The majority of companies offer bootable images of their tools. These images can be copied on USB devices or optical discs.

Microsoft has now made available a public beta version of Windows Defender Offline Tool, a software designed to help users remove malware from their Windows PC.

Windows Defender Offline helps protect your PC from malware. Use this tool to install Windows Defender Offline on a startup device, such as a CD, DVD, or a USB flash drive. If your PC later becomes infected with malware, you can use that device to start your PC in a “clean” environment and attempt to remove threats.

The program is offered as a 32-bit or 64-bit web installer for the Windows operating system. Please note the architecture of the installer needs to correspond to the architecture of the target system that you want to scan for viruses. The web installer downloads 214 Megabytes of data at the time of testing. The data can be burned to CD or DVD, put on a USB flash drive or saved as an ISO file.

USB devices will be formatted by the installer. The user is informed about that step during setup.

It is interesting to note that the setup looks almost identical to that of Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper which is also currently offered as a beta version. It looks as if Microsoft has made the decision to rename the program to Windows Defender Offline Tool.

Windows users can then boot from the newly created media to scan their computer for malicious software traces. The interface of the program that you boot into looks almost identical to the Microsoft Security Essentials interface.

This is probably done to provide Windows users with an interface that they know how to work with. Microsoft recently made the announcement that they would integrate Security Essentials into their upcoming operating system Windows 8. (via Mike)

Microsoft yesterday has opened registrations for the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials. Users who sign up early enough will get a chance to test the beta version of the security software before anyone else can do. Beta spots are limited according to the announcement on the Technet site and served on a first in first out (fifo) basis.

The beta will be released soon, considering that it will be made publicly available at the end of the year. More interesting to a wider audience, especially those who run Microsoft Security Essentials, are the planned improvements and new features that Microsoft is currently working on.

The new version of Microsoft Security Essentials comes with a new protection engine offering enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities. One of the improvements in this regard is automatic malware remediation, which basically means that the security application can clean “high-impact malware infections automatically” without user interaction.

Add to that better performance to avoid negativ performance impacts on PCs running Microsoft Security Essentials and a simplified user interface. It will be interesting to see how the simplified UI looks like, considering that many consider the current MSE interface bare-bones.

The improvements all make sense, especially the new protection engine with its updated detection and cleanup capabilities could improve the application significantly.

Users who want to sign up for the beta program need to have a Windows Live account. It is possible to create one on the sign up page or use an existing one.

It does not make much sense for most Windows users to sign up for the beta, considering that it will be available later this year for the general public.

Regardless of that, it is good to see that Microsoft is improving the free security software continuously. (via)

Many applications are writing to the hard drive perpetually. By excluding the files and folders they are writing to or reading from, assuming they are assuredly trusted and safe, you will speed up PC processes and still have sufficient antivirus protection. Which files to exclude?

• Subversion / TortiseSVN Folders
• Virtual Machine Directories
• Personal Photo/Video folders
• Windows Update Folders
• Connected Mobile Devices

These are just some examples. You may choose anything appropriate to your configurations. It is difficult to specify what files and folders to exclude for any given PC, considering the myriad configurations, software combinations, and uses that PCs will have. It will be a different scenario for everyone, but the approach is basic. This will work with any antivirus software program. In the examples below, Microsoft Security Essentials is being used. Other software versions may be appropriate for users. This is just an easier way to show how to work with antivirus software exclusions settings in general:

2. Here you can browse all files and locations and include them, once identified, by clicking “Add.” This is a one by one process, but its simplicity and tedium should not be taken for granted. This approach helps you ensure that you do not include files that may be unsafe. There are a variety of ways to use exclusions for each different antivirus software type and all involve going to a Settings option. You may be given a scroll list to choose from once you have built a significant list of exclusions and this will allow you to change any of those exclusions as necessitated. With Microsoft Security Essentials, you can click the Advanced option and gain more generalized options for situations that may require broad, more generalized exclusions.

