Well on top of having the Windows Small Business Server 7 Public Preview available there has been another great piece of news for small businesses this week as Microsoft has decided to make its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) software available for small business on up to 10 PC’s in their organization – for free!
It’s also no secret that most small businesses today do not have a dedicated IT professional on staff to manage their IT resources (which you may recall is why we originally launched the Small Business Specialist Community of partners worldwide). Small business owners and employees are focused on running their business, not managing complicated IT infrastructure.
For those reasons, we are extremely excited today to let you know that Microsoft is making its Microsoft Security Essentials available to small businesses on up to 10 PCs for FREE, beginning in early October! By providing Microsoft Security Essentials to small businesses free of charge, Microsoft extends its commitment to help these companies save money and grow their business by offering no-cost protection from viruses, spyware and other malicious threats.
- Microsoft Security Essentials is powered by the same core malware protection engine that drives Microsoft’s enterprise solutions.
- The antimalware engine used in Microsoft Security Essentials – and in all of Microsoft’s security products – is regularly tested by numerous organizations around the world and has consistently been certified by the industry’s leading independent certification authorities: International Computer Security Association Labs (ICSA) and West Coast Labs, VB100, and AV-Test.
- Microsoft Security Essentials uses advanced system scanning and removal technologies that employ a definitions database that details the characteristics and behaviors of known malware. Threats are collected every month from more than 600 million PCs around the world and are assessed by the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, and new signatures are written and deployed daily.
MSE is a terrific offering from Microsoft that I have personally been running on every machine on my home network since it came out and we have been well protected. MSE is the perfect offering for a small business to use and help maintain the security of their systems. Of course, good computing habits are still needed in combination with the anti-virus/anti-malware software but the combination will serve you well.
Want to learn a little more about MSE and what it can do for you? Check out this video introduction from the Director of Product Management for MSE:
