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I was never a big fan of Windows Live OneCare, so I shed no tears when Microsoft announced its demise last November. The company promised to replace it with a lightweight free solution wholly dedicated to consumer anti-malware protection. That solution, formerly known by the cool code name “Morro,” is now available for public beta testing as Microsoft Security Essentials. (Microsoft expects business users at all levels to rely on Microsoft Forefront instead, but both products use the same anti-malware engine and signatures.) On my tests, its malware protection proved okay, but not outstanding—just like OneCare’s.
The download is pretty small (about 7MB), and the installation is fast. But the mandatory download of updated signatures tried my patience: It took anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Also, the full installation occupied over 110MB of disk space, which isn’t exactly lightweight compared with the 7MB required by Hitman Pro 3.5.
The program’s clean and simple interface shows security status and offers easy access to a quick or full system scan. Occasional pop-ups announce discovery of a threat by the real-time module, but you need only click a button to clean up the threat in the background. (Power users can dig in for more detail.) Because Microsoft Security Essentials piggybacks on the Windows Update mechanism for its signature updates, it forces Windows Update into fully automatic mode—something that won’t please power users who want to control exactly when Windows downloads or installs updates. Continue Reading >>
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