Microsoft launches beta of free Anti-Virus offering

Microsoft have launched a beta of their upcoming free anti-virus product. The product that is aimed at protecting users who for one reason or another have not installed an anti-virus product will attempt to provide a basic anti-malware service that does not impact PC performance and make it a little harder for malware to infect Windows users PCs.

The software is called Microsoft Security Essentials and will attempt to block known viruses and prevent some malicious behaviour used by malware. Microsoft state they will create the definitions for the product using samples collected from more than 450 million PCs around the world.

In November Microsoft announced that they would be phasing out the Windows Live OneCare service, with this new offering replacing that and providing a limited service offering instead. The new service will not provide other security measures that are common in other products as well as the to be phased out OneCare service such as managed firewalls, performance tuning and data backup services.

Microsoft will be opening up the beta process from 9am PT on the 23rd June with the view to releasing the full product by the end of the year. You can find out more about this offering here.

Alas as this is a limited service offering by Microsoft it is recommended that users don’t bother and install a full blown product from a proven and trusted security software vendor that provides a solution that does the entire job of securing your PC from Malware. There are many out there such as Sophos, F-Secure, Kaspersky, McAfee, Trend Micro, Computer Associates and AVG.