Redmond is reportedly gearing up to launch its upcoming antivirus software, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). The company has emailed beta testers of the software to inform them that the finished product will be pushed out "in the coming weeks."

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Awesome good to know that MSE it'll be out of beta, I was reading a magazine "PCWorld" and there was a section called "Can you really trust Free Anti-virus" if I could recall MSE was in within the top 5 free anti-virus that detects rootcikits..etc. it was also quote whenever MSE gets out of beta next year it'll be one of the best.. something like that, but obviously they didn't get their facts straight, and it'll be out in a few weeks. AntiVir was #1 I'd say they're detection rate is too good.

Been using MSE on my netbook since the beta version and been great so far. Uses very little memory resources. If they didn't have limited installs at the time, I would of installed it on all my pc's.

Microsoft Security Essentials is the new free Anti-Virus from Microsoft to replace the paid-for Live One-Care correct? Is it really free, or just free while in beta?

As far as I know, it will be free to everyone (even after beta), and there are no plans to charge for it down the road.

I think redmond will make this one really good because lack of security can cause windows to loose market share.

I'll hold off until some independent testing data on the kit effectiveness will be available. Microsoft should have really done this a long time ago - they stand to lose the most due to security issues. Funny, but really the number of viruses written for Windows is really a function of its market share. And I'm afraid Norton and McAfee will probably sue MS immediately upon release for anti-competitive practice just because it's MS.

i hope it comes out soon and its a really good piece of software because all other anti viruses are basically made to slow down your computer maybb one by microsoft for their own OS would be good

maybb one by microsoft for their own OS would be good
I laugh at you for this. Microsoft is already a security flaw, and now they think they can make an Anti Virus. Think of how many little pop-up notifications you will have from the toolbar and you might as well purchase another gig of ram so you can at least get your internet browser open.
Look back at any microsoft program and tell me when their product didn't annoy you. Good intentions or not.

Windows 3.1, Win95, Win 98, WinNT, Win2000, Win XP, Windows Vista (with UAC Disabled), Windows 7, All MS Office (except the one with the damned paperclip)
MS Works back in the day, MS Money, etc.
Just because Vista got really bad publicity because people are still PC-stupid nearly 40-years after its invention doesn't mean MS made a bad product, it just means people are PC-stupid.

Even you admitted (that damned paperclip). Yes vista got a bad wrap, which it wholly deserved at the beginning but I'm not riding that train.
sure the bulk of a program works, but they all have those little 'notifications' that tend to annoy.
Between OS performance (yes this is a vista bash) and a new antivirus running in the background, i couldnt imagine the lag the average person would have using their computer. Sure an enthusiast will by the 64bit versions and 8gb of RAM and the quad core and then blog that its 'not that bad'. But go to Best Buy and spend $800 on a laptop and see what happens...it will take 5min just to get IE open.

Start the countdown to the first exploit of Microsoft's anti-virus program!

Wow - you guys are all doomsayers. All I ever hear are complaints about Microsoft, yet everyone continues to use their products. It can't be that bad if they have such a high percentage of the market share. Even though I haven't heard much good about MSE I still hope that it ends up being a decent piece of software. It would only make sense that they would be able to program something that integrates well with their own OS.

I totally agree with you in this sentece: M$ just can't make their own virus protection. I remember when Windows defender came out on the Beta version, it was great: not a load to the system and quick. But then, the official version and later were useless, who has got it enable on Vista? eh? I haven't tried myself this MSE but I'm afraid it will follow the same route as Windows Defender: great beta version goes to heavy burden final release.
I'll stick to ClamWin

That's the most sensible thing anyone has said here. It's always easy to bash Microsoft (and fun) but until it comes out and some independent geeks try to test it to destruction, we don't really have anything to go on. But it'll be fun to read the testing results when they start to come in from the labs and hackers.

no XP - 64 bit support?