After a successful three-month long beta test in three countries, Microsoft has finally released the Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) – the long-awaited free anti-virus service that would bring for Windows a wide-ranging real-time protection!

The beta test of the new software, earlier code-named ‘Morro,’ saw an extremely good response in all the three countries where it was conducted – US, Brazil, and Israel -, with as many as 75,000 testing accounts in the US being snapped up in about a day. 

Those users, who have been using the MSE software in its beta, since June, opine that it is effective, unobtrusive as well as economical on system resources. Based on the same engine as Microsoft’s corporate Forefront antivirus client, the new software can supposedly detect potential security threats that even leading antivirus companies cannot detect easily.

The free MSE service, which will apparently clean the Windows, essentially caters to the system security needs of homes and small businesses. 

Going by the information forwarded by a Microsoft spokesman, the MSE has become available for download onto computers that run the appropriately licensed copies of any of the three versions of the Windows operating system - XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The spokesman also added that though the new anti-malware service is currently available in 19 countries and in eight languages, more markets and languages will be added over the coming months.