If you haven’t heard already, Microsoft has officially released its free antivirus and antispyware utility called Microsoft Security Essentials.  You can get your copy at the Security Essentials page at Microsoft’s website.  Why are we bringing this up?  Because, too many machines are infected nowadays, and there just aren’t enough people willing to pay the every-increasing prices of commercial antimalware.  This new package from Microsoft is fast becoming the tech world’s first line of defense against the war against malware.

The three best parts about Microsoft Security Essentials?  One, it is FREE to consumers.  Two, it is actually pretty good at doing what it does…protecting your system.  Three, it is FREE to consumers!  No registrations, serials, or anything else.  As long as you have a legit copy of windows installed, you just download Microsoft Security Essentials and install it on your machine.  Voila!

I have to say, however, that the real first line of defense against malware is the person sitting behind the screen and keyboard.  That’s right… YOU!  I have spent the better part of my life cleaning up customers’ systems that are absolutely crawling with nasties.  They always like to ask how they got infected.  After I reveal how dangerous file sharing engines like Limewire, Kazaa, Bearshare, etc. are, they always act surprised.  But while I am rumaging through their systems, guess what I find… Yep.  Usually some P2P engine chugging away.

There are obviously other vectors that are a bit less obvious, such as email, web surfing, etc.  These also pose a risk and ANYBODY is fair game on the web.  The number 1 rule(s) of thumb:  Never click links in emails, and if a website opens a window telling you that you have malware, close the window, don’t click buttons.  There are other rules to go along with this, but those are the basics.

Enough about prevention, now lets get back to Microsoft Security Essentials.  The scanning is definitely slow since it uses less heuristics and more signature scanning; however, this can be beneficial in reducing the number of false-positives.  In other words, your antivirus will complain less about legit files (thinking they are malware).  The negative, long scan times.  So as long as you schedule scans to occur during long periods where you will be away from the ole keyboard for a while, then no problem.

The other thing I liked about Security Essentials is that it is WAY less in-your-face than many other products.  So many times I have been blasting away bad guys, or going through the latest instance when BAM!  My antimalware engine pops something up that minimizes my game whilst I am swiftly killed and quickly get pissed.  Microsoft Security Essentials is much more quiet.  No more “I’m Updating”, “I’m scanning”, “I exist” going on in the lower-right of your screen.  Just a little icon that moves from time-to-time.

I have to say, with Microsoft Security Essentials hitting the market at the price point of FREE, it is definitely looking to change the way the antivirus business is run.  I wonder how McAfee, Symantec, and Trend are going to react.  Because this little sandbox just got real interesting.

Now, go grab yourself a copy at http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/ and try it out.  If you already have an antivirus package installed, then hold off until your subscription expires before you uninstall.  We all know how difficult it can be trying to find that old activation key.  Just make sure you uninstall your existing antivirus before installing this one.  They tend to fight over each other if you don’t.

Let us know what you think of it.  Best of all, enjoy!