# How is Microsoft Security Essentials being received?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-microsoft-security-essentials-being-received/523773>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 5, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-microsoft-security-essentials-being-received/523773 "2010-01-05T18:48:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![clnilsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecccb3/32.png) [@clnilsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clnilsen)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-microsoft-security-essentials-being-received/523773/41 "2010-01-11T12:54:42Z")

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> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> Fascinating. I’ve had three Dell laptops over the years. Each time they’ve only included 30-day subscriptions, though Dell did try to sneak in the retail price somewhere in the transaction. Maybe sneak is a bit harsh, but it was something to avoid ending up paying for by default. Their mid-range laptops still come with only a 30-day trial of McAfee. Your claim that Dell includes three years seems to run against the experience of people calling for a cite.

As an added point of interest, businesses that _lease_ their machines from dell get AV software as part of the package.

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**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-microsoft-security-essentials-being-received/523773/42 "2010-01-11T13:48:42Z")

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\>Anyways, I have XP Home, which can’t run Windows Updates on a limited account.

This can be changed in group policy or in the security policy.

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**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-microsoft-security-essentials-being-received/523773/43 "2010-01-11T14:58:39Z")

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> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> But this just in … I popped over to Dell for a moment and took a very quick look at their laptops again. A thousand dollar (not cheap, but not over the top) [Studio 15](http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndoby8&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=laptop-studio-1555) comes with a 15-_ **month** _ subscription embedded in the price. A 3-year subscription is only $40. I only checked out one or two, but other laptops on their site could easily include the 3-year plan (especially as it’s probably cheap for Dell to comp something like that during their constant sale cycles). Ignorance fought!

Embedded in the price doesn’t mean free. The only thing that’s free is the 30-day trial.

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