It is always best to create a System Restore point before making changes to any software, but especially antivirus software. Also take steps to backup the files that you are planning on excluding. There are no guarantees from software to software and system to system. With a set restore point, you can always go back and undo something undesirable. Secure your settings and files first, and then alter your security.

This information is then made available to the different Microsoft users throughout the world to make sure that when they suffer a similar issue they can take appropriate actions. It also gathers the information of the two services, Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Defender to make sure that they are functioning at an optimal level. You can interpret this information for setting your personal computer with conditions which secure your computer from any malware abuse.

Microsoft Security Essentials presents two types of membership to users, basic and advanced. From basic members, SpyNet obtains information such as the origin of the software, the actions taken by Microsoft Security Essentials or the users, as well as whether the actions were helpful or not. It also collects some personal activity information. As an advanced member, in addition to the personal information, SpyNet also sends information such as hardware or software type, IP addresses, web browser, operating system, and so on. Though Microsoft does not use this information for any other purpose, some of you might not wish to have your personal information floating out there for others to see.

Microsoft does not allow its functionalities to be accessed until you are a member of the community and you share information with it. But there are alternatives, as always. Below you will find the information that you need to get access to all the functionalities of Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Defender without having to share your personal details.

You can use the following two methods:

Blocking SpyNet by Changing Registry Entries

Here you will need to change the registry entries in your computer using the Registry Editor. Do this by following these simple steps:

• Click on Start menu from your windows desktop.
• Go to Run Dialog and type “Regedit” in the open field and click OK. The “Registry Editor” window will open as seen in figure 1.

• In the left pane navigate to the following path,
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft AntiMalware\SpyNet
• Click on “Edit” and then “Permissions” option to open the permissions for SpyNet Dialog box.
• Select the username, for which you want to disable SpyNet, from the “Group or user names” pane.
• Check the “Full Control” box to allow editing. This will give the selected user full control over the SpyNet key.

The dialog box should look like figure 2.

After selecting value as 0, the Microsoft SpyNet screen will look like the snapshot as in figure 4. Note that both membership options are not selected.

Blocking SpyNet Using Host Files

Both Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender use the following domains to communicate with the Microsoft server:

• Spynet2.microsoft.com
• Spynettest.microsoft.com

Modify your hosts file by adding the following addresses:

• 127.0.0.1 Spynet2.microsoft.com
• 127.0.0.1 Spynettest.microsoft.com

You can find the hosts file at the following location: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

Open the file using Notepad and follow the instructions given in the file.

This procedure will not affect your spyware definitions and or its ability to update.

It may happen that users experience problems with the program, most likely after an upgrade or virus attack. Some Windows users have reported that the Security Essentials service is not starting on their system, others that the program itself wont startup properly.

The MSE Restore Tool is a lightweight portable program that tries to repair Microsoft Security Essentials so that the program will run as planned on the system.

The restore tool performs four steps, which are outlined below:

1. It executes Microsoft Security Essentials with the restore defaults parameter to restore all settings to factory defaults, this is done with the command MsMpRun.exe -RestoreDefaults
2. It restarts and restores the Microsoft Antimalware Service
3. The repair tool registers all Dynamic Link Libraries that are used by Microsoft Security Essentials
4. The software restores all relevant Windows Registry entries related to Microsoft Security Essentials

mse restore tool

The software works similar to the previously reviewed Repair Microsoft Security Essentials tool Fix MSE.

The MSE Restore Tool requires elevated rights to repair Microsoft Security Essentials. It is furthermore only compatible with version 1.x of Security Essentials, and not the recently released 2.x beta.

The minimalistic interface displays two options, to restore Microsoft Security Essentials or to exit the program. A click on Restore Microsoft Security Essentials now will complete all four restoration steps outlined above.

A download is provided at the developer’s website.

A problem with the downloads exists at the moment. Most users can only download the programs partially, even if they try different browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer or Google Chrome.

We have tried to download both versions in the last couple of hours ever since the beta was announced. The only way it worked for us was to download the Microsoft File Transfer Manager first, before downloading the releases using the file transfer manager.

