Morro: Microsoft’s free anti-virus software

Folks, It’s a pleasure letting you know that Microsoft is getting ready to release a long-anticipated free anti-virus called ‘Morro’ for the personal computers. But, until now no date has been fixed  on its rolling out process. But, a trial version or a beta product is speculated to be posted at its website very soon. “Morro” will be able to provide the essential protections that consumers need without overusing system resources, and will help more consumers have better protection against online threats. You know it or not but the current subscription service, Live OneCare which is not a free service, is ending its run on 30 June 2009. Pradeep

Morro is being developed by Microsoft’s Forefront security team and is based on the Forefront antivirus/anti-malware engine. The reason Microsoft is going from a paid subscription service to a free one is to make sure that Morro is installed on all consumer PCs, especially those whose users find it hard to afford or do not show interest to run antivirus/anti-malware software, that it will be able to better secure the entire Windows ecosystem. This anti-malware application will offer protection against viruses, spyware, root kits and Trojans.

The working mechanism for Morro will be such that it will function by routing all of a users Internet traffic to a Microsoft datacenter, where the Morro application will process the traffic and identify and block malware in real-time, by examining all of the rerouted traffic.

Do you think that this protection solution will work out in this world of technology where numerous types of other anti virus systems are already available? May be this is a tough task to answer for Microsoft but because the consumption of standard anti-malware is very low around the world, particularly in underdeveloped nations like Nepal, the availability of basic protection for anyone who wants it is all the more important.

Well, Morro will be architected for a smaller group that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs and it will work on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems only.

Public Cloud Consultant | Microsoft MVP | Solutions Specialist (Azure) | Azure Certified | Microsoft Certified Trainer A decade more experience working across various Microsoft products, programs, projects & technologies. Experience leading CoE (Centers of Excellence) for Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 & Power Platform among others. Enabler in customer's hybrid cloud, cloud assessment, migration and modernization journey.

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