MSE & Windows firewall = good protection

casey · 18 Jan 2011 at 16:48

MSE + Win7 Firewall + Win7 Firewall Control does all I require.

Dirk · 18 Jan 2011 at 17:54

I find using common sense works best.

MSSE for when i'm drunk

theheyes · 18 Jan 2011 at 18:15

Chives said:
Hi there,
Just recently installed Microsoft security essentials and enabled windows firewall, I'm impressed so far but is it an effective security solution?
Thanks in advance for replies.

The short answer is yes, they are effective. You can get more aggressive antivirus, and you can get more featured firewalls, but they tend to be much more visible/annoying and not necessarily more effective.

I've used MSE since launch and Windows Firewall even longer and they've been good.

tntcoder · 18 Jan 2011 at 18:37

As said, really wouldn't bother with anything other than MSE for host-based purposes.

Meatball · 18 Jan 2011 at 18:44

I've been using Windows firewall & MSE since it was released and I've not had *touch wood* any problems. Update and scan using Malwarebytes every now and again and you'll be fine

.

Chives · 18 Jan 2011 at 18:59

Cheers guys, will go grab malwarebytes now

ShakenNstirred · 18 Jan 2011 at 19:21

also remember most of us now run though a router so you have the firewall there also

VeNT · 19 Jan 2011 at 16:04

get a hardware firewall
MSE is fine for the AV side

bledd · 19 Jan 2011 at 16:06

Tbh, the only time I've ever even seen a virus or spyware on my pc was the blaster virus, years and years ago

Since then, I've bought a router and installed Windows updates

I have MSE installed, but I've never seen it find anything on my pc, I only browse a handful of sites though

SiriusB · 19 Jan 2011 at 17:05

If the XP firewall was on by default during Blaster, it would have stopped it in it's tracks.

Outbound filtering is largely for the extremely paranoid or those who want to control every little detail. Decent malware will just bypass outbound filtering.

MSE and Windows Firewall are a great combination. Using Standard Accounts and a good browser are also very effective. Oh and the aforementioned common sense!

CaptainCrash · 19 Jan 2011 at 17:16

Dirk said:
I find using common sense works best.

MSSE for when i'm drunk

That's actually a good point - those of us who are drunk frequently or otherwise get distracted easily can't really do without an effective AV and firewall.

Common sense will get you a long way, but unless you have consistently superhuman levels of concentration, the chances are you'll make a mistake one day, and something could... errrm... slip in without you even realising it. An AV just swings the odds a bit more in your favour for such occasions.

SiriusB said:
Decent malware...

You just can't seem to get it anywhere these days...

liamcrane · 19 Jan 2011 at 17:25

Blue160 said:
MSE and Windows firewall is what I use as well, and I've had no problems.

I also have Malwarebytes as it seems to be the best on demand scanner.

Exact same set up here mate never encounted any issues, run malwarebytes once or twice a week and your good to go

I installed the new version of MSE on my laptop, still running the older version on my desktop i think, cant really notice any diference tho apart from the newer version seems to have a black background

FallshirmjAEger · 19 Jan 2011 at 19:21

I'm just having a tryout of both now. MSE seems good enough, but for some reason, there are blank icons in the security center which comes accross as unprofessional.