Thanks for this wonderful article.
----- Original Message -----
From: "manny" <[email protected]>
To: "Duyahn Walker" <[email protected]>; "gwmicro list"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: antivirus and WE - security essential is not being canceled
Hi Duyahn,
The following article explains it better than I can:
Do I Need to Stop Using Microsoft Security Essentials?
Recently statements were made by a Microsoft spokesperson that some
interpreted as
implying that Microsoft was giving up on Microsoft Security Essentials.
I went to
the source and asked for clarification.
//
I read an article last week that basically said Microsoft had give up
competing with
other anti-malware tools and that Microsoft Security Essentials wasn’t
going to be
any good any more. The article recommended that I quit using it
immediately and switch
to something else. What do you think? Do I need to stop using Microsoft
Security
Essentials?
No.
No you don’t. If you’ve been happy with it, you’re perfectly welcome to
keep on using
it as you have in the past.
To put it a different way, I’m not changing my recommendation. Microsoft
Security
Essentials remains my recommendation for most people. I’m also not
changing what
I use myself, which is MSE.
As it turns out, the majority of the “journalism” on the topic over the
past couple
of weeks has simply been repeating a single source of information.
Worse, the repetition
included not only a couple of quotes without full context from a
Microsoft spokesperson
and also additional speculation by the author of that original piece. As
the story
was repeated, even more speculation was added and assumptions were made.
The result was quite the kerfuffle.
Now, I don’t call myself a “journalist” – I’m just a geek with a voice
on the web
trying to help people use their computers. But even I know that just
repeating and
embellishing what others are saying about what others are saying isn’t
the right
way to approach something like this.
So I took a different approach. I went to the source and contacted
Microsoft directly
for clarification.
•
Should people using MSE today be concerned?
I managed to contact Holly Stewart, the person quoted in the original
article, who
pointed me at some recently posted official clarification. She also
directed me to
others who were able to confirm my understanding of the entire situation.
At the top of my list of concerns was simply whether people currently
using MSE
(Microsoft Security Essentials / Windows Defender
1
) should be concerned - is Microsoft committed to making sure that
consumers who
choose to use MSE are safe and will remain so in the future?
The answer is clear: there’s no need for concern, MSE remains a
fundamentally safe
choice.
In a subsequent blog post on the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog,
Our commitment to Microsoft antimalware
, Dennis Batchelder, Partner Group Program Manager of the center
concludes a general
discussion about Microsoft’s commitment to the technology with this
statement:
We believe in Microsoft antimalware products and strongly recommend them
to our customers,
to our friends, and to our families.
Recommending the technologies to your friends and families – especially
when it’s
the technology you’re responsible for – doesn’t sound like giving up to
me. That’s
a statement of belief in the product.
You're Protected
It’s one thing when I recommend a product to my friends and family – if
it breaks
I can blame the manufacturer. When you’re a Microsoft person working in
the Malware
Protection Center, making that recommendation implies that when
something goes wrong
you’re
the manufacturer, and
you’ll
have to answer grandma as to why
your
product didn’t protect her computer. That takes commitment. (I know,
I’ve lived
this with other products.
:-)
)
A test is not the real world
One of the most unfortunate interpretations the original article deals
with Microsoft
seemingly “giving up” by saying that they were shifting focus away from
“predicting
test results”. Specifically:
“We used to have part of our team directed towards predicting test
results and figuring
out what might be in someone’s test. There’s always a cost to that. If
they are doing
that work, they are not looking at those threats that are affecting our
customers.
We always felt that was wrong. There’s something not right about that –
we’re not
doing the best job for our customers.” – Holly Stewart, quoted in PCPro
What this says to me is that Microsoft has shifted resources away from
trying to
look
good in random tests, and applied those resources to
being
good in the real world. It’s as if they had said “we’re walking away
from the comparison
testing game, because we believe our efforts are best spent elsewhere”.
That’s not giving up. You may disagree with the strategy, you may
consider independent
third party testing to be a valid and valuable approach for anti-malware
tool comparison.
However, simply choosing a different approach to making the product
better is certainly
not something you can interpret as “giving up”.
And those “efforts best spent elsewhere”? They benefit
all
the anti-malware vendors. Which is what makes this so complex.
The complex world of anti-malware tools and Microsoft’s role in it
Unfortunately Microsoft has a difficult time giving short, clear and
definite answers
in situations like this. While the published blog post
Our commitment to Microsoft antimalware
is strong on commitment to the process and technology, and to a certain
degree a
commitment to the specific products, it still reads as very … vague.
