Microsoft Security Essentials 2

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

MSE turns 2

The second version of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) changes plumage to grey, and adds in both better heuristic detections and deeper hooks into the Windows firewall.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Microsoft's polite gesture

Microsoft politely does not opt you in to the program's customer experience improvement program; you must choose to opt in or stay out of it before you can finish the installation.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Polite, but not risky

MSE 2 lets you choose whether to run the Windows Defender firewall, and whether to run a scan once installation is complete, although both of those are opt-out. Microsoft doesn't put you at risk by accidentally choosing the less-safe option.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Update on install

When you install MSE 2, it will automatically run a scan unless you opt out. Note that it will consider your computer is not secure until that first quick scan has completed.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Quick scan

Although MSE 2's full scan benchmarks are slower than we'd like to see, its quick scan completed in a competitive four minutes.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

How to update

MSE 2 automatically updates once a day, although you can force an update sooner if you'd like.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Incomplete history

The History section only shows your history of detections. We'd appreciate more information on when scans have run and completed, a data option that most competitors offer.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Broad options in Settings

New in this version is the ability to set a system restore point before removing detected threats.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Protection in real time

Real-time protection comes activated and fully loaded, although you can customise that now.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Scheduling resources

A nice feature in the scheduler forces MSE 2 to be respectful of your computer's processor usage.

(Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Back out of SpyNet

Microsoft's unfortunately named anonymous crowd-sourced protection network now comes with the ability to opt out.

Via Download.com