Microsoft Security Essentials Pack freeware available today

Microsoft Security Essentials, the beta version of Microsoft's new security software, will be available for download today. Designated as a follow-up to Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Security Essentials will focus on key security tasks such as fighting viruses, rootkits and other malware. It does not provide any firewall or spam protection.

To bolster its capabilities, Microsoft Security Essentials will share information with the cloud-based Microsoft Dynamic Signature Service. In addition, kernel structure scans and support for direct file-system parsing will aid in the fight against rootkits. Finally, a whitelist of trusted software sources is maintained in order to eliminate any erroneous identification of legitimate applications.  Microsoft says that the software will keep a low profile unless it detects dangerous software

Personally, what I see happening is Microsoft getting impatient with the pace of progress in anti-malware applications. Sure, the other large antivirus companies have been "working on" cloud-based solutions for a while now. Yet current generation security applications are still largely ineffective and seem stuck in the era of virus definition files and beefed-up--but still useless--spam capabilities.

At a first glance, the features in the Microsoft Security Essentials appear to be relatively sophisticated. How well that translates into real-world capabilities remains to be seen.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Tech News World
- check out this article at eWeek

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