Microsoft is set to release the beta version of the successor to its anti-virus & malware program Windows Live OneCare, named Microsoft Security Essentials, on Tuesday, June 23rd in a limited release. Code named Morro, it includes a new interface, some new features, and a price tag of free. Microsoft says it expects to release the final version by the end of 2009 and it hopes that everyone will make use of it to provide basic worldwide protection from viruses and malware.

Codename Morro has been in development since November 2008 and Microsoft will be officially calling it Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) from here-on-out. It will be totally free to all genuine (and yes, the installer checks) Windows XP/Vista/7 users in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, but only 32-bit for Win XP.

There have been many rumors surrounding Morro and this review will hopefully clear some of them up. For example, it has been said on other tech-related sites that Morro will be a "cloud computing anti-virus" solution, but this is surely not the case as this idea doesn't really make any sense. Secondly, MSE is mostly just OneCare's framework without any of the added extras, like managing firewalls, networked computers, and file backup capabilities. However, MSE is very light-weight and is speedy and works effectively without being in your face and keeps your computer virus-free at the same time.

Read the entire article at TechReviewSource.