Microsoft Security Essentials Beta

[LarryFlowers]

June 23rd...

Microsoft today released the first Public Beta of Microsoft Security Essentials. Coming on line as the end of Windows Live One Care approaches the end of June, Microsoft has decided to offer a basic malware protection product that will give users a free product to protect their computers.

The product is fast and light, you will never notice it is running. It is designed to do the job, no frills. You won't have parental controls and you can't customize firewall settings.

You also won't take a 50% performance hit when it is running.

The engine that powers this application is the same basic engine used in Microsoft's corporate security product Forefront.

Updates occur 3 times daily, but real time updates can also occur. The actual software will be updated through the Windows Updates Service.

The download can be obtained at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

and is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 in both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Did I mention it was free...

Larry

[barryb]

Thanks Larry... downloading right now.


Did I mention it was free...

For now... :)

[naijai]

Well something for me to do when i get home sounds promising; i did use live one care and can testify to the amount of system resources hijacked when ever it was in use

[LarryFlowers]

Actually Barry... No. Microsoft will be providing this app free of charge from now on. They are doing this to try to cut down on the number of machines that have no protection whatsoever..

Thanks Larry... downloading right now.




For now... :)

[Mertzen]

Apri 1st

Microsoft today released ... The product is fast and light,

:lol::lol::lol:

[Greg Alsobrook]

Larry... Was that an advertisement?? :lol: ;) :p

Did I mention Malwarebytes was free? :grin:

[dave29]

Thanks Larry, just downloaded.

[Marlin Guy]

I wonder what struggling software company MS gobbled up to get this one?

Anyway, no matter.
As the man said, Malwarebytes is free and is by far the best one I've used in the last two years.

Yes, it did sound kind of like an advertisement, didn't it?

Just to keep things on an even keel, here's a free link to free Malwarebytes.
www.malwarebytes.org

Did I mention it's FREE, and NOT from Microsoft :lol:

[LarryFlowers]

Gee Whiz Guys... wasn't aware that Malwarebytes had antivirus, and all this time I used it to find malware on PC's.

Larry

Larry... Was that an advertisement?? :lol: ;) :p

Did I mention Malwarebytes was free? :grin:

I wonder what struggling software company MS gobbled up to ghet this one?

Anyway, no matter.
As the man said, Malwarebytes is free and is by far the best one I've used in the last two years.

Yes, it did sound kind of like an advertisement, didn't it?

Just to keep things on an even keel, here's a free link to free Malwarebytes.
www.malwarebytes.org

Did I mention it's FREE, and NOT from Microsoft :lol:

[Marlin Guy]

Gee Whiz Guys... wasn't aware that Malwarebytes had antivirus, and all this time I used it to find malware on PC's.

Larry

Well, I'm glad you were set straight. :D

Actually, the free version will scan for and remove viruses, but there is no resident protection in the free version. So, while it's not an active antivirus, it is a very effective cleanup tool.

Does the Windows product remove just the infected files or does it also cleanup registry damage to prevent re-infection on reboot?
This is where most Antivirus products seem to fall short.

It's like they are standing guard, but only to let you know that something just got by them.

If you want a good free lightweight antivirus, AVG and AVAST! have the best products I've seen. In fact, they are better than the paid versions of McAfee and Symantec together.

[SayWhat?]

you can't customize firewall settings.

Not good.

By the way, AVG is free too, as is Avast.

[LarryFlowers]

Microsoft bought an Israeli security software company a few years back and this is where the program has been developed along with their Forefront corporate product.

MSE provides real time protection. I am not an expert on security software and I am sure that the reviewers will run the tests necessary to determine MSE's strengths and weakness, however a couple of early technical reviewers had the following to say:

"the protection mechanism operates at the kernel level to examine the behavior of unknown binaries and then sandbox potential malware before it can do any harm. And thanks to a new Dynamic Signature Service, MSE can immediately query online to see if there is anything that matches what its seeing on the PC. Because of its kernel mode hooks, MSE can also detect kernel mode rootkits and, in many cases, even clean them out after they've rooted their way into the system."

As I saw this exact info on 2 sites, either one copied from the other or it is from the Microsoft information kit on the product.

As I am currently testing Windows 7 RC, I thought it would be a good time to look at this product as the final version is scheduled to arrive at the same times as Windows 7.

I have recently used Avast and AVG (free versions) and liked them both, and I am looking for a new security software to use going forward. Norton and McAfee, while they do their job very well for the most part have just gotten to big and along with Trend Micro, there tech support answer to most questions has become "uninstall it and reinstall it" which is NOT acceptable.

So far, MSE seems to be doing it's job and the interesting tidbit... loaded it uses less than 5.4MB of memory.

I am looking forward to the no doubt rabid testing that will appear on line about this product.

Larry


Well, I'm glad you were set straight. :D

Actually, the free version will scan for and remove viruses, but there is no resident protection in the free version. So, while it's not an active antivirus, it is a very effective cleanup tool.

Does the Windows product remove just the infected files or does it also cleanup registry damage to prevent re-infection on reboot?
This is where most Antivirus products seem to fall short.

It's like they are standing guard, but only to let you know that something just got by them.

If you want a good free lightweight antivirus, AVG and AVAST! have the best products I've seen. In fact, they are better than the paid versions of McAfee and Symantec together.

[ncxcstud]

Consumer reports voted Avira, Microsoft Defender, and SPAMFighter as their #1 antivirus 'suite' for free.

[kfcrosby]

This morning:


Alert!

Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft® Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time. Please check back at later a date for possible additional availability.

[LarryFlowers]

Dam... I didn't think they were going to limit this one!

Larry

This morning:


Alert!

Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft® Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time. Please check back at later a date for possible additional availability.

[Greg Alsobrook]

Gee Whiz Guys... wasn't aware that Malwarebytes had antivirus, and all this time I used it to find malware on PC's.

Larry

Judging by the sentence below, I thought this was a malware program. I didn't see "anti-virus" mentioned anywhere. My mistake.

Microsoft has decided to offer a basic malware protection product that will give users a free product to protect their computers.

[LarryFlowers]

My apologies Greg... it seems that the industry is starting to refer to all types of threats to the computer now as "malware". They are no longer limiting it to the stuff that you and I would normally think of as malware, they are throwing in all the threats now and using the term to cover them. New trend in (god forbid) techno-speak.:lol:

Judging by the sentence below, I thought this was a malware program. I didn't see "anti-virus" mentioned anywhere. My mistake.