Product Review: Microsoft Security Essentials Beta

NOTE: As of this writing, Microsoft is not accepting additional Beta participants and the Microsoft Security Essentials Home page advises to check back at a later date for additional availability.

For those who have wrestled with the software's predecessor, Microsoft Live OneCare, you will be pleased to know that Security Essentials suffers from none of the bloat and performance issues that came with OneCare. Unlike OneCare, Security Essentials doesn't do performance tune-ups, back up your PC, take up too much system resources and is free. You will need to have a validated copy of Windows. Not surprisingly, Microsoft's software won't work with pirated or non-validated versions.

Security Essentials uses a new feature called the Dynamic Signature Service, which employs a variety of techniques to check for malware even before that malware's specific signature has been identified. Microsoft says Security Essentials emulates the behaviour of programs before they run, and uses the signature created during the process to look for any suspicious behaviour or patterns of suspicious behaviour, such as starting an unexpected network connection or trying to modify certain protected sections of Windows. The Dynamic Signature Service then determines what action to take against the potential malware.

New signatures are automatically downloaded daily, using the Windows Update engine; you can also have the software to check for the latest definitions manually. Security Essentials also provides real-time protection, so it watches your system as you use it and warns you if you're downloading malware or if your system has been infected. The software also scans your system once a week by default. You can manually override the defaults and set up specific days and times to perform the scans.

Microsoft Security Essentials Beta appears to be a success. It's exceedingly simple to use, takes up few system resources and doesn't cost anything. Those who want fuller-featured security suites that do backups and other functions, or who want to be able to tweak their protection levels in more detail, will need to look elsewhere.

System Requirements: Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Vista (32 & 64-bit), Windows 7 Release Candidate

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