Filed under: Security, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Beta, Windows x64
Microsoft Security Essentials public beta now available to download
by Lee Mathews Jun 23rd 2009 at 12:38PM
You'll need to sign in with your Connect account or register for a new one to gain access to the download - for now. There will no doubt be hundreds of happy seeders sharing the Beta on torrent trackers later today.
Microsoft had originally slated only 75,000 spots for beta testers, though they have since announced that the number will be increased to accomodate demand. Interest will likely be high considering the generally positive reviews SE has generated since we first got our hands on it.
We've got a big gallery of screenshots of SE in action, including it detecting the trojan that I *ahem* intentionally left on my machine so I could test the program fully. I've been very happy so far with SE's level of protection and low impact on system performance.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
sideffects said 1:52PM on 6-23-2009
It's pretty good so far, especially for being a beta.
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Malteserr said 2:05PM on 6-23-2009
Yeah, just installed it and it's working pretty well :)
iofthestorm said 2:26PM on 6-23-2009
How is performance? I'm using Avast right now, and it's been much faster than commercial stuff like Norton and McAfee, but I'm guessing this might have even less impact on performance?
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Alasdair said 2:52PM on 6-23-2009
Damn. You might want to add to this article that it is only available in the US, Israel, China, and Brazil - all of us lot here in Europe can't get it through Microsoft!
Time to hit the trackers methinks.
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Kyle said 3:16PM on 6-23-2009
Does this thing replace Windows Defender? Also, how does it do in the Win7 environment?
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Malteserr said 3:22PM on 6-23-2009
Yes. It "turns off" Windows Defender, which probably means it combines the Anti-Malware and Antivirus into one program. Also, it's working pretty well in Windows 7 RC (7100).
Kenn.keeper said 4:04PM on 6-23-2009
I just installed it a bit ago and had one question for their forum, is the malware part effective enough not to have another spyware scanner. Answer was, make sure only one is running at a time realtime(in this case MS Essentials) and have the other one as an on demand secondary scanner. Since it is included into the Anti-Virus app it does not like others running, like having 2 Virus scanners.....
So far this program uses very little resources much to my amazment.
Free is Good
Kenn.....
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shaunisadirty said 5:35PM on 6-23-2009
Though I've never had problems with Virues or anything like that, I'm glad to see Microsoft is offering it for free and without any user intervention for those users who don't know what they're doing. It will help with many "problems" people think Windows has.
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phez said 8:28PM on 6-23-2009
The EC won't be happy about this.
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FNG said 10:52PM on 6-23-2009
I think you meant EU...
phez said 4:10AM on 6-24-2009
European Commision ;)
FNG said 11:32AM on 6-24-2009
and I would be wrong about what I thought! :)
Lee Mathews said 8:29PM on 6-23-2009
It's not bundled with anything, and there's no way Microsoft would try that with an AV program.
The EC shouldn't have any reason to get their panties in a bunch over SE.
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david said 6:36AM on 6-24-2009
You can get around the location blocking by just downloading it through Connect.
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bennard said 8:35AM on 6-24-2009
Just got this message on the site:
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.
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