I know what people are thinking MS knows all the tricks to their own software.
However, in October of 2013 even MS admitted they were producing a far inferior product and recommended people make a different choice. Look at the lab results in the tables below and check out this article.
http://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/This is not just about MSE though.
As a Computer Systems Administrator I will tell you a dirty little not so secret secret.
The only difference between Paid and Free AV is the feature set like a cumbersome Firewall,
and sometimes the lack of ads (however, this alone may be worth the price of admission to some).
The AV algorithms are exactly the same for Paid and Free.
Think to yourself why would they be any different.
If the free version is to convince you to pay for it.
Why would they let you sample a lemon...
Why would they spend the time and resources on two different algorithms...
Why would they commit to two different servers and update cycles...
Etc...
Now all AV's are tested regularly by independent labs (
http://www.av-comparatives.org/detection-test/) and Here are the detection rates for March 2014:
Notice the Lab does not indicate free vs. paid because the results are exactly the same.
1. Kaspersky Lab 99.8%
2. F-Secure, eScan, Baidu (en), Fortinet 99.6%
3. Emsisoft, Bitdefender, Lavasoft, Kingsoft², BullGuard, Qihoo (en) 99.5%
4. McAfee, Panda 99.3%
5. AVIRA, Tencent 99.2%
6. Trend Micro 99.0%
7. ThreatTrack Vipre 98.9%
8. ESET 98.8%
9. Sophos 98.3%
10. Avast 97.7%
11. AVG 97.5%
12. Microsoft 90.0%
Now September 2013:
1. AVIRA, G DATA, F-Secure 99.7%
2. McAfee, Panda 99.6%
3. Kaspersky, BitDefender, Emisoft 99.5%
4. BullGuard, eScan 99.4%
5. Fortinet, Vipre 99.0%
6. AVG, 98.3%
7. Sophos, Trend 98.2%
8. ESET 97.1%
9. Avast 96.5%
10. AhmLab 90.6%
11. Microsoft 90.1%
12. Symantec 89.7%
I am showing two different sets of results so you can see things change rapidly - but just barely.
Microsoft is always near the bottom.
The others jockey around for the top five slots within a tenth of a percent of each other.
Now there are three other factors to consider one of which is false hits.
In other words the AV says this file is a virus and it really is quite safe.
MSE scores the best in this regards because it has such a hard time finding them at all.
The others again jockey around trying to hit it the top five slots of the fewest false hits.
What have I learned after over 30 years of both professional and personal use of AV's?
First, the free versions are not inferior to the paid versions.
Second, MSE is inferior and even MSE admits it, and tells us to use something else.
Second, AV products vary year to year but it is like buying a car.
It usually takes a horrific event to offset the "first choice" mentality.
Finally I have my favorite AV and there is usually nothing I can say to you, show show you, present to you to convince you to change your favorite AV (and really why would I want to try they all jockey around great results).
Ultimately as long as you are using something other than MSE (please read the MSE article listed above) you will eventually land in one of the top five slots anyway. So one last factor is the interface and your ability manage the AV and that is all personal preference.
Having said all the above I depend on lab results and nothing else so I will not debate individual AV's.
Everyone has probably had a bad virus really make a mess of their computer.
The AV that was installed at the time probably has an understandable emotional reaction for you now.
Just remember none of the AV's has ever made the 100% hit and 0% false hit mark every month.
Check out the AV Comparatives website list above as they have monthly results you can purview if you are really bored.
Seriously now no ill will for anyone and there favorite AV (I loved and used MSE
when it was great).
