Battle Microsoft security essentials vs Avast! antivirus

[spleentechie]

One of these is the premiere free antivirus on the market and uses only two processes the other one is Microsoft's own antivirus solution with only one processes and a sleek UI this is a nice "newb AV"(My my bro still managed to download 6 droppers, the Conflicker, and the google redirect with it). LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!!!

 

[Jack]

Easy choice here.......
Both products have a good antivirus engine,however Avast does take the lead when it comes to additional layers of protection and ZERO day prevention capabilities. - http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-the-new-avast-7-free-antivirus-is-here

Avast 7 Free comes with a site advisor (WebRep),a very strong Web Guard and other additional layers of protection.
If we pair up the File Reputation System with its huge community and add the AutoSandbox feature than we can only have one winner.
Microsoft Security Essentials has some good signatures ,however due to the dynamic way in which malware appears and spreads it's not very efficient in stopping very new infections.

Long story short :
Microsoft Security Essentials : Free antivirus with basic prevention layers
Avast 7 Free : Free antivirus with 'premium' prevention layers.

 

[McLovin]

Avast has to be the easy choice you so much more for free. You get a web shield and sandbox and a File Reputation. All Microsoft Security Essentials has is the basics, AV protection, and slow updates.

 

[malwarekiller]

I cant remember...but somewhere i read that microsoft lately fired a lot of virus analysts team members from their lab and so they are no more good with 0-day malware as they were before...

 

[Morro]

I have used both in the past and both are very well made imho, but always felt that Avast gave better protection, due to the many ways it protects your system. ( As Jack pointed out. )

 

[malbky]

Hands down AVAST. Only AVG as a free AV can give it competition feature wise. Best option is AVAST +CIS Firewall+Traffic Light. System is secure

 

[Raul90]

It's been a while since I used AvastFree but I'd prefer them over MSE. I'd second malbky on that combo!

 

[Plexx]

To be honest, Jack nailed it down. However from my personal experience, avast's sandbox can sometimes act differently than you would expect to.

If we are to view as zero day protection, you have 2 decent choices (Comodo and Avast)
If we are to view good av on detection and removal and light, we have Forticlient Lite, Avira
MSE falls in the group where a normal user who doesnt have much risk would be fine.

So my vote, 4th option for the reasons above mentioned.

 

[Ink]

I voted "None of the above", as Jack's post sums it up nicely.

 

[sahilwaste]

my vote goes for avast, as Jack and McLovin already explained.