Microsoft Security Essentials ranks among best antiviruses for Windows 7

Windows 7 is still a beloved version of Microsoft’s operating system with many companies still showing interest as well as a huge market share of Windows users that still show love to the now outdated operating system.

Using an outdated version of an operating system can present massive security risks, so many are wondering what the best antivirus solutions for Windows 7 are. Luckily, the answer is now here thanks to research by AV-TEST, a security company from Germany, who determined the best antivirus solutions as of January and February of 2017.

The research featured multiple tests and a system which awarded antivirus suites points that competed based on the performance given in various categories. When it came to overall performance, protection, and usability, the top scorers were from well-known such as Kaspersky or Bitdefender. Other software, such as Symantec and Trend MicroSolutions, were also present and scored among the highest.

It was a significant challenge

The test was no walk in the park for the competing software solutions as it consisted of scanning a huge amount of files — 1.3 million to be exact — and dealing with a very large number of malware threats. In total, there were a total of 11,500 malware attacks directed at the competing security products with 19 competitors in total.

Great results got Microsoft some props

Microsoft managed to distinguish itself not by topping the charts on these tests but by doing well enough to demonstrate that it’s not offering what everybody thinks is a generic protection solution in the form of Security Essentials. Microsoft’s performance isn’t something to be casually pushed aside: the company managed to challenge established security solution providers such as AVG, Avast, or Avira, something that is quite an accomplishment and clearly shows that Microsoft has put a lot of focus and effort into its security suite.

The latest updates that came to Windows 10, as well as its upcoming ones, are part of a grand transformation put into motion by Microsoft that considerably boosts areas of the OS that were previously neglected.

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