Microsoft's Free AV Protection Looks Great, But Has Been Pulled From Download

From DailyTech: Codenamed "Morro", Microsoft's free antivirus software offering has been one of the most anticipated software releases of the year, perhaps only playing second fiddle to Microsoft's own Windows 7. The release is expected to shake up the security market, which is split currently between pricey offerings, and a handful of free competitors like AVG which assail the user with ads encouraging them to purchase "premium" versions.

Microsoft's new software, named Microsoft Security Essentials, comes without the sticker-shock or ad burden. It was available yesterday for free download in beta form (read on -- it's no longer available, though).

For its part, Microsoft insists that the software isn't designed to make the antimalware paid software market obsolete. It insists that its software is primarily for users who currently have no protection. Indeed, the software lacks many of the bells and whistles that its predecessor, OneCare, had. Among these omitted features are a dedicated firewall, data backup solution and restore or PC performance tuning.

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