Yesterday, we posted here about the availability and release of Microsoft Security Essentials 2 free antivirus for Windows. We did mentioned in our article that it is one of the most popular antivirus solution. It is without doubt also one of the most effective free antivirus application with detection rate matching those of the commercial paid products.

Almost five months ago, Microsoft released the beta version of MSE 2.0. A lot of improvements can be seen in the application. So, we thought that we should write a dedicated article highlighting all the improvements and the new features available in MSE 2.0.

Microsoft Security Essentials 2 includes the following new features and enhancements:

• Windows Firewall integration: Microsoft Security Essentials setup now enables you to turn on or off Windows Firewall. (Don’t get confused, it doesn’t includes a separate firewall)
• Network Inspection System: This feature uses Windows Filtering Platform to enhance real-time protection by inspecting network traffic, and to help pro-actively block exploits of known network-based vulnerabilities. (Only available to Windows 7 and Vista users)
• New and improved protection engine: The updated engine that includes a Heuristic Scanning Engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance.
• Enhanced protection for web-based threats: Microsoft Security Essentials now integrates itself with Internet Explorer to give protection against web-based threats.

Some notable changes in MSE 2′s settings are as follows:

• Under Scheduled Scan settings tab, you can now limit (control) the CPU usage of MSE 2.0 when scanning. The default value is set to 50%.
• Under Real-time protection settings, you can choose between the monitoring options as follows: Monitor all files, Monitor only incoming files and Monitor only outgoing files. You will also find settings to Enable behavior monitoring and Enable Network Inspection System options.
• Under Excluded Files and Locations settings, you can exclude multiple files and locations. You can do so by adding them and separating each entry using a semicolon. The same can be done for Excluded filetypes and Excluded processes settings.
• Under Advanced settings, you will find settings to remove quarantine files automatically after a certain time period.
• And last but not the least, Microsoft has added the option to completely opt out of joining SpyNet.

For More information read What’s New in MSE 2 Help Contents. (Link will open MSE 2 help file installed in your system, so it will only work if you have MSE 2 installed.)

[ Download Microsoft Security Essentials 2 ]

Microsoft Security Essentials is one of the best free antivirus available for Windows. It is without doubt the most popular antivirus solution among Windows users. With detection rate that matches the commercial security products, it is without doubt one of the best software made by Microsoft.

Microsoft Security Essentials 2 upgrade brings in many improvements and new features, including the most requested heuristic scanning engine. MSE 1′s protection relied too heavily upon definitions, which is not enough for today’s ever-changing advanced threats. But with heuristic scanning engine and other new improved features, MSE 2 is now giving tough competition to other free and paid products.

MSE 2 also offers improved defense by better integrating with Windows. With better integration with Windows Firewall and Internet Explorer, MSE 2 offers increased protection against network and Web-based threats. A new network inspection feature is added which uses the Windows Filtering Platform present in Vista and Windows 7. Windows XP users will not get any benefit from this security feature.

MSE users should check their MSE update tab for an upgrade notification. Users can also download Microsoft Security Essentials 2 manually and install it over the old version.

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is an excellent free antivirus and anti-spyware. Previously, we showed how to manually update Microsoft Security Essentials or MSE if you are unable to update it using Windows Automatic Update. There is another way other than manually updating MSE definition files or using the Windows Automatic Update. You can update MSE definition files using the command line. This method is useful if you have disabled Windows Automatic Update and you are unable to update MSE online. Using the command line method updates the definition files and doesn’t need Windows Automatic Update enabled.

To update Microsoft Security Essentials using Command Prompt, simply type the following command in the command prompt and press Enter:

"%programfiles%\Microsoft Security Essentials\MpCmdRun.exe" SignatureUpdate

Next it will display a message Signature update started…. Depending on the amount of data required to be downloaded for completing the update it might take a few minutes.

Tip: You can take the help of Windows Task Scheduler and schedule a task using the above mentioned command to automate the update task.

If you ever meet problem while trying to download definition updates for Microsoft Security Essentials (or MSE), or if you are not having any internet connection, you can download and install the latest MSE definition updates.

If you want to know “How to manually download definition updates for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware“, please read here.

To get the definition updates, you need to first know about your Windows’s architecture, whether its 32-bit or 64-bit. To know, Click on Start, then type msinfo32 in Start Search and press Enter. Locate your architecture type next to the System Type line. If you see x86 then you have a 32-bit PC, if you see x64, then you have a 64-bit PC.

Download the Microsoft Security Essentials virus and spyware definition update file (right for your version of Windows) from the links given below:

For 32-bit (x86-based) version of Windows, click here.

For a 64-bit version of Windows, click here.

After downloading the update, right-click on the saved mpam-fe.exe (for 32-bit) or mpam-fex64.exe (for 64-bit) file, and then click Run As Administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password type the password and press Enter or for confirmation click on Continue to install the update (Windows XP users need to just double-click on the downloaded file to install the update).

When the definition update file runs, a file extraction dialog box appears. The dialog box indicates that the definition update is installing. After the dialog box closes, you can verify that the definitions are updated to the latest by opening Microsoft Security Essentials. Click on Update, and then check for the virus and spyware definitions status. [KB971606]

If you visit Malware Protection Center, you will see the latest definition files for manually updating Microsoft Security Essential, Windows Defender and Microsoft Forefront.

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.

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.