Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 1 Guard Against Viruses, Spyware and Other Threats Completely Free! A computer without security software installed is an accident waiting to happen. Sooner or later, no matter how careful you are, something nasty will sneak its way into your PC. A huge number of companies offer security software, with one notable exception: Microsoft. Until recently, that is. In this article I ll introduce you to the new (and free!) Microsoft Security Essentials, explain how it triumphs over many of its rivals, and show you how to install and use it. By Rob Young What is Microsoft Security Essentials?... How to Download and Install MSE... Finding Your Way Around the MSE Window... What Happens if MSE Detects a Threat to Your PC... This article shows you how to:... Install the free Microsoft Security Essentials... Find your way around the program s window... Respond if MSE discovers a security threat on your PC Windows All P 920 / 3 P 920 / 6 P 920 / 12 P 920 / 16 You can install Microsoft Security Essentials from the Update 3/10 CD-ROM in the Update Software section 49
P 920 / 2 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials Real-time protection runs constantly to protect your PC On-demand scanners are used when you want to doublecheck your PC What Sort of Security Software Do I Need? Security software for your computer comes in two different types. The first and most important type is known as real-time protection. This is a program that is running constantly on your PC from the moment Windows starts, monitoring which programs are being installed or started, which files are opened, what you re downloading or receiving from the Internet essentially keeping a watchful eye over everything that s happening on your PC. If a virus or some other type of malicious software is about to be installed or run on your computer, this real-time protection program should intervene and prevent it (or, at least, warn you about it). The second type of security software is an ondemand scanner. This type of software doesn t run constantly: you simply install it so that it s ready and waiting if you want to use it, as with other programs you use. If you ever suspect that your PC might be infected with something that your real-time protection software missed, you can start this program and use it to scan your PC for a second opinion. You can install any number of these on-demand scanners on your PC (although one or two should be enough!), and the only rule about these programs is that you shouldn t set two of them scanning your PC at the same time. One of the best on-demand scanners available is the oddly-named Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. This free program is extremely easy to use, and you can learn more about it in article R160 Remove Spyware with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, included in PC Knowledge for Seniors update 3/09. If you don t have a copy of this update, you can find this article in the Members-only Area of our 50
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 3 website at www.pcforseniors.co.uk. Log in using the password shown on the front cover of your latest update, click Archived Articles and then type R180 into the search box and press Enter. The real-time protection programs are different: you must only have one of these installed. Since these programs run all the time, and try to check each program and file as soon as it starts to open, having two or more of these programs will usually cause them to conflict with each other, resulting in frequent error messages, crashes and perhaps the consequence that neither is actually able to protect you at all! While you certainly shouldn t have two real-time protection programs installed, you definitely should have one, and there are many to choose from. Some are free, such as AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, and others (the majority, in fact) you have to pay for: well-known examples include Norton Internet Security, McAfee AntiVirus and AVG s Professional Edition. Arriving rather late to this party is a new offering from Microsoft named Security Essentials. It s completely free, it works with Windows 7, Vista and XP, and as I ll explain, it has several worthwhile benefits over its rivals (including those you d have to pay for). What is Microsoft Security Essentials? Microsoft Security Essentials (or MSE, as we ll call it for short) isn t Microsoft s first foray into security programs. A few years ago, Microsoft released a program named Windows Live OneCare which like a lot of other security programs had to be paid for once at the outset followed by a renewal fee every year. You must have only one real-time protection program! MSE replaces Windows Live OneCare 51
P 920 / 4 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials Many modern security programs are slow and bloated The benefits of Microsoft Security Essentials Apart from the cost, Windows Live OneCare wasn t a great success for three reasons: first, it had all sorts of unnecessary features that weren t really related to security, but were shoehorned in to justify the price; second, it had the irritating habit of popping up all sorts of messages to tell you what it was doing when you were trying to get some work done; third, the combination of the first two drawbacks made your PC run noticeably slower. Perhaps those drawbacks of Windows Live OneCare seem familiar to you? Most of the popular real-time protection software seems to suffer from the same problems these days. Even the previously-excellent AVG Anti-Virus has recently had some new features packed into it that don t strike me as particularly worthwhile, but certainly do slow down my PC! With MSE, Microsoft has gone in a different direction. They ve taken the important security features from the old OneCare software (features they also use in some rather-expensive professional products) and dumped all the unnecessary extras. The result has several benefits over its competitors: It s free. However, unlike some other free security programs, it s not just a tempter that tries to entice you to buy its Professional version: the only version of MSE that exists is the free one. It does only one job. MSE simply protects your PC from malware without trying to provide other unnecessary features. As a result, it s far less likely to slow down your PC than most of its rivals, and on the rare occasions you actually need to use its window, you ll find it refreshingly 52
