How does the performance of Microsoft Security Essentials compare with other Anti-virus products [closed]
Are there any solid data (i.e. benchmarks) comparing the performance of Windows Security Essentials with other anti-virus products?
In particular, I'm interested in how much overhead it imposes on a system when it's running.
Solution 1:
It is very hard to benchmark this type of software, Sam; Why you don't see that type of analysis often. And when you do, close examination reveals the model used is probably not very adequate and leaves behind a lot of other variables that collectively impact the application performance. This becomes more evident when you remember, security software of any kind behaves on-event, and certain types of events may be more demanding than others and under different conditions.
Essentially you are left with only two points of interest; system resource usage and heuristics. The first is a no-brainer and you can find information on the many reviews of Security Essentials (google "microsoft security essentials review"). I can say without fear, Microsoft Security Essentials completely and utterly displaces suit-like solutions like McAffee or Norton's. It's far more benign on system resources, much esier to maintain and has a lot less impact on normal computer usage. (However this is not a product meant to compete with these solutions, since McAffee and Norton suits provide deep security facilities absent on Microsoft's Security Essentials. It however will compete with many current free software).
Heuristics is a lot more interesting as it describes the software in terms of its accuracy detection capabilities. This should always be your main concern, unless system resources are indeed at premium.
So to sum it up:
Reliable benchmarking is near impossible to achieve given the nature of the software.
System resources usage is measurable and becomes your next best option.
Heuristics and general protection is what should concern you for the most part.
Solution 2:
Try the results from AV-Comparatives. This site provides a comparative study of many antivirus products.
Solution 3:
There is now a report with MSE included: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/performance/performance_dec09.pdf
Seems MSE does pretty well, which fits with my impression.