Author: Mezanul

Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources

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Microsoft recently released its free anti-virus, Microsoft Security Essentials (or MSE). It is the replacement of Windows Live OneCare, which was not free. Microsoft recommends not to install MSE with any other security suites. When you install MSE it automatically disables Windows Defender. This is sensible since it is actually a superset of Windows Defender.

ms-security-essentials

The main features of Microsoft Security Essential are as follows:

It is completely free, no registration or activation is required
Easy to install and comes with a very clean interface
Not a resource-hungry program and is light even when you are scanning
It is perfect solution for normal users who are not having any security suite installed or who wants a bare-bone security

Ars Technica and How-To-Geek carried out an extensive review of Microsoft Security Essentials and they are really impressed by it. Microsoft claims it is targeting consumers who don’t have any protection on their Windows PC but some antivirus makers mocked MSE and dismissed it as a good security solution. It may not be as powerful as some of the leading security solutions already available in the market but it’s a good step Microsoft’s part. Windows users who don’t have or will not use any security products just because they are expensive or too technical for them will find MSE very easy to adopt and use. At least some security is better than having no security at all.

Be sure to always download MSE from a trusted sources like from the official MSE page or through trusted download portals like Softpedia or Betanews. You can get download definition updates from here to keep MSE up to date if your PC is offline. You should never download MSE from any third party websites that are offering MSE downloads. Martin Brinkmann, senior editor of ghacks.net explained why you should be careful about where you download it from.

Tags: antivirus, definition updates, microsoft security essentials, mse, security essentials, security essentials download, windows live onecare, windows software
Categories: Security, Vista, Windows, Windows 7

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9 Responses to “Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources”

mytechguide
on Oct 4th, 2009
@ 4:05 pm:

said: Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources (http://ping.fm/BIqbL)

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mezanul
on Oct 4th, 2009
@ 4:05 pm:

Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources (http://ping.fm/BIqbL)

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mytechguide
on Oct 4th, 2009
@ 4:05 pm:

Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources (http://ping.fm/BIqbL)

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mytechguide
on Oct 4th, 2009
@ 4:12 pm:

Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources: Microsoft recently released its free a.. http://bit.ly/7qsVi

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
MacOSXrss
on Oct 4th, 2009
@ 4:47 pm:

Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources http://bit.ly/1Bvh2P

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Alltop_Mac
on Oct 4th, 2009
@ 5:01 pm:

Alert: Download Microsoft Security Essentials only from Trusted Sources http://bit.ly/1Bvh2P
Mac.alltop.com

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Symbian
on Oct 5th, 2009
@ 4:34 pm:

Do you think hackers will use MSE for mailcious downloads?
Mezanul
on Oct 5th, 2009
@ 4:50 pm:

Hackers are not using MSE for malicious downloads, MSE is not vulnerable but there is a risk of downloading malicious programs instead of MSE if you download from third party download sources.

As warned by Websense Security Labs, it has discovered that search engine results for information on how to download Microsoft’s recently released Security Essentials tool are returning links to Web sites that serve rogue Antivirus.

So take caution and download only from the trusted sources given in this article
vaselineviking
on Oct 5th, 2009
@ 11:50 pm:

Only download security software from trusted sources? What a novel idea.

This comment was originally posted on Reddit

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