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 5 simple and uncluttered (as you can see from the screenshots later in this article). It updates itself automatically. Windows already has a system named Automatic Updates which collects and installs updates for your PC, and MSE quietly keeps itself up-todate using the same automatic system. It doesn t disturb you! Unless MSE spots a threat to your PC, you won t hear anything from it at all. Apart from an icon near the clock on the taskbar, you wouldn t even know it was running! Should I install Microsoft Security Essentials? As you can tell, I m very impressed with MSE (and all the reviews I ve read elsewhere are positive), so I d certainly recommend it. However, if you are tempted to install it, there s one vital point to consider first. As I mentioned earlier, you must have only one real-time protection program like MSE installed. Since you almost certainly have another real-time protection program installed at the moment, that means you ll have to uninstall the current program before installing MSE. Uninstall your current real-time security first! You probably know whether or not you have a realtime security program installed, and what it is. However, if you re not sure, have a look through the small icons in the tray section of the taskbar. Security programs place an icon here to let you know they re running and protecting you, and by holding the mouse over each icon in turn you ll see a little tooltip message giving the name of each program: one of these will be your security program, and you ll probably recognise it when you see it. 53
P 920 / 6 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials With this in mind, you may prefer to stick with your existing security program, and that s fine. Likewise, if you paid a year s subscription for your current software, you may want to keep using it until that subscription expires to get your money s worth, and decide what to do after that. If you do decide to uninstall your current real-time security software and install MSE instead, here s the order in which I suggest doing things: 1. Download MSE by following the first few steps below, so that you have it ready. 2. Uninstall your current security software and restart your PC. 3. Install MSE. By doing things in this order, you minimise the amount of time that your PC is unprotected, and you don t have to visit any websites between uninstalling your old software and installing MSE. How to Download and Install MSE If you would like to install Microsoft Security Essentials on your PC, follow these steps: 1. Insert your Update 3/10 CD-ROM into your PC s DVD/CD drive, click Update Software followed by Security Essentials, and then click the blue words Click here to download Microsoft Security Essentials. 2. Your web browser will open and whisk you to the Microsoft web page pictured in the following screenshot. 3. Click the large, blue Download Now button in the centre of the picture at the top of the page. 54
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 7 Click Download Now 4. If you re using a browser other than Internet Explorer, you may see a white box asking you to choose your version of Windows. Click the blue link in this box that corresponds to your Windows version. 5. Now you ll see the dialog pictured in the next screenshot. Click the Save button. Click Save 6. Another dialog will appear asking where you want to save the file. I recommend saving it to your desktop, as this will make it easy to find 55
P 920 / 8 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials when you need it, so click Desktop in the panel at the left of the dialog and then click the Save button. 7. The file will now be downloaded and, as it s a surprisingly small program, this should only take a few seconds. Another dialog will keep you posted on its progress, and when the download is complete and that dialog disappears, you can close your web browser. 8. If you currently have another real-time security program on your PC that you need to uninstall, now is the time to uninstall it, making sure you restart your computer afterwards. Assuming you used Internet Explorer to visit the Microsoft website, when you clicked that big blue button in step 3, the website cleverly determined which version of MSE was the correct one for your version of Windows. If you want to install MSE on another computer as well, it s best not to copy the file you ve just downloaded and use that it may not be the correct version for that PC. Instead, follow these steps again on your other PC to ensure that you re given the right version of MSE for that particular computer. 9. Now you re ready to start installing Microsoft Security Essentials, so double-click the file you downloaded. 10. If you see a pop-up message headed User Account Control, click Yes or Continue. 11. Now you ll see the window pictured in the next screenshot. Click the Next button to start installing MSE. 56
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 9 Click Next 12. In the next step, read the licence agreement (if you have the time and inclination!) and then click I accept. 13. In the next step, Microsoft wants to make sure that your version of Windows is a genuine (noncounterfeit) copy, so click the Validate button. The setup program will then quickly check your Windows installation, which should take only a few seconds. You may briefly see a message saying that your copy of Windows was validated successfully before you re whisked to the next step. The setup program checks your copy of Windows is genuine 14. In this step, click the Install button, and the setup program will install MSE.This is a fairly quick job, and after a minute or so you ll arrive at the final step, pictured in the next screenshot. 15. Leave a tick in the box beside the option labelled Scan my computer... and click the Finish button. 57
