Microsoft Security Essentials: A Free Anti-Virus From Microsoft

Summary
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-virus program created by - you guessed it - Microsoft. While it is only one out of a very crowded market of free and paid anti-viruses, and may have less features that some of the competition, it could be said that Microsoft knows it's operating system best and can be trusted to guard your computer.

Installation 
The installation of Microsoft Security Essentials is simple - free of browser toolbars and other generally unwanted additions. As usual you will be prompted to accept the software license terms and will be asked if you would like to join the customer experience improvement program, and to turn on your Windows Firewall. Remember to uninstall any other anti-virus programs first, then click install. Finally, you will be asked to restart your computer. You may notice that if you were running Windows Defender it will be disabled to not conflict with Security Essentials.

Interface
On the "Home" tab you will have options to do a quick scan, a full scan, or a custom scan of a particular drive or folder. You will be able to view your last scan, as well as to change your scan schedule. On the "Update" tab you will be able to immediately check for and install updates, but they will normally be installed automatically. On the "History" tab you will be able to see all of the dangerous items that Security Essentials has found and information including the alert level, the date found, and the action taken to fix it. On the "Settings" tab you will be able to configure many different options. Some useful settings you may want to enable include scanning archives and removable storage, as well as excluding certain file types to speed up scanning.

Features
While a very good program overall, Microsoft Security Essentials is quite low on features. When compared to it's competitors Security Essentials does not have fancy additional features like email or link scanning or any other maintenance tools. Most web email providers will automatically scan attachments for you, but if you are using another program like Microsoft Outlook, Windows Live Mail, or Mozilla Thunderbird to download your mail, Security essentials cannot scan it like other programs could.

Performance
On my test machine Microsoft Security Essentials completed a full scan in just under 20 minutes. To put this in perspective one competitor - AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition - was able to complete it's full scan in two minutes, so Security Essentials is definitely slower than others. You must also know that the machine used to test this software is running a freshly installed copy of Windows so scanning times are sure to vary among computers with more files that have been used longer. While Security Essentials is not the fastest at scanning the program itself is very light and runs quietly in the background until needed. Even when compared to commercial products it's interface is very fast to navigate and use. Most modern anti-viruses have real time protection and in my experience Security Essentials does it very well. It's warnings seem to pop-up more often than other anti-virus programs I have used, but whether it has superior protection or it just too sensitive is up to you.

Conclusion
I had used other anti-virus applications for years but once this one came out I knew I wanted the one that came directly from Microsoft. I was very impressed with the fast installation and easy to use interface that others seem to lack. While there are many other options out there Microsoft Security Essentials is definitely my favorite. I give this program a 4.5/5 only not earning a 5 due to somewhat slow scanning times and a slight lack of features that I don't necessarily use myself but may be useful to others. I welcome you to leave your ratings and any questions or comments below.