So it gets the worst scores on AV comparative sites or even worse, it was removed from testing altogether as it failed certification due to its horrible protection levels. AV TEST scores it at 0 in protection levels... great... every time I visit a friend's computer who has viruses, he has MSE installed One time I went to my sister's house to fix her computer, MSE kept popping up a message that it found a virus, it wasnt a virus but rather a false positive of a program that displays your WLAN network password key so anyway, since she doesn't need that program, I told MSE to delete the files then it rebooted her system and I thought great now we're done..but yet again, the message kept popping up...again..and again..and again...so it wasn't even able to remove a false positive... YET, you see that on 90% of forums, people use MSE since its light and comes preinstalled with Windows I have had it with AVs causing bad performance like Kaspersky, NOD32 became a resource hog even my websites load slow due to its HTTP checking... Bitdefender...I'd rather have a virus than install that....it causes major nuisances on my system... Emsisoft AntiMalware and Webroot Secure Anywhere, light as a feather, but buggy as heck and their false positives prevent me from even using my system properly they keep getting in the way.. I don't know what to do anymore I just installed Kaspersky 2015 and it added 9 freakin ' seconds to my boot time... I wanna use MSE but I'm just too scared I don't visit fishy sites, don't use any cracks I buy all my software...but you never know ..you know what I mean? maybe I was on some site which had streaming videos and due to no HTTP checking some virus slipped in? I do have AdBlock Plus, Disconnect, and LastPass as my addons on Firefox...but I don't feel safe using MSE tell me how in the world does 90% of the world use it? convince me please My only last choice would be to use Norton Antivirus which had been the lightest out of the bunch I've used with no FPs but still I wanna know how people use MSE
To be honest I stopped looking at "comparison" or "benchmarking" lists for hard- and software some 10 odd years ago. Esspacialy the lists of AV-software are hacked together as hell. Even the one with enaugth details to somewhat reconstruct there findings they managed to get NortonAntivirus on top with very funny weighting of very unimportant and small details and I consider anything which comes from Symantec as a virus. My opinion is that every place on such "comparison" or "benchmarking" lists are paid advertisment. The more the maker paid the higher it got ranked! As for MSE. I made the observation that many people consider all and everthing what comes from Microsoft as bad as everything else allthought everybody uses everyday products (or patents for Android-Phones) in there everyday work and freetime. So in my opinion no products of MS are even remotly evaluated unbiased. Only the uber-best products from MS are barly usable for many. Hating MS is very cool in many regards. I know from my experience that not even the best AV can prevent the average joe user (the one which hopefully doesn't delete the Internet, allmost everytime finds the ON-button) from clicking and allowing it for the AV. After a hostile takeover from maleware he is certainly sure that this was completly not his fault and is always the fault of Windows, the AV or the maker of the PC. If you configured this system you are certainly at fault with giveing him such an unsave system. Not even the best AV can protect anybody like this user. You say you know what you are doing on your PC. For you MSE might be a good solution. You will be never 100% save with any AV.
If you want someone to convince you to use MSE, then it's a lost cause showing the bias and hatred towards it. I use MSE daily and im not worried, why? Because I watch what I download and secure my passwords in a vault. Regarding those who have it with friends + family who want to fix their computer. Charge them, then quickly stop asking over every little thing. The problem lays within the space between the keyboard and chair.. not the AV and OS.
Honestly? Who gives a **** what you use? Use whatever you want/feel comfortable with, it is your & only yours business!
I dont know if below lines would be good enough for you to trust MSE / Defender.. I am using MSE and Windows Defender in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 for quite a long time.. and I am happy with it.. There is only one thing it cant protect you from, that's computer literacy.. Why I say this ?? Only thing I noticed in my dad's Windows 7 SP1, he mistanekly installed many adware.. technically speaking their are not malware, they dont steal anything, what ever they do, they do with proper user notification and permission.. That is the only causality so far with MSE.. From the moment I educated my dad about the installation rule, showed him few example, since then, its been 2 years, his laptop is just fine.. No problem.. So MSE is good enough for any literate PC user..
I've tried many a/v software in the past, I'm fickle, particular, anal retentive, all of the above, my point being I am now very loyal to Avast. Bang without the Bloat. Having a Malwarebytes kicker doesn't hurt either. Free security, you get what you paid for. Of course encrypting & safe vaulting go without saying. It's time now for me to go play in my sandbox. On a lighter note, if you're warned about a website, stay clear. You can see those big titties elsewhere.