Very “business
like”. To me it doesn’t come out and nail the issue as clearly or as
hard as I would
like.
But I understand why it must be so.
In a word: partners.
When it comes to anti-malware tools, Microsoft actually needs to do two
things:
• Produce an anti-malware tool (MSE)
• Help other companies – their partners – produce anti-malware tools
It’s not difficult at all to see that these two roles have the potential
to come
into conflict.
If Microsoft were to come out and say “Hell’s yeah, we’re making the
best darned
anti-malware tool on the planet! You don’t need those other guys!” those
partners
that Microsoft still needs to work with are not going to be particularly
happy.
Heck, for all I know internally they
are
trying to create the best darned anti-malware tool
2
, but it’s not something they could ever say so strongly and so publicly.
Making MSE better makes everyone better
“
Microsoft’s ultimate commitment is to making Windows users safer and
battling … the
true enemy: malware writers.
What Microsoft does say publicly is simply this: “We share our telemetry
and samples
with the industry to collectively make all of us stronger against our
true adversaries
– the malware writers.” What this means is that what they learn about
malware they
share with other anti-malware tool manufacturers. This allows those
other companies
to incorporate that information into their own products, and
all
products to get better.
What this also means is that outside vendors get to use what they figure
out on their
own,
plus
what Microsoft has learned and shared with them. Does this make other
tools “better”?
Possibly, depending how good they are in general, and on your definition
of “better”.
Does it make Microsoft’s tools any worse? Not at all. Does it imply that
Microsoft
has given up on their own tools?
Absolutely not.
Microsoft’s ultimate commitment is to making Windows users safer and
battling, as
Mr. Batchelder put it, the true enemy: malware writers. They simply use
a two pronged
approach: making a good anti-malware product, and sharing data with
other vendors
so that they can do the same.
The net result is more choice for the user and a safer Windows
experience for everyone.
My Recommendation
As I mentioned at the start, my recommendation has not changed.
I continue to recommend MSE as a convenient, low-overhead, low impact
anti-virus
and anti-spyware tool. It’s easy, it’s reliable, and requires almost no
effort to
set up or monitor. As others often recommend,
Good luck, Manny If this helps, you can thank me by checking out my
stand-up comedy performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75fbevlz10g
computer specifications: Window Eyes 8.3, Dell xps420 Windows 7 home
premium, with 8 gb RAM, Intel q6600 quad core drivers and software updated
On 10/13/2013 1:26 PM, Duyahn Walker wrote:
Then why would CNet report that MSE is being dropped?
----- Original Message ----- From: "manny" <[email protected]>
To: "Mike Mandel" <[email protected]>; "gwmicro list"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: antivirus and WE - security essential is not being canceled
Aloha to all,
I am using Microsoft security essential on all my computers and it works
well with Window eyes.
The rumor in the news that Microsoft is dropping support for security
essential and that they are recommending you to get another antivirus
software, is false.
Google it if you have any doubts.Good luck, Manny If this helps, you can
thank me by checking out my stand-up comedy performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75fbevlz10g computer specifications:
Window Eyes 8.3, Dell xps420 Windows 7 home premium, with 8 gb RAM, Intel
q6600 quad core drivers and software updated On 10/13/2013 10:30 AM, Mike
Mandel wrote:
Greetings,
I'd also like to get an opinion about both the accessibility and
effectiveness of Kapersky. Could someone bring me up to speed please?
Cheers,
Mike MandelAt 10:20 AM 10/13/2013, Duyahn Walker wrote:
There was an article posted about this issue. Microsoft is stopping
support for MSE. i forget when they are stopping support for it but,
they are saying use something else.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Don H" <[email protected]>
To: "Duyahn Walker" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: antivirus and WE
When did Microsoft say not to use MSE any more?
On 10/13/2013 7:35 AM, Duyahn Walker wrote:
I had someone with AVG installed on there computer and I took it off
because a screen reader was not reading any of the controls. I was
wondering about another anti-virus program myself since Microsoft is
saying to not use MSE anymore.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Neville"
<[email protected]>
To: "GW Micro" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 12:41 AM
Subject: antivirus and WE
Hi,
Continuing with the discussion on the decline of the effectiveness
of
Vipre antivirus, is anyone successfully using the following with the
latest WE?
The free antivirus programme, AVG seems to get a good wrap as well
as
the not free, Kaspersky. Anyone got any experience with these two
with
speech?
As Vipre is not a complete dead loss yet, I am thinking of retaining
it along with the firewall component and installing another
antivirus
programme as a additional check.
Any comments?
Thanks
Neville.
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