Microsoft's free Morro antivirus

Microsoft will complete the development of free antivirus software codenamed “Morro” in a few months. It is expected that the new antivirus will replace the Windows Live OneCare service . June 30, Microsoft plans to stop selling licenses for it. Let me remind you that Windows Live OneCare includes: antivirus with automatically updated databases, spyware detection tools, a firewall, information backup tools and utilities for fine-tuning Windows operating systems.

A little bit about the development of "Morro"

The first statements that anti-virus / anti-spyware software should be free Microsoft began to make back in November 2008. It was then that the corporation decided to develop its own product in order to meet the growing need for security solutions.

The new Microsoft software is named after the village of Morro de São Paulo in Brazil:

It was planned that Morro will be available for free in the second half of 2009. The developers claimed that the product would be optimized for working with low-bandwidth networks and Windows-based mobile computers. In order not to be sprayed on the already existing Windows Live OneCare service, the company announced that it would terminate its subscription on June 30, 2009.
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It was also noted that the new solution is quite able to cope with corporate tasks. However, Morro will not include additional funds (as it was in OneCare) - backup tools and fine-tuning of the system, not related to security.

In order not to impose antivirus on users, it will be distributed as a standalone package, which is optionally downloaded from the Microsoft website. Support has been announced for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Morro on the way

At the moment, according to the corporation, Morro is undergoing internal testing by Microsoft employees from June 1 of this year. However, it is promised that the beta version (or something like that) will also be available on the official website of the company. The main competitors to their new product Microsoft see in software from Symantec and McAfee. But, if we consider that the annual subscription for them is ~ $ 40 per year, and Morro will be distributed free of charge, then Microsoft has a chance to win a certain share of the anti-virus software market. Naturally, the future anti-virus product will provide basic protection against all sorts of viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.

First screenshots?

Recently, the network screenshots Morro. But, I think that while they should not be particularly trusted. It is believed that the screenshots reflect only the early stage of product development. Below are the options for scanning a disk (fast, full and arbitrary), the status of the relevance of virus databases and the schedule of automatic scanning.







You may notice that the Morro interface is similar to the current Windows Defender - the firewall from Windows Vista. In Microsoft, this is not denied. Simon Bisson reported that Morro is based on the Defender code, which is why there is a similarity in the interface.

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UPD

The new Microsoft antivirus will be called Microsoft Security Essentials

Last night it became known that the new product will be called Microsoft Security Essentials. Microsoft Security Essentials is positioned by Microsoft, as it became known, as a basic protection against malware, so you should not compare this package with products from Kaspersky Labs, Symantec and McAfee.

Yesterday, one of the assemblies of Microsoft Security Essentials got into the network, most likely the one that Microsoft tested using its employees.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials x64 (Windows Vista / Windows 7)
Download Microsoft Security Essentials x86 (Windows Vista / Windows 7)
Download Microsoft Security Essentials x86 (Windows XP)