February 14th, 2006
Second Beta of Windows Defender Available
By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Microsoft has posted the second beta version of Windows Defender, formerly know as Windows Antispyware for download. The site says 25 million active customers.
Jeremy tells us that Microsoft says the new version has been redesigned with a simpler interface. Other features include a warning system that rates the severity of threats so the program is less intrusive for the user.
The program’s scanning engine has also been tweaked to detect and remove more spyware, and the program receives automatic updates, the company said.
The Real-Time Protection feature now better monitors “key points” in the OS for changes, Microsoft said. Windows Defender Beta 2 will continue to run regardless of whether the user has administrative privileges, a change that ensures it continues to monitor the computer.
Beta 2 supports the Windows XP Professional x64 edition. German and Japanese versions will be available soon, according to the company. Source: Today@PCWorld.
We Say: I haven’t downloaded this yet, so, I Hope everyone will let us know what they REALLY think about it. 
David Johnston says:
I downloaded it and it seems fine to me, though it doesn’t notify when a program needs your approval or not and it does nothing that I can see to block programs from running or accessing the net even if they have not been marked as fine by the user. That seems like strange to me… Anyway, other than that it’s about the same as the old one as far as scanning goes. I’m not about to infect my PC with spyware just to test how good it really is, but it did pick up all the instances of VNC on my computer (they are there on purpose though) which is a plus in my book. Scanning also seemed pretty light on resources and fast.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Michael says:
The interface is completely different, more friendly in some ways. One major feature has been removed, Tracks Eraser, a one stop shop to remove your history, cookies, typed address, search terms, files displayed in various media players etc… This was a handy feature for those that like to leave minimal history behind. IE7 supports a similar One Click feature, perhaps that is why it has been scrubbed from this release.
Will test it out on Thursday when I install it on a friends heavily infected PC.
February 15th, 2006 at 1:53 am
John Corliss says:
Is it just me or does anybody else notice that there is a distinct conflict of interest in Microsoft creating (and eventually selling) anti-malware programs?
February 15th, 2006 at 2:43 am
Jimmy says:
I agree John, one would think they would spend more time on fixing the problem form the OS side, instead of another utility. Wouldn’t this compare to a car manufacturer whose keyless entry devices all operate the same vehicle and you have to buy one to make yours work right?
February 15th, 2006 at 6:17 am
Lockergnome's Tech News Watch says:
Second Beta Of Windows Defender Available
Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes: Microsoft has posted the second beta version of Windows Defender, formerly know as Windows Antispyware for download. The site says 25 million active customers….
February 15th, 2006 at 10:55 am
slashdotcoma says:
Nice looking product… only problem is I don’t have a PC that is (or the time to) totally infected with malware… or a PC with any malware (sic) … but the buttons look nice
February 15th, 2006 at 7:46 pm