Microsoft Security Essentials to ship on September 29

Microsoft has announced that their long-awaited Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus software will be available as a free download sometime on Tuesday, September 29. MSE is being touted as a FREE replacement for the ill-fated Windows Live One Care anti-malware suite, but according to most beta testers MSE seems to be a much better program overall.

I’ve been rather critical of Microsoft software in the past (especially Windows), but I must say that most everything I’ve heard about this new security product has been extremely favorable. About the only complaint I’ve heard so far is about the scan speed (apparently it’s a little slower than most other free anti-virus apps), but I have a hunch that this area is one that Microsoft has been tweaking of late. And even if the final version still runs malware scans a little slow, the fact that MSE performs its automatic scans only when the computer is otherwise idle should make it pretty much a non-issue.

Since no other company in the computer security business knows more than Microsoft about the various threats facing Windows-based computers, I expect Security Essentials to be quite capable at protecting Windows machines from malware – and reports from the beta testers seem to bear that out.

MSE has been in beta since June, but the official download button on the Microsoft website has been inactive for a while now, leaving many of the folks who are eager to try it out (myself included) disappointed that we weren’t able to take part in the beta program. But within a few short hours the wait will be over. I plan to download and install it just as soon it becomes available, and I’ll follow up in a few days with my overall impression of the software.

Update: It’s live – click here to download Microsoft Security Essentials.