Before we explain how to download the latest beta of Microsoft Security Essentials Beta we would like to take a short look at the new features of Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Beta

What’s new in Microsoft Security Essentials Beta 2.0

microsoft security essentials download

• Windows Firewall integration – During setup, Microsoft Security Essentials will now ask if you would like to turn the Windows Firewall on or off.
• Enhanced protection for web-based threats – Microsoft Security Essentials now integrates with Internet Explorer to provide protection against web-based threats.
• New protection engine – The updated anti-malware engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance.
• Network inspection system – Protection against network-based exploits is now built in to Microsoft Security Essentials.

How to download Microsoft Security Essentials Beta

• Download Microsoft’s File Transfer Manager, link is listed above. Make sure Internet Explorer is closed, install the transfer manager and open Internet Explorer afterwards. We have used Internet Explorer 8 for the downloads.
• Open the Microsoft Connect website, this will prompt a Windows live login form. Log into Windows Live, or create an account if you have none at hand
• A Microsoft Security Essentials Beta is displayed, will all kinds of information about the beta and the software. A click on the Download Microsoft Security Essentials Beta link will open the download options.
• Select either Microsoft Security Essentials Beta for 32-bit or Microsoft Security Essentials Beta for 64-bit
• Now click on Download selected file(s) using FTM, to initiate the download in the Microsoft File Transfer Manager

microsoft file transfer manager

We have uploaded both files for your convenience to file hosts on the Internet, download links below:

• MSI 32-bit
• MSI 64-bit

Just download Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Beta from the links above, if the downloads at Microsoft Connect fail all the time.

Update: Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Final released

Security Essentials is a signature based security software which means that it can only protect the system at its fullest if the signature database is regularly updated. This is in contrast to heuristics software which might also identify files as malware on their behavior alone even if no signature is available.

But Microsoft Security Essentials is signature based which can be problematic if the software is installed on a computer without permanent Internet connection.

microsoft security essentials

Microsoft thought of computer situations without Internet connection and has made available the signature files on the Internet so that they can be downloaded and transferred to other computer systems.

Microsoft Security Essentials Signature Download

Signatures (full) for 32-bit Windows systems
Signatures (full) for 64-bit Windows systems

Signature File (Update Only) for 32-bit Windows system (about 13.4MB):
Signature File (Update Only) for 64-bit Windows system (about 13.7MB)

The files that are downloaded are executables. Launching them on the target system will automatically update the Microsoft Security Essentials signature database to include the latest malicious software information.

Windows Defender has been integrated into Windows 7 by Microsoft. The program is automatically running after installation of the operating system. A basic Microsoft SpyNet membership is set as the default relationship to Spynet. Users can configure the option to send data to Microsoft during Windows 7 installation in the “Help protect your computer and improve Windows automatically” screen. The default option is to use recommended settings which will enable Microsoft SpyNet. The other two options provided are to only install important updates or to make the operating system ask later again.

A basic membership will send basic information to Microsoft including malicious software that has been detected, where that software came from and actions that have been applied by the user or by the program automatically.

Personal information might be send (such as form data) and Microsoft stated that they would not use the information to identify the user.

At least some Windows 7 users might want to change their membership level to avoid that reports are send to Microsoft.

This can be done directly in Windows Defender. The easiest way to start the program is to type [defender] in the search programs and files box of the start menu which should display the Windows Defender entry. The program can then be started either with the mouse or by pressing the return key on the computer keyboard.

Microsoft SpyNet can then be disabled by going to Tools > Microsoft SpyNet. This opens the following screen:

The default setting is “join with a basic membership”. Selecting “I don’t want to join Microsoft SpyNet at this time” instead will disable Microsoft SpyNet on the computer system so that no information are transferred to Microsoft.

Users who have Microsoft Security Essentials installed on the other hand need to disable Microsoft SpyNet in the Windows Registry where they need to locate the Registry key Hkey_LocaL_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\SpyNet\.

The Registry parameter SpyNetReporting needs to be set to 0 to disable the reporting to Microsoft.

