Microsoft tried to quietly release a new version of Security Essentials yesterday, then everyone started talking about it. The new version 4.0 claims to be faster and catch more viruses. Of course, that’s everything we want in virus scanning–besides being free.
The most recent data I read stated the old MSE was about 93% effective, so there was some room for improvement there.
The 93% effectiveness disappoints me, but 93% is much better than 0%, and being free and being relatively lightweight means people are more willing to run it. The important thing is that they’re trying to make it better.
If you already have Security Essentials installed, the easiest way to update is by using Windows Update. On my system, it was a 12 MB download and didn’t require a restart.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.