Microsoft has recently released a free ant-virus application called Microsoft Security Essentials. The good thing about Microsoft Security Essentials is that it’s 100% free and will work on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

I’ve only been testing it for a couple of days so I’m not going to say you should switch your current anti-virus software for Microsoft Security Essentials, that’s up to you to decide. If anything, it’s worth the look.

The installation was very easy and when complete it started downloading the latest update. So far it has downloaded 2 updates onto my PC which I do like to see. Virus threats are being launched on a daily basis so it’s important your anti-virus downloads the latest definitions on a regular basis.

I’ve spoken to a couple of people who are also testing the Microsoft Security Essentials software. One complained the scan took forever on his PC bringing his whole O/S to a crawl. For me though it was fast enough and I didn’t notice any lag on my PC, even though I’ve been using a number of other applications that are resource hogs.

You can schedule for when the ant-virus scan should take place and even have it check for the latest updates before it starts the scan. Another important feature you can select is only to perform the scan when the computer is on but not being used, which is important if you need to do things on your computer without being interrupted.

You can also configure the Microsoft Security Essential software to perform certain actions for specific levels of threat such as remove or quarantine the threat.

It has real-time protection built in and can monitor file and program activity on the PC. It also can scan files being downloaded and attachments.

If you using real-time protection there is an option to exclude certain files to help speed up the scan. This may also be useful when using software that may use Volume Shadow Copy which is sometimes mistaken as a virus by other anti-virus software applications.

Process can also be excluded including .cmd, .bat, .exe etc but my thoughts that it defeats the purpose of scanning for a virus.

Microsoft Security Essentials can also scan archived files such as ZIP and Cab files but also scan removable drives such as an attached USB hard drive. The software can also create a system restore point daily before cleaning the computer; this is can be useful if things go horribly wrong.

What I did notice was the subscription to Microsoft Spynet. If a threat is found on your PC by Microsoft Security Essentials that information is sent to the spynet community. There are two different subscription levels, basic and advanced membership. You can only select one or the other and have no ability to un-subscribe, I suggest that you read the privacy statement before using this software and make sure you are happy with what information does get sent from your PC.

Although I like the software, it’s easily installed and easy to use, I don’t think it’s going to replace my current anti-virus solution which is AVG. One of the things I noticed was that AVG has picked up cookie files on my computer as a threat but Microsoft Security Essentials doesn’t. I’d prefer if the software did flag cookie files as a threat after all they are tracking my internet browsing habits.

I’m going to keep the software installed for a couple of more weeks just to see how it well it does work compared to AVG anti-virus.

If you are interested in testing Microsoft Security Essentials for yourself you can download it for free here.