I too use Symantec Endpoint Protection (Client) version 12.1.6 on one of my WinXP machines. It is very heavy on the hardware, but is also very reliable and relatively easy to configure. Updates will be coming for at least one more year from now.

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by assenort

I hurried up

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by egrabrych

Yes that is the right version.
Beware that a lot of download sites say they have 18.8, but when you download it it's actually the current incompatible version.

EDIT: Oh the link's gone.
This is it anyway.

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by Dave-H
Addition

2 hours ago, Mathwiz said:

Here's a quick link to the installers for the last XP version: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=223244.0

Nope ; the correct official avast forum topic with links to both off-line/on-line installers is:

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.0

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by VistaLover
fixed wrong link :-{

Thanks, it is exactly the same file as on Filepuma, but always best to get downloads directly from the source company if you can!

Well, it's done. Avast 18.8 Free is on my system and MSE is gone. Looks like I traded up (although Avast wants me to update FF 52.9.1  )....

Be Aware: getting MSE off my system was a nightmare! May have been a mistake to install Avast first; anyhow, the first time I tried to uninstall, it just locked up and I couldn't stop it. Had to power off & reboot.

I gave it one more chance, and the second time it sort of half-worked. Said it uninstalled, was gone from Add / Remove Programs in the Control Panel, but the logo was still in the system tray in red. Had to kill the msseces.exe process, then delete "/Program Files/Microsoft Security Client/", "/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/Microsoft/Microsoft Antimalware/", and "/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/Microsoft/Microsoft Security Client/" all manually to completely get rid of it.

There's probably still a registry entry or 12 floating around....

Is there a way to disable MSE in XP without having to uninstall it? And is this ok to do, or is it better to just rip the sucker out altogether?

(If I try one of the other av programs I would like to do it without disrupting my system in case I don't like it and have to remove it after the trial.)

I think you can stop it from running by:

1. Disabling the Microsoft Antimalware Service
2. Removing the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSC (export it to a .REG file first, in case you change your mind)

But it looks like #2 must be done offline. The key is protected....

I use Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+. 

3 hours ago, Mathwiz said:

Here's a quick link to the installers for the last XP version: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=223244.0

BTW, I think you have to use the online installers. The offline installer links are for the current post-XP versions.

To download Avast Free Antivirus v.18.8.2356 I suggest you use this site:
https://yadi.sk/d/Jr7OwahWbXaUD
or:
https://www.filepuma.com/download/avast_free_antivirus_18.8.2356-20726/
The offline installer file downloaded from there seems to be appropriate. The full version name is:  18.8.2356 (build 18.8.4084.409)

1 hour ago, Mathwiz said:

I think you can stop it from running by:

1. Disabling the Microsoft Antimalware Service
2. Removing the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSC (export it to a .REG file first, in case you change your mind)

But it looks like #2 must be done offline. The key is protected....

It is easier to use the Autoruns program (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns).

In the "filter" window, enter: microsoft security client
and then deselect all displayed items.
This is effective if the MSE has been installed in the folder with the default name: Microsoft Security Client.

And:  1. Disabling the Microsoft Antimalware Service

At the end you need to restart the computer.

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by egrabrych

1 hour ago, VistaLover said:

Nope ; the correct official avast forum topic with links to both off-line/on-line installers is:

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.0

Yes, these links lead to a good version ... at least Avast Free Antivirus.

If you go to msconfig and uncheck msseces from the startup tab, and disable the ms antimalware service, will that work?

Avast recommend that you uninstall MSE completely.
Frankly, what's the point in keeping it? It will never work again on XP!

I had the same problems that @Mathwiz had uninstalling it.
The first time it just said it was uninstalling and never completed. After 15 minutes I got bored and manually rebooted.
The second time it appeared to uninstall but didn't at all, apart from the entry in Add/Remove Programs disappearing.
I tried the MS "Fixit" that's supposed to uninstall it, and that didn't work either, it said it completed successfully but didn't appear to have done anything!
I had to manually delete the folders too, and get rid of a large number of orphaned registry entries, including services entries.

Yes; M$ sort of added insult to injury. They weren't satisfied with just disabling future updates, thus rendering MSE useless; they also gave us a non-working uninstaller so we couldn't even get rid of the $#@$^ thing!

Oh; forgot to mention that even after disabling the anti-malware service and killing the msseces.exe process, I still had to use Unlocker to completely delete the directories. I guess you wouldn't want it to be too easy for malware to do a rogue uninstall, so maybe this makes sense - but that's all the more reason the official uninstaller should work!

Oh, well; at first blush I'm quite impressed with Avast. It did falsely trigger on ProxHTTPSProxyMII, but that's understandable; that is a MITM after all!

I'm glad I'm one of the lucky ones Avast seems to run OK on. Probably should've ditched MSE for it years ago.