Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft released its new free antivirus utility, Microsoft Security Essentials, (MSE)  today, 9/29/09, and while it is free – and completes the job it is also Slow.

This is a good move from Microsoft as Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) provides real-time protection for your PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

MSE is the replacement for Microsoft’s OneCare suite. It’s meant to be an improvement on that older free program (now at end of life.)

Security Essentials runs on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 (beta or release candidate) on both the 32 and 64-bit versions – however one annoying thing is that you need to pick which OS your using – something Microsoft obviously should be able to figure out for you.

For folks concerned about security however MSE pushes a good amount of information to Microsoft.  In the license

Microsoft states (in the license) that, it will automatically “send information about the software and your operating system to Microsoft. This information includes the versions of the software and operating system software… your Internet protocol address, the type of operating system, browser and name and version of the software you are using, and the language code of the device where you installed the software.”

While they state they will not use this information to identify you  - for the security minded – it is important to take note just what is being sent from your system out of your network.

There are other options (free ) that will do exactly what Microsoft’s MSE does (such as automatically downloads virus and spyware definitions; provides real-time protection that scans downloads and attachments, and looks for suspicious file and program activity) - however it is nice to see them step up to the plate to help secure their customers.