Neowin today mentioned that Microsoft is currently accepting beta testers for the Microsoft Security Essentials Ongoing Beta. It seems that every Windows users with a valid Windows Live ID can join the beta test which provides access to beta versions of the security software. They need to answer a question about their operating system after log in and can then download the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Previous installations of Microsoft Security Essentials need to be uninstalled before the beta version can be installed. Microsoft has not released information about the changes in the available beta version. A version check reveals the following information (first final version, then beta)

Microsoft Security Essentials Version: 1.0.1611.0
Antimalware Client Version: 2.0.6212.0
Engine Version: 1.1.5302.0
Antivirus definitions: 1.71.328.0
Antispyware definitions: 1.71.328.0

Microsoft Security Essentials Version: 1.0.1743.0
Antimalware Client Version: 2.0.6212.0
Engine Version: 1.1.5302.0
Antivirus definitions: 1.71.346.0
Antispyware definitions: 1.71.346.0

The only differences are the higher program version and the definition files although those are likely shared between the public version and the beta version. The downloaded beta of Microsoft Security Essentials will display as version 1.0.1676.0 at the beginning. The strange thing is that the Update check in the program will not raise the version to 1.0.1743.0. To get to version 1.0.1743.0 users need to click on Help > Upgrade Microsoft Security Essentials instead.

Nakodari over at Addictive Tips has created a small software program called MSE Update Utility which can be used to update Microsoft Security Essentials even if Windows Update is disabled.

The update intervals of the software can be selected in the main interface after startup. The choices are daily, weekly, monthly or on startup with the additional option to add the program to Windows startup. The program could be an interesting option for users who cannot use Windows Update to update Microsoft Security Essentials. It seems though that the update tool needs to be running in the background to update the virus definitions. A better solution would be to either run and quit after updating the definition files or use the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule the updates.

The latest test by independent security researchers AV-Comparatives is another confirmation that Microsoft has developed a solid security software for the Windows operating system. The latest test concentrated on virus and malware removal capabilities of selected free and commercial antivirus products.

The test itself pitted sixteen different security products against ten malware samples. Six of the sixteen security software programs received an advanced plus rating. Among them Microsoft’s Security Essential product which was also the only free product to score the highest rating and one of three that scored a good rating in the two tested fields removal of malware and removal of leftovers.

While the test certainly does not make Microsoft Security Essentials the best free antivirus software that is currently available as Lee described it over at the Download Squad it certainly can be seen as an indicator that Microsoft has delivered a quality software program for the Windows operating system.

The test results are available in a pdf report on the AV Comparatives website.

Some users have reported Microsoft Security Essentials crashes and other errors that prevent the tool from protecting the computer system. The Fix MSE Utility has been designed for those users. It can repair a Microsoft Security Essentials installation by resetting all Registry and other settings to their default values. The same could be achieved by uninstalling and installing the software program but the benefit of using the Fix MSE Utility is speed.

The portable software program is compatible with the same operating systems that Microsoft Security Essentials is compatible with. It will display a small program window upon startup that looks like the following:

The window contains a small description of the program’s functionality as well as a Fix MSE button which will start the repair of the Microsoft Security Essentials installation. The Microsoft Security Essentials program itself has to be closed during that process to avoid further complications.

The Fix MSE Utility is available at the Windows Club forum.

The best way to download Microsoft Security Essentials is therefor directly from Microsoft. You can point your web browser directly to the Security Essentials website which is hosted at Microsoft.com.

The only valid alternatives are trusted download portals like Softpedia or Betanews but definitely not third party websites that are offering the download. Most experienced users might not have a problem distinguishing legit and rogue websites but many Internet users seem to have them.

Update: Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Final released

Microsoft Security Essentials will check if the operating system is genuine before proceeding with the actual installation of the program. The system requirements lists other requirements like a version of Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, 140 Megabytes of free hard drive space or a computer system with at least one Gigabyte of computer memory.

