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Very good article. I will try MSE on one of my systems.
I’ve used several security suites over the years. Are they different than just the Antivirus?
One thing I would’ve liked to see was CPU usage when in ‘idle’ mode after boot-up. I had purchased BitDefender (supposedly the best ‘for money’ security suite) and tried to run it on a slower (Pentium 4) system. Terrible CPU usage – averaging 25-30%. I ran into Vipre – a built from scratch package – which ended up taking between 5-10% CPU. I realize Fred’s article was addressing only ‘free’ software .. but the CPU usage parameter would be interesting to see for those six packages.
And if a security suite performs differently than just the Anti-virus, I’d like to see a similar set of tests with a full-blown security suite .. the free ones of course.
Appreciate the work you folks are doing, Fred ..