a few times illegitimately).

As I just mentioned in my other post Microsoft shoots flys with shotguns and misses horribly.

Reply | Quote

Gregory, I have used Comodo as in the link I gave, and its so secure, UAC (User Account Control) can be disabled. I suggest trying the full Comodo package without anything else.
I, at the moment am experimenting with a different set of security apps. As to MSE ! it kept telling me my OS was not genuine.
Happy Hunting.

I suppose that Microsoft anti-theft thing can kill you. Assuming you actually do have a valid key for your Windows chances are someone else has obtained your key (perhaps via a keygen) and now Microsoft is limiting you because of them. The big problem is that (and this has been mentioned here before) the pirate can just go get another key that hasn’t been used while your legitimate key is still restricted. Essentially Microsoft is shooting a fly with a shotgun and missing horribly.

Anyway, assuming I don’t have that issue I was just thinking that having a regular protection module with a really good antivirus might be a good idea (and I’ve heard that despite Microsoft’s many blunders MSE is really good). From what I’ve read while CIS has the best Firewall it’s AntiVirus is actually sub-par to that of the big-name antiviruses (ones who’s names I won’t mention but, cost a lot of money and fail horribly overall). That’s why I still bother to scan with mbam in case I let something through my firewall/defense+ without realizing it’s a virus. It’s also important to note that CIS can’t protect against viruses transmitted directly (via USB/SD/CD/DVD/PCI).

P.S. Even if I didn’t have CIS I’d disable UAC. Even the middle setting (available in Win7) is far to annoying for my daily task (I’m always playing around with things that require administrative privileges). Besides even when I have CIS and UAC disabled a UAC style box will come up whenever I try to install certain kinds of programs (presumably kinds that want to change a system driver or something).

Reply | Quote

You can also set windows firewall to ask you each time a program is let through.

Reply | Quote

P.S. The only program mentioned up there that I’m not running at this moment is Opera and my computer is using no more than 50% processor (it’s fluctuating between 6% and 50%) and about 45% of my memory (RAM).

Gregory,
Hello…. Just a different perspective. I only use Norton Internet Security 2011 and Malwarebytes… ( no MS stuff, updates patches, security “Mickey MSE” at all ) I also have not stopped anything from running at “startup” and never fooled with them. ( programs that want to always run ) Right now I’m streaming audio and meter is showing 12 to 18 % CPU and 41 % Memory. As i like to say …” I’m not secretly using my PC in collaboration with NASA to calculate space shuttle launches” so whats the big deal about ” system usage” anyway? Regards Fred

Reply | Quote

RR,
Are you confusing MSE {Microsoft Security Essentials} with WGA {Windows Genuine Advantage}?

NO

I suppose that Microsoft anti-theft thing can kill you. Assuming you actually do have a valid key for your Windows chances are someone else has obtained your key (perhaps via a keygen) and now Microsoft is limiting you because of them. The big problem is that (and this has been mentioned here before) the pirate can just go get another key that hasn’t been used while your legitimate key is still restricted. Essentially Microsoft is shooting a fly with a shotgun and missing horribly.

Anyway, assuming I don’t have that issue I was just thinking that having a regular protection module with a really good antivirus might be a good idea (and I’ve heard that despite Microsoft’s many blunders MSE is really good). From what I’ve read while CIS has the best Firewall it’s AntiVirus is actually sub-par to that of the big-name antiviruses (ones who’s names I won’t mention but, cost a lot of money and fail horribly overall). That’s why I still bother to scan with mbam in case I let something through my firewall/defense+ without realizing it’s a virus. It’s also important to note that CIS can’t protect against viruses transmitted directly (via USB/SD/CD/DVD/PCI).

P.S. Even if I didn’t have CIS I’d disable UAC. Even the middle setting (available in Win7) is far to annoying for my daily task (I’m always playing around with things that require administrative privileges). Besides even when I have CIS and UAC disabled a UAC style box will come up whenever I try to install certain kinds of programs (presumably kinds that want to change a system driver or something).

My key is ‘genuine’ it was after certain updates were installed but was easily fixed. UAC is at default ‘permanantly’.
My PC has never had any ‘virus’ of any kind since usig XP Pro 4 years ago.

Reply | Quote

Do a search for MsMpEng.exe BEFORE you install MSE. Secondly, you get the honor of being a member of Spynet if you install MSE. You can’t opt out. And in Microsofts words;

In some instances, some personal information might be unintentionally sent to Microsoft

Reply | Quote

Do a search for MsMpEng.exe BEFORE you install MSE. Secondly, you get the honor of being a member of Spynet if you install MSE. You can’t opt out. And in Microsofts words;

If that’s the case I’m thinking I’ll just leave well enough alone. I do a bit of banking on this computer so I don’t want to risk any data being sent that’s not supposed to be sent. With CIS I’m pretty sure they have a privacy guarantee which makes me feel a little better about things. Plus, as far as I know CIS doesn’t send any info without first asking me (except when dealing with new unrecognized programs in which case if I look up a file and it’s not in their database it gets sent but, I get to choose what I’m looking up so it’s still very private).

