I’m tired of paying for virus updates from McAfee and I don’t really trust AVG’s free version. My professor recommended I try Microsoft’s Security Essentials as an alternative and I’m interested, but can’t find it in my Windows 7 Home Essentials package. So how do I get it running and if I need to download it, where should I go to do that?
Ever since Microsoft introduced its own antivirus and anti-malware solution, I think it’s been getting a lot of unhappy pushback from security vendors like Symantec and McAfee. That’s the only reason I can imagine that Microsoft isn’t automatically including it – enabled! – on every new system that it powers. Instead, you have to download it, but it’s a free download and it’s pretty darn easy to install.
And as for the other anti-virus solutions, I’m sure that they’re still good and they definitely offer capabilities that Security Essentials doesn’t offer, but if you haven’t cracked open the hood in Windows 7, there’s a lot you’re missing.
To start, there’s a built-in spyware protection system called Windows Defender that you might be running, but according to Microsoft, Windows Security Essentials replaces it. Indeed, MS says:
“…if you are running Microsoft Security Essentials, you do not need to run Windows Defender. Microsoft Security Essentials is designed to disable Windows Defender in order to manage the PC’s real-time protection, including anti-virus, rootkits, Trojans and spyware.”
An earlier version of this article had tutorial information about Windows Defender but, well, that was daft. So it’s gone. Just FYI if you’re confused by the comments below.
The first step to getting Microsoft Security Essentials running on your system is download it from the Microsoft Web site. You can most easily do that by going here: Download Microsoft Security Essentials.
Before it downloads, of course, you have to approve it:
Let’s do it! Click on “Yes”.
Ready to go? Here’s the installer…
Click “Next” a few times, well, maybe a half-dozen times. 🙂
Eventually you’ll get the program going and will need to start by updating the virus and malware definitions file:
When that’s completed, you should have something like this, though likely the versions and dates will be more recent (I hope!) than what I have:
Confusingly, at this point Microsoft Security Essentials not only isn’t running, but often cannot be enabled by click on the big “turn on” button:
What I found was that I clicked the button then got a time out error that it couldn’t enable the program. What the heck?
Fortunately, a reboot revealed that it had indeed been enabled and was running and good to go:
That’s it. Between Security Essentials and Windows Defender, you should be set and — finally! — free from having to pay a subscription fee for a third-party company virus definitions file. Tell your prof she’s spot on with this particular recommendation!
After I download MS Essentials do I have to get rid of my McAfee AV? If so will i get a removal wizard automatically?
Thanks
Just to be clear, MSE is only available to users of a valid purchased (not pirated) version of Windows, whether it be XP or Windows 7 etc, to be updateable with it’s virus defintions. MSE does replace Defender btw. I find it a very good AV program as well which gives you the choice to delete, quarantine or even ignore a threast if one is detected. Not all AV programs I have used let you keep a possibly infected or suspect file. Some programs just delete it without asking.
You’re right, Clairvaux! My bad. MS says:
“No but if you are running Microsoft Security Essentials, you do not need to run Windows Defender. Microsoft Security Essentials is designed to disable Windows Defender in order to manage the PC’s real-time protection, including anti-virus, rootkits, Trojans and spyware.”
I’ll modify the article to reflect this…
I have Microsoft Security Essentials running with Windows 7. I tried to activate Windows Defender as you advised. The button to turn it on is available, it is not greyed off, but clicking it does not do anything. Windows Defender remains off.
Are you sure both can run at the same time ? Indeed, it was my understanding that Microsoft Security Essentials was a replacement, a superset of Windows Defender, making it obsolete.
As far as I know you can run either one or the other but not both, but I’m open to correction? also if the scan is scheduled for a certain time of the day and your laptop/PC is turned off then task scheduler might not initiate the scan, I know there are some problems with updating the virus definitions automatically unless you click the box to update before doing the scan, could someone clarify the situation on this, thanks.
I installed Security Essential and scheduled it to run a quick scan daily, however, it doesn’t seem to be doing that as it says the last quick scan was 3 days ago. Am I missing something in the settings? It says my computer is protected and is updating. Also, I have Windows Defender and have tried everything to turn it on, but it will not do so. How do I make Windows Defender stay turned on.
I’m reading this via PC Pitstop, and have PC Matic running with Supershield, etc… How well do MC Sec Essentials and Windows Defender get along with the PC Matic setup. I’d always considered, as a general rule of thumb, that multiple AV/Malware systems operating at the same time would lead to trouble of some sort.
Thanks for any clarification.