Microsoft Security Essentials aka Morro - First Look

My MVP lead sent me an email this morning saying that MSE was available for download. Since I am running the 64 bit Windows 7 RC on my test system, I downloaded MSE to try it. MSE comes in both 32 bit and 64 bit for Vista and Windows 7, plus there was a version for Windows XP as well.

As I have stated many times I have been using AVG for about 5 years and haven’t looked back. I personally believe that both AVG free and Avast free editions are just as good as paid versions from Symantec and McAfee. Also as a side note I had also used Windows Live OneCare when it was in beta. In fact the copy I had was a perpetual beta and worked just fine for me.

Downloading and installing was without incident. During the install MSE updated itself. I did a quick scan which took a few minutes and the system was clean. It should of been since I had been keeping the system safe with AVG since I installed Windows 7 RC.

I must say that MSE is a no brainer to use. But so are AVG and Avast.

The interface for MSE is kind of plain with no frills.

But there was one thing that was surprising on the MSE site under system requirements. It was this:

• Internet Browser:
  • Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
  • Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later

It seems that Microsoft is now realizing that Firefox is going to be around for awhile.

I’ll be playing with MSE for a few weeks and will make another report.

Comments as always are welcome.