P 920 / 10 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials Leave the tick in this box Click Finish Details of all the latest security threats are downloaded 16. The setup window you were just using will disappear and, after a few seconds, you ll get your first glimpse of the Microsoft Security Essentials program itself, pictured in the next screenshot. At this stage the program is downloading the latest definitions from Microsoft website. These are the all-important details of viruses and spyware that tell MSE what to keep watch for on your PC. As it s doing this for the first time, it may take a few minutes, but subsequent updates (if you actually see them happening) will usually be much quicker. You don t have to sit and watch while this is happening: as the program itself mentions below the progress bar, you can close or minimise this window and carry on using your PC for something else this updating process will continue silently until it s finished, even if you close the window. Incidentally, don t be perturbed by the words Computer status At risk at the top of the window on a red background. MSE regards your PC as being at risk if its collection of virus definitions is out-of-date, but of course, it s busily downloading them now. Once that s been done, the 58
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 11 words At risk will change to Protected and the red background will change to a reassuring green. 17. When the definitions have been downloaded, MSE will start scanning your PC for viruses and other malicious items. It will do this even if you got tired of watching in step 16 and decided to close or minimise its window, and in the same way you can close or minimise the window now if you want to that won t upset it at all. As this is the first time MSE has scanned your PC, the job will take at least a few minutes, but future scans will usually be quicker. MSE scans your PC for potential security problems 18. Finally (assuming you still haven t closed it!), the window will look like the next screenshot. Near the top, as I mentioned earlier, you ll see the words Computer status Protected on a reassuring green background, and lower down you ll see confirmation that real-time protection is On and that the virus definitions are Up to date. 19. Again assuming you haven t done so already, you can now close the window and carry on using your PC just as you always do. MSE really 59
P 920 / 12 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials does take care of itself, and for the most part you ll only have to deal with it if it identifies a threat from malicious software. You ll see the word Protected here...... and confirmation of real-time protection and updated definitions You can remove the unnecessary icons from your desktop There s one final thing that s worth doing. The file you downloaded, which is still sitting on your desktop, is no longer needed, so it s sensible to delete that file and avoid unnecessary clutter.you ll also notice that a new Microsoft Security Essentials icon has appeared on your desktop (a picture of a castle with a blue flag flying) and this really isn t necessary: you could double-click it to see the MSE window, but you won t need to do that very often (if at all) and I ll show you the way to open the MSE window in a moment. Therefore you can delete this icon too. Finding Your Way Around the MSE Window As I ve mentioned, MSE just gets on with everything by itself. Along with the vital protection from viruses and spyware, it will update its definitions at regular intervals and scan your PC roughly once a week to ensure nothing managed to sneak past its defences in the meantime. 60
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 13 Nevertheless, it s useful to know your way around the program, so let s explore. The first thing to do is to open the MSE window, and there are two easy ways to do that. One is to open the Start menu, go to All Programs and click Microsoft Security Essentials. The other is to find and double-click its small icon near the clock on the taskbar (shown in the margin): If you use Windows 7, click the little white upward-pointing arrow a little way to the left of the clock and you ll see this icon in the panel that appears. In Windows 7, click this arrow button to find the MSE icon If you use Windows Vista or XP, you may be able to see this icon among the others; if you can t, click the chevron button to reveal icons that are hidden and you ll find this one among them. When the window appears, you ll see that it contains four tabs at the top labelled Home, Update, History and Settings. Here s what each of those tabs is for: Home: you can see this tab pictured in the screenshot on page 12. As well as telling you whether or not the virus and spyware definitions are up-to-date, you can tell MSE to scan your PC Visit the Home tab if you want to scan your PC 61
P 920 / 14 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials for infections if you ever suspect there s a problem. Using the panel on the right, choose between a Quick and a Full scan (a Quick scan is fine unless you re fairly sure there s something amiss) and click the Scan now button. Update: this tab gives you some fairly dull information about the collection of virus definitions MSE is currently using. More importantly, there s a large Update button. If you need to tell MSE to check for newer virus definitions and download them, click this button. If you feel there s a problem with your PC and you ve decided to use MSE to scan it, it s a good idea to visit the Update tab first and click the Update button. If there are newer virus definitions available, they ll be downloaded and used for the scan. Click this button if you want to check for newer virus definitions (usually before running a scan of your PC) 62
