# AVG vs MS Security Essentials **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avg-vs-ms-security-essentials/562970 "2010-12-04T22:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avg-vs-ms-security-essentials/562970/21 "2010-12-09T21:24:57Z")
> [@CC](#): > > My only beef with the free version of AVG is that, on my machine, at least, it bogs everything else down for two hours while it scans. And I can’t get it to do a scan when the computer is off, so I have to schedule it for when I’m not going to be using the computer for two hours - not always a reliable bet. Is there an antivirus that _can_ do a scan while the computer is off?? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avg-vs-ms-security-essentials/562970/22 "2010-12-09T21:31:02Z")
> [@CC](#): > > My only beef with the free version of AVG is that, on my machine, at least, it bogs everything else down for two hours while it scans. And I can’t get it to do a scan when the computer is off, so I have to schedule it for when I’m not going to be using the computer for two hours - not always a reliable bet. There are priority levels for AVG. Do you have it set to lowest, while you’re on the computer doing other things? It is a switch called “Fast scan” at one end and “Slow scan” at the other. You want slow scan. It takes much longer with a slow scan. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avg-vs-ms-security-essentials/562970/23 "2010-12-09T22:36:04Z")
Yep - even with Fast Scan everything else slows down and the scan can take a couple hours. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avg-vs-ms-security-essentials/562970/24 "2010-12-09T23:38:16Z")
Well, I reinstalled Avira after deleting all other scan programs. It installed fine and is running at the moment. It didn’t function well last time I tried the upgrade, but now it is fine. AVG and MSE are not so good in my estimation. MSE is OK, but Avira is best. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avg-vs-ms-security-essentials/562970.md?page=1)