switching from kaspersky to microsoft security essentials

claire07

I recently put kaspersky internet security suite (free with barclays account) on our rather dated desktop computer (windows xp) and it has become even slower. As I am pleased with microsoft security essentials on my windows7 laptop I would like to see if this might be more suitable on the desktop. What is the best way to do this - should I totally delete all kaspersky before downloading security essentials or is there any way I can just disable Kaspersky while I see if the other one suits it better in case I need to reinstall Kaspersky?

claire07

I apologise for senior moment - I meant to post the previous question on the techie thread - is it possible to move it?

savetilibleed

claire07 wrote: »

I recently put kaspersky internet security suite (free with barclays account) on our rather dated desktop computer (windows xp) and it has become even slower. As I am pleased with microsoft security essentials on my windows7 laptop I would like to see if this might be more suitable on the desktop. What is the best way to do this - should I totally delete all kaspersky before downloading security essentials or is there any way I can just disable Kaspersky while I see if the other one suits it better in case I need to reinstall Kaspersky?

To be sure you totally remove all remnants of any AV product, you should use their removal tool. I cannot vouch for this as I have never used or uninstalled a Kaspersky product, but they have a removal tool at http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208279463
Not sure if it says you should disconnect the computer from the internet during this, but once removed you will no longer be protected.

You might want to consider Avast Free Antivirus as an alternative to Microsoft Security Essentials. The former is a basic but good AV only product, and does not include a Firewall and Anti-Spam that the Microsoft product probably has. But you can use separate products (and free) for this. I have a Windows XP computer too abd find Avast does not slow it down too much. It will depend on the processor etc in your computer. Mine has a Dual Core Athlon 4200+ processor.

masonic

If you want to get a true picture, you'd need to uninstall Kaspersky before installing MS security essentials. Even if you can completely disable Kaspersky, which is not necessarily possible, it will probably still have some running processes that will be using memory and that may still affect the performance of your PC, especially on an old machine with not very much RAM.

In the past I've had no problem uninstalling Kaspersky cleanly through Add/remove programs, so I wouldn't necessarily jump to a special removal tool unless something went wrong with that process.

claire07

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give it a go today and report back if it improves things. This time I'll make sure I post on the techie forum!

bowlesbargain

I did what you are talking about 6 months ago. I did it on both my desk top and my daughters laptop both work very well and I am happy I changed and its free.

turbobob

I've been impressed with MS Security Essentials and my PC seems to be faster since replacing McAfee with MSE. It's free which is nice.

JohalaReewi

turbobob wrote: »

I've been impressed with MS Security Essentials and my PC seems to be faster since replacing McAfee with MSE. It's free which is nice.

Although there are random problems with the MSE component MsMpEng.exe suddenly consuming 100% of the CPU for no apparent reason. Happens on a couple of my XP machines from time to time. YMMV