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 15 History: on this tab you ll find a list of any viruses and spyware MSE detected on your PC, the date they were detected and what action was taken. In the vast majority of cases, as I ll explain below, you d have told MSE to remove any suspicious items, and that should be noted in the Action taken column. Settings: this tab is the most complex of the four, but you should never need to use it. Here you can adjust various aspects of the way MSE works, but the program is installed with sensible settings so nothing should need changing. One odd thing you might notice when looking at the Settings tab is that MSE is set to scan your PC every week on Sunday at 2 AM. Your PC probably isn t switched on at that time on a Sunday morning, but that doesn t really matter: it will simply take the first available opportunity to run the scan when you next leave your PC alone for a few minutes. The MSE Icon: Sometimes Green, Sometimes Yellow Let s briefly return to that little Microsoft Security Essentials icon that appears near the clock on the taskbar. Most of the time it should be green, and containing a tick, but occasionally you may find that it s turned yellow and bears an exclamation mark. Why? If the icon turns yellow (as I m sure it will from time to time), MSE is trying to draw your attention to a relatively-minor problem: it s either concerned that it hasn t been able to run a scan of your PC for a long time, or it feels that its virus definitions may be out-of-date. If you double-click the icon to open the MSE window, you ll find out which it is and, if you choose The icon in the tray is usually green...... but it sometimes turns yellow to indicate a problem 63
P 920 / 16 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials to, you can update its definitions via the Update tab and/or run a scan from the Home tab. However, there s no real urgency to do either: as I ve mentioned a few times, MSE does take care of itself, and this yellow icon is intended more as information than as a warning. (If it really needed your attention, it would have popped up a message you couldn t ignore!) Left to its own devices, MSE should update itself and scan your PC, and the icon will return to its usual green colour after it s done so. What Happens if MSE Detects a Threat to Your PC To a large extent, then, you can completely ignore MSE once you ve finished installing it and it will do its level best not to bother you. The only time you won t be able to ignore it is when it finds evidence of a virus or spyware infection on your PC. If MSE does find an infected file on your PC, a red warning message like the one pictured in the next screenshot will appear at the bottom right corner of your screen, and won t go away until you deal with it. One way you could deal with this warning message is simply to close it by clicking the x button in its top right corner. I don t recommend you do that, of course, but it s something you may do accidentally. If you do, you ll find that the MSE icon in the taskbar turns red (rather than its familiar green or occasional yellow) as a warning that something is wrong. Double-click the MSE icon to open the program s window, and you ll see a large red Clean computer button: click that button to remove the infected file. 64
Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials P 920 / 17 Click Clean computer...... or Show details to see more information If you do see this message, the best course of action is to click the Clean computer button. The file (or files) that MSE regarded as a threat to your PC will then be safely deleted to prevent them from causing problems. Once the file has been removed, a green message will appear in the same corner of your screen to confirm that your computer was successfully cleaned. Rather than clicking the Clean computer button in that red warning message you can click the blue Show details link. If you do, you ll see a window like the one pictured in the next screenshot which provides more information about the type of threat that was found. In the Detected items column you ll see the name of the virus or spyware item discovered: these threats usually have very unusual names, and it won t mean much to you, but you might want to note it down and search for information about it either straight away, before deciding what to do about it, or later on (as a matter of curiosity). If you click the Show details button at the bottom, you can see the name and location of the file MSE suspects is infected along with a little If you prefer, you can see more details first... 65
P 920 / 18 Protect Your PC with Microsoft Security Essentials more (fairly general) information about the type of threat it s suspected to contain.... and then choose what action to take In this window you can click Clean computer with the same results as above: the infected file will be removed. Alternatively, if you open the drop-down list in the Recommendation column, you can choose one of the three actions offered and then click Apply actions: Remove: ths will do the same as the Clean computer button, deleting the offending file. Quarantine: this moves the file to a safe location on your computer where it can t do any damage, but isn t actually deleted. This allows you to recover the file from its quarantine location if you ever want to, but it s highly unlikely that you ever would. Allow: this tells MSE to ignore this threat, leaving the infected file in place. Unless you have some reason to be sure that MSE is mistaken about the threat, this is obviously not a sensible choice! You can choose an action to take from this list...... and click Apply actions Whether you choose Clean computer in this window or select one of the actions in the Recommendation column and click Apply actions, there will be a brief pause while MSE does as you ask and you ll see a green window confirming that the job has been done: click the Close button at the bottom of this window. 66