Reply | Quote

I do ALL my banking online, using MSE. Have never had any problems. Your banking site security is far more questionable than using MSE in keeping your financial info secure. I do not believe any secure info is ever sent. MS may receive demographic info, but I do not believe this warrants giving up on this fine AV/AM app, but this is just personal preference.

Reply | Quote

I I do not believe any secure info is ever sent. MS may receive demographic info, but I do not believe

Ted,
Hello… “i do not believe” , “i do not believe” Most on the Titanic didn’t “believe” that the ship was sinking … that is until they were in the water. Regards Fred

PS: Anyone besides me remember a little thing called “MS Agent” …Oh you mean that little unasked for program (you couldn’t “uninstall”) that MS downloaded and installed without asking …or informing you ? (even though you had updates set to “inform you and not install”) … I”m sure you can trust “MS” to do the right thing…Yeah right

Reply | Quote

Today, I decided to try out MSE on a laptop with XP Pro SP3. I uninstalled my VIPRE before testing.
Before the “first scan”, MS warned that it could run a few minutes longer during first scan. As of right now it has been running the first scan for about 8 hours and MSE progress bar shows the scan is about 60% complete. The hard drive is 27GB with 11GB free. How many hours does it take to scan 16GB on the first scan?
I am unimpressed so far.

Reply | Quote

Tim,

There is something else going on. I have never had a full deep scan take any where near that long. Generally my full scans were completed in less than an hour and I have approx. 35 GB of used space. Yes, I have Win 7 so perhaps some of the problem is MSE and XP. Who knows. How much stuff is running in the background that MSE has to share RAM and CPU with?

Reply | Quote

……..
There is something else going on. I have never had a full deep scan take any where near that long. Generally my full scans were completed in less than an hour and I have approx. 35 GB of used space. Yes, I have Win 7 so perhaps some of the problem is MSE and XP. Who knows. How much stuff is running in the background that MSE has to share RAM and CPU with?

Ted – Thanks for the reply.
When I turned in for the night at around 11:30PM, the first scan was still running after about ten hours. When I looked at it this morning it was done with one Potential Threat found (pic attached below). I cannot figure out how to tell how long the scan took to run. The odd thing about the MSE screen this morning, it made it look as tho the scan finished at EDIT 6:08PM (pic attached). I know it was still scanning at 11:30 PM.

This is how the screen looked in the morning …..

This is the Potential Threat info ….

Now, I am running another scan. I took this screen shot after about 5 hours, it looks to be about 50% done …..

Here is what Task Manager looked like during today’s scan …..

The slow performance is mostly due to a low powered laptop. It only has 1GB of RAM, but over ten hours for a scan still seems excessive. I also noted that there is no way to Pause an MSE scan and MSE only allows one scheduled scan per week.

EDIT to show status after more than 12 hours of scanning today .. it is still scanning as I write this …

Any ideas?

.

Reply | Quote

I’ve been using only Comodo (CIS) as an active protection (mbam is my normal non-active or scan only protection)

Gregory,

Was there some compelling reason to roll off of CIS? I’m asking because I was wanting to do the opposite, ditch MSE and go with CIS.

Reply | Quote

Gregory,

Was there some compelling reason to roll off of CIS? I’m asking because I was wanting to do the opposite, ditch MSE and go with CIS.

The reason I chose CIS is because it’s 1: Free, and 2: My research at the time showed it was the best Firewall out there (emphasis on Firewall as the AV module was rated to be amongst the worse). When I began considering MSE it was because 1: OS Integration means easy updating and compatibility, 2: It may allow me to use Comodo strictly as an Internet Firewall causing it to use less resources (I currently use Defense+ as well since I don’t have any AV protection module). My chief concerns with MSE are: 1: Amount of resources it uses, and 2: How much info/how secure the actual app is (if MSE is targeted will it give a hacker my info or worse will Microsoft send my data over to one of it’s ‘secure’ servers (There’s been a few WS articles about how secure a secure server is, especially there’s).

Note: Even mbam has been targeted by hackers before but, they’ve managed to protect themselves quite well and mbam won’t send any data I don’t want it to send. In fact I believe the only way mbam gets any of my data is if I send it to them via bug reports and such.

Thus far it sounds like MSE may not meet my privacy expectations (and I’m extra paranoid when it comes to privacy protection).

