Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 review

OneCare 2.5, Microsoft's last paid-for anti-virus program, performed abysmally in our previous test.

Security Essentials has fewer features than most other free anti-virus products, but it provides simple protection against malicious files very well indeed. When installed, it will replace Windows Defender, as it includes the latter's anti-spyware capabilities along with its own virus protection.

Security Essentials had the simplest interface of any anti-virus program we've used. There are just four tabs. The Home screen shows the protection status of your PC and lets you carry out on-demand scans; Update lets you perform a manual check for new virus signatures and updates to the program itself; History lets you view a log of detected and quarantined threats, along with a list of programs you've allowed to run on your system (although there's no convenient way to save these logs for diagnostic purposes); and Settings lets you configure the program's automatic scan and update schedule, exclude certain files from its scans, and enable and disable automatic system restore point creation and scanning of removable media.

Security Essentials' performance in our web-threat exposure tests rivalled the best of the paid-for anti-malware suites. Our system was left completely clean in 18 infection incidents and compromised in only one. The security software didn't interfere with the installation or running of any of the programs in our false positive test, either.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a must-have free product for any Windows user who doesn't already have malware protection. Despite its effectiveness, this is not a complete anti-malware suite: there's no firewall or email scanning, and no browser plug-in to alert you to bad sites before you visit them. However, if you're not going to pay for a paid-for security suite, this is an ideal choice, particularly if you combine it with other free security software to provide the features it lacks.

See page 2 for benchmark results.