The installation was straight forward and it auto-updated its definitions once the install wrapped up-- this took a few minutes longer than I thought it would, which may be a good thing. A lot of people have asked what the difference is between this and the Malicious Software Removal Tool Microsoft releases an update for every month, and my understanding is that the MRT is an &quot;after-infection&quot; tool that does what the name says-- it removes malicious software &quot;on demand&quot;.

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The Security Essentials actually runs and monitors the system  in real time, not on-demand, so it's actively protecting your system at all times (well, that's the goal at least ;). I would compare it to AVG-Free. Right now I'm running it on the same machine I have Trend Micro OfficeScan installed-- and still no issues.

So if you're looking for free antivirus/anti-malware software, I would suggest starting with the Microsoft Security Essentials. If my experience with it changes at all, I'll be sure to post it up. Have you installed it / are you using it yet? If so, comment!