If we have two or more anti-viruses installed on our PC, we might notice at times that one of them detects a virus in one of the files but other doesn't. Now the question arises, which one do you trust? Well, Anti-virus vendors may make you believe that they can detect anything and everything. It's true that most modern anti-virus softwares go beyond detecting traditional viruses. They detect trojans, track cookies and are even sophisticated enough to detect vulnerabilities inside compressed files and virtual disk images. But unfortunately no anti-virus is perfect. While some fail at detecting new vulnerabilities, others falsely identify a perfectly good file as infected. For that reason, it's not possible to find out which anti-virus software is at fault just based on the information provided. Our suggestion would be to read more about the virus, which the AV software mentioned is. If it's an old virus which has been studied for months or years, then it would be safe to assume that the file is really infected. If instead it was a recent virus, or if it's just a cookie or a hint of a virus rather than the virus itself, then you need to do more investigation. A good commercially supported anti-virus may provide a way for you to contact their support group which can help you troubleshoot further. In our opinion AV softwares backed by larger, reputable organisations usually perform better.

Microsoft has officially unveiled its long-awaited consumer antivirus offering. Formerly code-named “Morro,” it’s now been christened Microsoft Security Essentials. MSE is a free to download antivirus program which can be downloaded directly from Microsoft’s website. MSE will uninstall Windows Defender if it is present on a user’s PC, as MSE is a “superset” of Defender. Upon setup, MSE also will advise users to uninstall other third-party offerings, as running multiple antivirus/anti-malware offerings degrades PC performance. The final build number for MSE is 1.0.1611. Microsoft Security Essentials is available in 8 languages across the 19 countries shown below: A glimpse below of how security essential looks like: When everything is running as it should, MSE makes sure users know all is well, with a green-colored highlighting across the UI and via a green taskbar icon When something is amiss, MSE makes sure users know they'll need to take action, with red-color highlighting across the UI and via a red taskbar icon. Four reasons why free security software from Microsoft can be trusted: Windows brand : Security problems have damaged the Windows brand. Offensive third-party anti-malware -- meaning annoying and resource hogging -- detracts from the end-user experience, which also hurts the Windows brand. Customer safety : Windows is Microsoft's product. The primary responsibility for protecting it from marauders should be Microsoft's, not third parties. Shadow ecosystem Corporate responsibility When Security Essentials sees a potentially malicious file that doesn't match known malware, it contacts Microsoft servers for additional analysis. The feature likely affords greater protection owing to the use of the latest signatures online Positives: 1. There will be no registration required, no trials with an expiration date or required renewals. 2. Lightweight 3. It detects and disables every infection, and although it leaves behind several changes to the Registry and other areas (as every free app does), so they don’t cause further harm. 4. When put against AV-Test's "WildList" collection of 3,194 recent, common viruses, bots, and worms, Microsoft Security Essentials detected and removed each and every one of the malware samples. 5. The second test for Security Essentials on a much larger set of malware. Of the 545,3444 malware samples in that collection, Microsoft's software nailed 536,535 6. Non interruptive behavior unlike other AV programs Negatives: 1. Microsoft is restricting the MSE download (both the beta and final) to PCs running Genuine Windows (which has been authenticated as non-pirated). 2. Hardly as customizable or configurable as Norton, McAfree, Kaspersky or Eset NOD32 3. Slow scan speed 4. This also doesn’t include dynamic detection features like other AV softwares. 5. Symantec, which yesterday blasted Security Essentials as a "poor" product with "average detection rates," For users using pirated windows: need to be stay away. Microsoft’s new way of detecting and stopping piracy.