Is The PC Security Business About To Go Out Of Business?
- 3
- Add a Comment
In the past, I have had a difficult time using the terms Microsoft and security in the same sentence without bursting into laughter. Yet after seeing Microsoft’s latest anti-malware tool known as MSE, I think that we might finally see the Redmond giant releasing a tool that actually works as advertised.
In the past, Microsoft was content to allow its OS bugs to be handled by third party vendors. Most of them are out there to offer end users great software, while there have been some that were actually installing malware of their own under the guise of protecting your computer.
Today, however, it appears that Microsoft’s Security Essentials software may very well be the kind of thing that could put a lot of consumer level anti-malware vendors out of business. Consider the fact that this app from Microsoft does it all and is free, something tells me consumer level security vendors might be left scrambling to compete with something that might not be too much for them.
Considering the fantastic performance, lack of price, and the fact that it does it all from malware, viruses, rootkits, and so on, I would think that there are going to be a number of security execs out there dealing with some sleepless nights.
- Stealth MXP Passport 1GB
- Security Guardian Advanced Encryption Device
- DISC ICE BLUE >Automated PC Access Control
- BlackICE PC Protection
- McAfee Anti-Theft 2009 1-User
- SpyCatcher 3.0
- Simple Computer Security: Disinfect Your PC
- PC Security and Virus Protection Handbook: The Ongoing War Against Information Sabotage
- PC Confidential: Secure Your PC from Snoops, Spies, Spouses, Supervisors, and Credit Card Thieves (With CD-ROM)
3 Comments
Mike from KS
September 30th, 2009
at 4:48am
As a tech I am skeptical. I have not tested it so I am not qualified to say very much for or against the program. MS advertise that the free version is a basic coverage program. Time will tell if it really gets the job done.
Randy Allen
September 30th, 2009
at 6:26am
Love your title! :D The first thing Microsoft should do, if they are serious about security for Windows is kill IE’s use of Active X. IMO IE and Active X are the biggest security threats on a Windows box. Active X may have been a good idea, but as soon as malware authors discovered it, it quickly became an open door. The sad thing is that it is enabled by default and is still vulnerable to attacks after 13 years!
Back to your title, PC security guys shouldn’t be worried. As long as Windows is around and people continue to use IE, there will be jobs.
David P.
September 30th, 2009
at 1:46pm
It may kill the virus scanning/removal market, but thats always been a market I’ve been skeptical about the usefulness of. I’m much more interested in tools that “innoculate” system files and program settings to be hardened so that the malware never gets to your machine to have to be detected, and MSE doesn’t do this at all. Malware detection+removal != malware protection, and is indeed the “last resort” of antimalware. I think people are only so trained to seek it and nothing more because of thinking which dates back to about 15 years ago when PC security was so bad a constant virus threat was a fact of life which couldn’t be handled any other way than to constantly be on the lookout for signs a machine had gotten infected, again.
That said, I’ve tested the beta for MSE for months now and its a pleasure to use and has no noticable impact on day-to-day performance, which already makes it far more useful than most expensive suites even assuming MSE cannot detect a single virus…