The program will update the virus and spyware definitions on the first startup and perform a system scan afterwards. The quick scan (that’s what it is called) can actually take some time to complete depending on the files and processes of the operating system. Users who have been using the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials liked the low resource usage of the program. It’s been using roughly 46 Megabytes of computer memory which is more than acceptable. CPU is on the other hand used quite a bit during scans. The computer memory usage will not change at all while the cpu usage drops to zero during times of no active scans.

Interested users can download the final version of Microsoft Security Essentials from the official Microsoft website.

Update: Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Final released

Several updates of Microsoft Security Essentials were released since then and it was rumored that Microsoft aimed for a October 22 release to give Windows 7 users a chance to use the final version of the software program.

The announcement that Microsoft Security Essentials would be released in the coming weeks was spread to all beta participants who received an email that informed them of an upgrade and the projected release in the coming weeks.

The final version of Microsoft Security Essentials will be released to the public in the coming weeks. If you are running the older version of the beta (1.0.1407.0), we encourage you to upgrade to a newer version of the beta (1.0.1500.0).

The announcement does not explicitly mention the Windows 7 release date but it seems pretty obvious that the final release will be available around the time of the Windows 7 release. Users who want to test Microsoft Security Essentials right now can do so by following the links posted above. The final version will be published at Microsoft’s Security Essentials website.

Update: Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Final released

This does not mean however that there is no way of downloading Microsoft’s antivirus software. You just have to look elsewhere for the download. The software is available on various P2P networks which is however probably not the safest way to download the Security Essentials. A better option is to look at the various download portals who check and verify all downloads that they offer which makes the process more secure.

Microsoft Security Essentials can be downloaded from Softpedia for example. The version of the software that can be downloaded is the exact same version that was available for download at the Microsoft Security Essentials website. It is basically the beta client of the software that was available for download. Users even save some time and hassle as they do not have to log in with their Windows Live account to download the Security Essentials software.

Update: Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Final released

A question that lingered in the minds of many security conscious users was how Security Essentials would compare to other respected antivirus software programs such as Kaspersky antivirus, Norton antivirus or the free AVG or Avira Anti-Vir. First tests are in courtesy of the German AV-Test GMBH company.

Computerworld spoke with the company’s manager Andreas Marx who mentioned that they ran preliminary tests with a set of nearly 3,200 common viruses, bot Trojans and worms on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Results were impressive as Security Essentials was able to detect all malicious software in the tests and managed to avoid false positive reports as well. Tests with a larger set of viruses, trojans and worms have been scheduled which is why the current results should not be considered final.

Security Essentials did well in this first test though as it was able to detect all the malicious software (which included rootkits as well). This stands in contrast to comments made by other antivirus companies that were trying to be suggestive that Security Essentials was an inferior product.

It was formerly speculated that the beta would be limited to users from the United States, Israel, China and Brasil. This is apparently not so as it was possible to download the Microsoft Security Essentials Beta from Europe. Having said that it is clear that there is no IP check at this point in time. A Windows Live account is required to initiate the beta download of the antivirus software and it could be that there are checks in the background that check the system language or country of the Windows Live account.

The start page contains a quick survey that has to be completed before the download options become available after logging in. You can read a first review in the Microsoft Security Essentials leaks article here at Ghacks.

It would be interesting if users from other countries (that Microsoft excluded from the beta) can also download the Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus software. The Security Essentials website contains information about the product and the link to Microsoft Connect from where the security program can be downloaded.

The security software requires a genuine Windows operating system which is checked during installation. The leak is available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and can be downloaded from various P2P networks already.

Microsoft Security Essentials comes with a basic interface that can be used to scan the computer system for malicious software. Options are available to run a scheduled scan and exclude files, filetypes and processes from the scan. It is yet unclear as to how effective the security software is. It will probably take some time until the first comparisons are published.

Microsoft Security Essentials is loading two processes into computer memory after execution. The first is called msseces.exe and uses roughly 8 Megabytes of computer memory, the second on the other hand – called MsMpEng.exe – uses 40 Megabytes by default which can rise to 60 when it becomes active.