Microsoft Security Essentials is a much simpler program than Comodo Internet Security. When we tested it most recently, MSE of stopping malware. Nevertheless, businesses are well advised to seek something a little more advanced and feature-rich. On the other hand, if your small business lacks IT personnel who can understand and use a more complex product, MSE may serve as a viable alternative.

Beyond its basic real-time antivirus protection, Microsoft Security Essentials offers two significant features for safeguarding the PCs on your network. The first of these capabilities is Network Inspection System, which attempts to detect malware originating from the Internet or coming over your network before it reaches your computer. The second feature is Behavior Monitoring, which helps to identify and stop suspect activity or patterns that the monitoring software detects.

If you want to give MSE a try, download it from the . Just prior to installing, make sure that you have completely uninstalled any existing antivirus program and rebooted Windows to prevent any conflicts. MSE doesn't include a firewall, so make sure that the Windows Firewall is turned on.

Security Essentials' default settings provide adequate protection for most environments. But if you use removable storage devices such as USB flash drives, you may want to enable scanning of removable drives. To do so, select the Settings tab, click the Advanced menu, and enable Scan removable drives.