By Tom Espiner
Thursday, June 25 2009 12:00 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,62055452,00.htm

Microsoft has made a beta of its free antivirus software, codenamed Morro, available to testers in the United States, China, Israel, and Brazil.

Version 1.0.1407.00 of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) was released on Tuesday, with a cap of 75,000 downloads.

The software has multiple scan options, a scheduler, automatic definition file updates, and rootkit protection, according to CNET Crave blogger Seth Rosenblatt. MSE runs Microsoft's antipiracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage, before installing.

In 2008, Microsoft announced plans to discontinue its subscription fee-based Windows Live OneCare antivirus suite and to replace it with Morro. At the time, the company said that it would switch to offering a free product, as few consumers had subscribed to OneCare.

MSE will eventually compete with paid antivirus suites from the likes of Symantec and McAfee, which make millions of dollars in revenue from consumer products.

The official beta release is older than the version leaked to the web last week, which is version 1.0.2140.0, according to ZDNet.com blogger Mary Jo Foley. "The Microsoft Security Essentials Beta build 1.0.1407.00 is the most current version available for public download," a Microsoft spokesperson reportedly told Foley on Tuesday. "An earlier leaked build was derived from the core Microsoft Security Essentials code and will be used for further testing."

A day after making available a free beta of its Microsoft Security Essentials software, Microsoft has stopped offering new downloads, saying it has reached the number of participants it was looking for, at least here in the U.S. The software maker had said it was only looking to initially have about 75,000 downloads of the product, formerly code-named Morro.

"Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time," Microsoft said in a post on its Web site. "Please check back at later a date for possible additional availability."

Ina Fried of ZDNet Asia's sister site CNET News contributed to this article.