As a consumer, and perhaps home office product, management features have also been excluded as unneeded. Host-based intrusion prevention, as offered with Norton Internet Security and higher end consumer suites, is also omitted.
Also absent is anything like AVG's sometimes controversial Linkscanner technology for accessing the security of sites offered up through search engines in real time. The software omits firewall and anti-phishing protection by design. This is your older brother's anti-virus scanner, circa 2001 vintage perhaps, and no worse for that.
The software offers protection against spyware, Trojan and computer viruses but it lacks many of the bells and whistles of third-party alternatives. Microsoft execs were at pains to describe Microsoft Security Essentials as a full-featured anti-malware scanner. Testing MSE's effectiveness in detecting and removing malware was beyond the scope of our quick run through. The initial scan took 18 minutes on the Win XP machine we used for the test, with a later quick scan running much more quickly. After downloading a 8.6MB installation file to a test PC we downloaded virus definition updates, a process that took about five minutes. We gave the software a quick spin and found the initial install process quick and painless.
Tuesday's release of the full version of Essentials went far more smoothly, with no reports of major problems. The technology also has the potential to shake up the consumer antivirus marketplace, particularly for vendors who offer free anti-malware protection.ĭemand for a beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials back in June far exceeded Redmond's plans for limited trials, prompting the closure of downloads after less than a day. Microsoft Security Essentials offers a significant opportunity to improve internet hygiene in much the same way Windows firewall brought a then endemic worm problem to heel six years ago. Analysis Early tests with the full version of Microsoft's new free malware scanner software reveals a no-frills security package that does what it says on the tin.