The first concern most people have when considering Microsoft Security Essentials is that Microsoft has not got a great reputation in the security world. Let me clarify one thing right away: Microsoft are no fools when it comes to security! The reason Windows has so many viruses and security issues compared to Linux and Mac is mainly because of the high percentage of users that use Windows. Trust me, if Mac had a broader user base then you’d see many more viruses targeting it.

Ok, so lets get down to business. Is Microsoft Security Essentials capable of replacing your current anti virus solution?

For starters, it does tackle both anti viruses and spyware issues and it is free. Sounds good so far. It is also supported by the largest and arguably greatest software provider of all time, so there are a lot of pros. I have also found it to not take up a lot of system resources, i.e. it is efficient and unobtrusive. More pros. Another thing I like is that It updates transparently and lets you schedule scans on a regular basis.

So what’s the catch? Is there any reason you can’t or shouldn’t be using it as your anti virus solution, and are there any gotchas to note?

The answer is simple: not every system can run Microsoft Security Essentials. I have attempted installs on numerous laptops and desktops with different versions of Windows running on them and I have encountered a few systems that were simply not capable of running it. In those cases, when I tried to install it, I got an error message stating simply that an error was encountered and the install could not finish (see picture below). In one of the cases I rebooted and the install ran fine the second time around.

Conclusion: if you are not completely satisfied with your current anti virus software or you’re looking for a solid free alternative, you should definitely give Microsoft Security Essentials a shot, however, keep in mind that there is a small chance it may not run on your system as it is still in its infancy and there are some compatibility issues.

One final note: if you are running Security Essentials, you should uninstall any other anti virus software running on your system. It is not recommended to run more than one anti virus solution at any point in time.

To download and install it, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials

Computer viruses can cause a lot of damage to your computer. Having an anti-virus program is not enough to keep your computer free of viruses. After seeing too many people experiencing this problem on a regular basis, I decided to help you and others get rid of viruses for good. There is no need to shell out big bucks for one of the other commercial anti-virus programs!

Follow these 4 simple rules and your computer will be virus free:

1. Make sure you have a good antivirus program

I’m going to make this simple for you. If you are using your computer for personal (non-business) use then you need to be running Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG Free Anti-Virus (download it at http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition), and start running it immediately.

Alternatively, if your computer is a business/work computer then go ahead and download NOD32 at http://www.eset.com/download/index.php – it is more than worth the purchase price.

Make sure you are running one of these two programs.

2. Keep that anti-virus program up to date

This is the biggest mistake that people make when it comes to keeping their computers virus free. Having the program is not enough. You need to make sure that it is up to date. People are out there as we speak creating new viruses. You need to have your anti virus software up to date so it can fight all of these new viruses.

3. Run regular scans

Set your anti-virus program to run a daily scan at a time your computer is actually turned on. It’s no good scheduling it for 3 AM daily if your computer is not usually on at that time. Make sure those scans run daily. On the weekend, run a full system manual scan yourself.

4. Do not open e-mail attachments unless you are 100% certain they are legitimate

This is a huge part of the problem. Joe gets an e-mail from his brother Gary and it has an attachment. The e-mail tells him to “check out this cool file – it’s hilarious”. Joe convinces himself that it cannot have any viruses because his own brother would never do that to him. WRONG! In many cases, the other person has no idea they are sending you that e-mail. It is automatically generated by a virus or worm on their system. Do not open any e-mail attachment unless they have been clearly mentioned in the e-mail in a way that assures you that the person intentionally sent it. Even then, you should still save it to your desktop and scan it for viruses.

That’s it. Stick to these 4 rules and you will have a computer that runs fast and is virus free. Now that you have this information, look out for detailed installation and configuration videos for these programs at ForNonGeeks.com