Microsoft Security Essentials 2 - Security

SECURITY
Microsoft Security Essentials 2
www.microsoft.com/security_essentials
Min requirements: Windows XP / Vista / 7
File size: 9.5MB

Microsoft's excellent free anti-virus program has been update to make it even better at detecting and removing threats. While the previous release focused on recognised viruses the addition of a heuristics-scanning engine means Microsoft Security Essentials can now identify unknown malware by its behaviour. The software offers real-time, on-demand and scheduled scanning and is a lot lighter on resources than many similar programs. In the unlikely event that MSE dose sause your PC to slow to a crawl during a scan, you can manually lower its maximum processor usage to solve the problem. The Advanced settings let you configure the program to include removable drives when running a full sweep and you can create a restore point before removing any potential threats. By default all users can view quarantined items but you can limit this to just those with administrator accounts if you prefer. The software now integrates with Windows features to provide a greater degree of security. When you first install it you will be prompted to turn on the Windows Firewall if it is not alredy active and a PC running Internet Explorer will benefit from improved protection against web-based threats. The new network-inspection feature can detect and block network-based exploits but you will need to be running Windows 7 or Vista to use the feature because it requires the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) and this isn't available in XP. If you are looking for a reliable free anti-virus program, Microsoft Security Essentials should deinitely be somewhere near the top of your list.