United arrived on Merseyside having seen their season start at a canter rather than a gallop, but they were buoyed by the return of Cristiano Ronaldo with after his three-match ban.
Though not far behind in the points stakes, thus far they have lacked any real creative spark and with Wayne Rooney still out, Alex Ferguson was probably as delighted as the fans to see the Portuguese whizzkid back in the ranks.
With Thomas Gravesen failing to recover from a knee knock and Lee Carsley left on the bench, David Moyes fielded an attacking 4-4-2 with Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman and Mikel Arteta providing the ammunition for new boy Yakubu and Andy Johnson.
Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs and Ronaldo formed a three-pronged attack for United as both sides made their intentions clear early on.
From the off, Tevez was given far too much space as Everton went looking for goals, leaving their own defence exposed.
But it was United who had a scare in the eighth minute as Michael Carrick brought down Leighton Baines just half a yard outside the United penalty area, luckily for the Red Devils, Mikel Arteta shot over from the free-kick.
The first half was a good spectacle of football with both sides having opportunities, but ultimately failing to find the target, Ronaldo came closest after shooting just inches wide after a Paul Scholes free-kick.
Mikael Silvestre was stretchered off just before the break, to be replaced by Nani after an awkward slip when backing off from Arteta.
After the interval Everton flew out of the stalls and almost scored when Jagielka unleashed a tremendous drive which flew just wide. A minute later Johnson's header was cleared of the line after an Arteta corner.
United were soon back into their stride again as Giggs hit a shot across the face of goal that left Stefan Wessels flapping in the air, luckily for Everton the ball sailed wide.
Nani and Ronaldo linked up minutes later but the Portuguese duo couldn't get past Baines for the final shot.
Tevez dinked a little ball over the top of Joseph Yobo and Aaron Lescott which Scholes should have buried, but instead he shot way over from ten yards.
United clinched the points on 83 minutes after Vidic rose highest to head home a Nani corner which effectively killed off what little of the game was remaining.
Sub Nani was then replaced by Gerard Pique as Ferguson shut up shop for the day.
Yobo almost equalised after a melee in the United area after good Arteta footwork which panicked the United defence, but though Everton probably deserved a draw, it was not to be.