Thanks for that update, Richard! I hadn't read that one before - though I have seen others that are somewhat similar. It's good to see additional somewhat official confirmation of what many of us have known and been recommending for quite some time (and in other forums as well from what I've seen). I just hope they keep it free now that it's getting all this official recognition and don't see it as a money-generating opportunity (no matter how inexpensive).
I am, however, having a bit of difficulty with version 2 (fully updated with Vista fully updated) in terms of occasional (not often and not always and not during every scan and possibly even not during scans - I've not confirmed that yet) massive CPU usage spikes from MsMpEng.exe - as high as 50-60% - that I can end with Task Manager End Task and then restarting MSE and then if applicable restarting the scan as a full scan rather than a scheduled quick scan. It generally then doesn't re-occur. Here's one thread with several possible causes/solutions:
Recent upgrade to MSE caused me to get MsMpEng.exe cpu hog issue. I've tried them all, but none have worked (though it could be something I've missed - I have tried quite a few alternative AV programs and thought I used the removal tools for each, but might have accidentally skipped one and I do run several programs that are security-related though not technically AV programs (like Secunia PSI) and I haven't gone there yet). Here's a listing of other related threads:
msmpeng.exe - Microsoft Answers Search. I'm considering submitting a case. But I expect no replies about this here and don't want to change the focus of this thread or hijack it - so please hold off on suggestions unless I actually post a thread with this issue.
@ilikefree, I realize that switching before the end of a paid subscription feels like throwing money away (it's how I felt when I did it with PandaSoft to move to MSE - and I had almost 6 months remaining), but is that really the case if the replacement is free and quite possibly (most likely if not definitely IMHO) a better alternative? Then again, I've never used or even tested Nod32 (and haven't ever faced any problems concerning its use on any forum or in my business), so I'm not really in any position to render a valid judgement.