Microsoft Security Essentials offers free anti-virus and anti-spyware functionality and doesn't cost anything to download and install.
But, as Web User first reported in Issue 223, some security vendors such as Symantec, maker of Norton Internet Security 2010 (see our review on page 50), have played down the significance of Microsoft's entry into the security market, saying that free software packages were essentially worthless.
F-Secure's Pekka Mettala has also said:
"The Microsoft software does not include many of the additional features that fully protect consumers against cybercrime".
Microsoft claims that the motive for launching a free security product is partly to make security software available to millions of people in poorer areas of the world who can't keep up to date with subscriptions because they don't own a credit card.
However, Microsoft's initial launch of Security Essentials covers only 19 countries, all of them in the developed world. The company said that the package would be rolled out in all markets in a matter of months, but declined to name a specific date.
Security Essentials will support Windows 7, Vista and XP but not Windows 2000 or older operating systems. Julia Owen of Microsoft told Web User that this was "in line with Microsoft's support policy".
www.microsoft.com/security_essentials
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