MSE 4.0 is out of beta

[BruceR]

I just noticed another very subtle but much needed improvement in MSE 4.0 when compared to 2.0:

The drop-down arrow to the right of "Help" now has a grey box around it highlighting "Additional help options".

It was previously very difficult for most users to discern that the arrow would do anything different to clicking on Help.

Bruce

[CLiNT]

Most of the changes appear to be bug fixes from previous versions as Dick makes mention of.
(sporadic instances where the icon would display red upon first boot-up are now fixed)
I think one would be hard pressed to find any kind of change log from Microsoft that goes into any amount of detail.

[JoeP517]

Microsoft appears to be following along with most other software vendors and telling people less and less about what has been fixed and what has changed.

Joe

[DrRon]

Maybe it's just me, but I find that totally unacceptable.
I run several free utilities that are well documented almost every new build.
And those I've paid for are pretty meticulous documenting every new build.
I would think a Big Dog in the neighborhood would do SOMETHING on a piece of software that was in Beta for so long....
Either I'm too old fashioned or too old.

[BruceR]

The drop-down arrow to the right of "Help" now has a grey box around it highlighting "Additional help options".

I was wrong: The box only appears after you've clicked. The tiny drop-down arrow still allows access to sample submission, privacy policy and software version/update check.

Bruce

[DrRon]

I think that's the same behavior 2.1 had, but I can't remember if the options were the same in the drop-down menu.
Still can't understand what was being beta'd for this update.
Sure would like to find a reference on the AV elements that might have changed.
Anyone here that was a beta tester have an idea?

[huntsman]

Hi Dick-Y.. ditto to your experience. I'd seen it on many older PC's when being serviced. V2 & XP were always doing it & XP's firewall was also complaining about no firewall, with the Balloon error message, which would eventually get it right & go away.

[northwood2222]

Perhaps the reason for the dearth of information for the "under the hood" changes is - Security

[cavehomme]

Am I the only one here who is rather annoyed that V4 is a downgrade in terms of several removed options compared to V2?

I really liked V2. There was no announcement from MS to allow a user a choice whether to upgrade or not, and the upgraded version actually has a simple visual style to it that could look like a scamware version of MSE!

That aside, removing the various options such as network inspection, removing the scanning of only inbound files is retrograde from an advanced users perspective, in my opinion. I know that it's free, that I can choose another AV, etc, etc, but the point is that these changes are significant for some users and unannounced directly to them.

Oh well, I guess it's all part of the new trend at MS of dumbing down! That's why I reverted to Office 2003 after trying to use the dumbed-down, loads of pastel shades and empty white space and massive icons Office 2010 which affected my productivity significantly those two years...but that is another story!

[bachware]

I'd been tearing what little hair out I have left trying to find out what the version of MSE was, and now I see it on the drop-down from the arrow. I guess they decided not to allow heuristics to be turned off via the Advanced menu, but that's OK. I ditched Trend for MSE, and no malware has ever gotten through, nor does it seem to slow down my system at all. It's a superb package, IMHO.

“Dumb down” seems the way M$ is going with all of the O/S. I like the WIMP interface, and will NOT upgrade to Win8/Metro, unless they provide a way to upgrade from Setup that makes the legacy Explorer desktop the default. I don't want my PC to look like a cell phone. I want my 27" desktop and taskbar streams to stay as they are.

[DOS-equis]

... and will NOT upgrade to Win8/Metro, unless they provide a way to upgrade from Setup that makes the legacy Explorer desktop the default. I don't want my PC to look like a cell phone. I want my 27" desktop and taskbar streams to stay as they are.

Don't hold your breath on that one. from what I've been hearing/ reading the metro interface is here to stay, unless there is massive public outcry like whan Vista bombed for 3+ years. IMO this is going to be another Vista but with different problems. I'm waiting for Windows 9 or whatever they will call it then. I won't be upgrading anything to an OS that was designed for a touch interface without a touch interface to use it with. All I can think of is that for non touchscreen machines, you will have either drag capability or popup arrows to scroll like in Windows Media Center. <puke>

[randytank]

Will this version of MSE work with Windows Server 2003 R2?

[joro]

How can one tell which version is in?

[BruceR]

How can one tell which version is in?

Click the arrow to the right of Help, then About Security Essentials.

Bruce

[WFS]

I've been using MSE for several years now and it seems to work just fine. I really don't need to know the details of the changes from version to version. I find it much less intrusive than other AV programs.