I use Avast! free version on one computer and MS Security Essentials on another. Many of the files I scan are multimedia files (.avi, .mp3, .mp4, .H264 ect. ).
I notice that when I scan these file types with MS Security Essentials the scan completes almost instantly, and it never seems to discover any malware. This is the same whether I use the “Quick” or “Full” setting for the scan.
If I scan the same file types using Avast! free, the scan takes significantly longer.
It would appear from the duration of the scans that MS Security Essentials is preforming a cursory scan, at best. While Avast! seems to be taking its time and preforming what I assume is a more through scan.
Can anyone speak to the difference between the way these two products scan multimedia files? I am concerned that MS Security Essentials is not doing a complete scan of these file types due to the almost instant results that never find anything.
While I don’t have any experience with Microsoft Security Essentials(MSE), does MSE has scanning options such as “Ignore files that are larger than XX MB”.?
If that setting is enabled, obviously MSE will not scan any media files!
Thanks for your reply. I looked thru the settings for MSE and I could not find one that restricts scans by file size. It is possible to exclude specific files or file types from scans. You can also exclude processes and instruct MSE not to scan archive file types like .ZIP or .CAB files. However my settings do not exclude any files of any kind, and MSE is set to scan archive files, so that would not seem the cause of the issue.
I tried to post a new topic at the MSE forum, but it wouldn’t allow me to create a new topic/thread!
I was hoping someone, possibly from Avast!, might be able to give some insight into how Avast! handles these multimedia file types, and possibly how MSE is claiming to scan them in less than one second, always claiming that no threats were found.
Already had a try on MSE (I did on purpose).
Installation went well… it asks for a Original Windows to work… no problem.
GUI is very simple and it’s 100 times less configurable compared to avast!. which is a big negative point.
The full scan is a pain on the neck also compared to avast!. (MSE ~ 3 Hours vs. 1:45 Hours avast! and a total of ~200GB files scanned)
Detection on MSE is average (on order of 85% ~ 95%).
Talking about avast! and how avast! handles your multimedia files… well, just a case of configuration.
Open avast! GUI > Scan Computer and click on “Create Custom Scan” under the various scans you will find on “Scan Now” Page.
After that, is all about you… Customize the scan in the way you need and just start it. (don’t forget to see if the database is updated before)
avast! will scan following what you have selected and if it finds some malware, it will appear during the scan or in the final report.
Thanks for your reply. You are def. right that Avast! has more options than MSE. I figure MS just wants to keep it simple so most people will find it easy to use and they won’t be burdened with a lot of support requests.
One thing I found interesting was that you said “Detection on MSE is average (on order of 85% ~ 95%)”
Were you referring to the percentage of malware that MSE will detect, or the time that it takes to preform a full scan?