Reply | Quote

Tim,

Yes, your resources are very limited on your PC, and because these resources are shared by all apps. all apps will suffer. MSE has a small footprint while running in real time in the background, but when a scan is scheduled it will try to finish whenever resources are available to run.

Recommendations:
1) turn off everything possible when running a manual scan. This includes all apps running in real time (Wgen you install most apps, they think they have to run in the background all the time. This is simply not the case. I have included a screen shot of msconfig to show what apps I have running.)

Alps is the touch pad app for my laptop, MS Security is MSE AV/AM, Vista-wall is a Windows firewall control app, and Blurts is an app to send texts over my Blackberry from my PC.

Thats all the apps I allow to run in the background. Everything else opens when I choose to run the app.

2) after the initial full scan, I would choose quick scan as this tends to scan modified locations rather than everything.

3) you might want to consider installing more RAM. I have to believe that MSE scans are not the only thing that runs sluggishly.

Reply | Quote

Hi Ted – Thanks again for your rapid replies. The laptop has a limited amount of Startup apps being loaded by msconfig. I did notice a couple that may be able to be disabled ie. Network Magic (network manager). I need to take a closer look at all the processes that load at Startup that are not listed/controlled by msconfig. As you know, there are a lot of processes that start regardless of what msconfig wants to start.

As far as MSE features, I miss the ability to see a complete history of scans (durations, dates, items found, scan type, etc). MSE only shows a History of problems found. I also miss the ability to schedule scans on days of my choosing. MSE seems to limit scan schedule choice to everyday or one day. It is FREE ,so why expect too much!!!!

Reply | Quote

I have used Online Armor with either MSE (my desktop, Windows 7 x64) or Vipre (laptop, Windows 7 x86). Online Armor has a ++ version, where you will get malware signatures from Emsisoft (used with their Emsisoft Anti-Malware). OA only uses the sigs when files are executed, thus ensuring double protection with the AV, without overburdening the PC. OA also has a free version (which is a great firewall on its own, but that has no malware sigs to go with).

Reply | Quote

On Windows Secrets recommendation I installed MSE on my 2 desktops and my laptop. One desktop and the laptop run normally, but I finally had to take MSE on my other desktop and go to AVG. With MSE installed, I first noticed that my desktop icons took almost 10 minutes to come up and during that time, I was unable to start e-mail, Internet, or any other program. In Task Manager I found that MsMpEng.exe was utilizing 99% on my CPU time. It would keep fluctuating between about 45% to 99% CPU time with 99% most of the time. The icons on my desktop would begin loading at about one ever 30 seconds. When I ended the process, MSE would stop running so I r ealized MsMpEng.exe was tied to MSE. When I uninstalled MSE, MsMpEng.exe was gone and my desktop icons loaded immediately and I was able to open any program right away. Googling MsMpEng I found this process has been causing the same problem with other users for years. I didn’t know MSE had been around that long, but there were posts going back years. I tried several suggested remedies, but MsMpEng remained a CPU hog.

Reply | Quote

In Task Manager I found that MsMpEng.exe was utilizing 99% on my CPU time. It would keep fluctuating between about 45% to 99% CPU time with 99% most of the time. … I tried several suggested remedies, but MsMpEng remained a CPU hog.

This .exe was in Windows Defender and Windows Live OneCare, so there are indeed a lot of past posts about it. Not sure if the old advice remains applicable, but they boil down to three potential issues: (1) conflict with other real-time scanner, (2) malware hit (true or false), or (3) bug relating to a particular file format.

Reply | Quote

On Windows Secrets recommendation I installed MSE on my 2 desktops and my laptop. One desktop and the laptop run normally, but I finally had to take MSE on my other desktop and go to AVG. With MSE installed, I first noticed that my desktop icons took almost 10 minutes to come up and during that time, I was unable to start e-mail, Internet, or any other program. In Task Manager I found that MsMpEng.exe was utilizing 99% on my CPU time. It would keep fluctuating between about 45% to 99% CPU time with 99% most of the time. The icons on my desktop would begin loading at about one ever 30 seconds. When I ended the process, MSE would stop running so I r ealized MsMpEng.exe was tied to MSE. When I uninstalled MSE, MsMpEng.exe was gone and my desktop icons loaded immediately and I was able to open any program right away. Googling MsMpEng I found this process has been causing the same problem with other users for years. I didn’t know MSE had been around that long, but there were posts going back years. I tried several suggested remedies, but MsMpEng remained a CPU hog.

I encountered a similar problem with one computer. What I found was that MSE was getting hung up while trying to scan files in its own C:Program Files location. The cure was add an exception, which tells it not to scan anything in that folder. Then I no longer had the “CPU hog” problem with MSE.

Reply | Quote