Announcing: Microsoft Security Essentials available FREE to Small Businesses in October!
Here is some great news for all of the small businesses out there from Microsoft that I am very happy to be able to tell you about!
As we all know, small businesses are under incredible pressure to:
- Reduce operating costs
- Improve productivity
- Grow their business
- Do all of this in a very challenging economic climate
It’s also no secret that most small businesses today do not have a dedicated IT professional on staff to manage their IT resources (which you may recall is why we originally launched the Small Business Specialist Community of partners worldwide). Small business owners and employees are focused on running their business, not managing complicated IT infrastructure.
For those reasons, we are extremely excited today to let you know that Microsoft is making its Microsoft Security Essentials available to small businesses on up to 10 PCs for FREE, beginning in early October! By providing Microsoft Security Essentials to small businesses free of charge, Microsoft extends its commitment to help these companies save money and grow their business by offering no-cost protection from viruses, spyware and other malicious threats.
Not familiar with Microsoft Security Essentials? In many ways, Microsoft Security Essentials is an excellent solution for your small business. It is very easy to get and very simple to use. The software requires no registration, trials or renewals and is available for download directly from Microsoft. There is also no need to have other cumbersome security programs installed on your PCs since Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection to address the ongoing security needs of a genuine Windows PC, helping to protect it from viruses, spyware and other malicious threats. Perhaps best of all; however, is that Microsoft Security Essentials is designed to run quietly in the background, enabling you to continue using your PC – and running your small business – without constant interruptions.
Take a look at this video by Theresa Burch, director of product management, who gives a look at the details of Microsoft Security Essentials for a little more about what Microsoft Security Essentials can do for your business:
Now, some of you may ask whether Microsoft Forefront Client Security is a better security solution for your business. Well, that depends… If you want virus and malware protection to be centrally administered and integrated with group policy settings, then Forefront is a better option for you. But if you are comfortable with more of a set it and forget it solution, and are looking for an easy way to save money, Microsoft Security Essentials is definitely worth a look. (You can also find a Microsoft partner located near you that can help with determining the right Microsoft security solution for you)
Here is a glimpse of why you can trust Microsoft Security Essentials to protect your business:
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Small business owners consistently tell us that their business information is critical and that any downtime caused by security threats or data loss can greatly impact their business. Because of this, we do advise small business owners to consider upgrading to Windows 7 Professional for their business computers. Why? Simple: With Windows 7 Professional, we prioritized speed, reliability, compatibility, and connectivity to keep their systems up and running. Plus, now with Microsoft Security Essentials in the mix to provide no-cost protection from viruses, spyware and other malicious threats, small businesses can focus on what really matters, running their business. (NOTE: Windows 7 is not a system requirement for Microsoft Security Essentials, which is available separately as a no-cost download from Microsoft.)
| If you are a Microsoft partner, did you know you can participate in the free Microsoft Security Essentials distribution as well? The Microsoft Link Logo Program allows financial institutions, academic institutions, or any other company or business that has consumer-facing Web-based services to offer Microsoft Security Essentials to their customers easily and at no cost. (Logo examples to the right) OEMs and System Builders can pre-install Microsoft Security Essentials on their consumer-bound PCs to provide quality malware protection to their customers out of the box and at no cost. For more information related to opportunities for Microsoft partners, please visit the Microsoft Security Essentials partner page. This is one more tool you can use in your services offerings to provide a complete solution for your small business clients. |   |
So, if you are a small business with 10 or fewer PCs, take a look at Microsoft Security Essentials today as a no-cost, antivirus and antimalware option for you!
For more information on this news, check out the feature story up on Microsoft.com.
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Thank you and have a wonderful day,
Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER, LinkedIn, and RSS and see “What I’m thinking”
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
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Comments
Anonymous
September 22, 2010
Does the small-business version support installation on Windows Server 2008 [R2] and the forthcoming SBS version? --rjAnonymous
September 22, 2010
@ Rogerj - Microsoft Security Essentials was designed to provide desktop protection. We would not recommend installing it on servers. As noted in the post above, you might want to look to Forefront if you are interested in centralized management and group policy integration.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
Only 10 PC's??Anonymous
September 22, 2010
As a company that has a bunch Forefront Client Security agreements out there, how am I to respond to my install base now that Microsoft is giving it away? How does Security Essentials stack up compared to Forefront Client Security? What motivation do my clients have to continue with Forefront Client Security? My initial reaction is that my second and third year agreement payments may cease along with a big portion of my volume licensing business... :(Anonymous
September 22, 2010
@ Bill - Yes, this is for up to 10 PCs only.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
Too bad MS had to choose a number to set the limit between small and large business, I will have preferred 25 :-PAnonymous
September 22, 2010
Sorry, but I don't get the point, as MSE is already available for free as long as you have a valid Windows license.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
What if a user in a small business has a desktop, laptop and a netbook would that use 3 of the 10 copies or are you saying 10 employees can be protected? Also how can a small business with on IT staff and no one really auditing know when they have installed their 10 free software packages? What is the cost of the 11th copy?Anonymous
September 22, 2010
Nice! Another advantage for Microsoft. Heck, I've already converted at home. Free defs, less of a resource hog.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
@ bttr - Microsoft Security Essentials has been available for consumers/home users for awhile now; however, it has not been licensed for business use. With this announcement, we are expanding who is eligible to use Microsoft Security Essentials to include business users on up to 10 PCs.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 22, 2010
Why is making the distinction and 10 PC limit even worthwhile? You can't easily manage the product via Group Policy software deployment or manage scans/updates through WSUS, which naturally curbs the larger deployments of MSE and encourages migration to the Forefront or third-party products. This is legalese-to-make-up-for-marketing-failures that was probably ignored by most small business up until now anyway--if it's available on microsoft.com for "free," then it is "free" to them, I see it all the time. Differentiate by feature set and value, not by EULAs. If you want to encourage sales of Forefront to small business, then you need to simplify the licensing of that product and sell it COTS on the Microsoft Store, download link and all, not through resellers. Up sell it with a "Buy now" link directly from the MSE client, done. My two cents =) MSE is a great product!Anonymous
September 22, 2010
Can companies BUY MSE if they have more than 10 users? We have 80 users but no need for a more complex system.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
According to the terms on the MSE website it was always free for business users but it was unsupported.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
@ thommck - Actually, if you take a look at the licensing terms (located at: www.microsoft.com/.../eula.aspx), it says, "You may install and use any number of copies of the software on your devices in your household for use by people who reside there or for use in your home-based small business." It is currently licensed for home use and home-based small businesses only, not commercial business use. With the announcement above, we are going to be expanding the licensing to allow #MSE to be used in small businesses on up to 10 PCs.Anonymous
September 22, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 23, 2010
Well, good News. Unfortunatly only for Business. But what's about the world of education: K-12 Schools and so on. This would be a great deal too.Anonymous
September 23, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 23, 2010
Hello, I hope Microsoft will make it installable on Windows Home Server because I don´t know any Malware-Solution that is up-to-date as any WorkstationApp. The Server-Versions of all the Antivirus Apps are most time at a higher price than the WHS itself and this is a no-go for home-use.Anonymous
September 24, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 24, 2010
Its fine for small-businesses - but whats about schools? It would be fine, if MSE will be free for educational use! Is there any way?Anonymous
September 24, 2010
It would be nice if the number of PCs permitted to use MSE matched the maximum number of clients on Windows 2K8 Foundation Server=15. FDN Server is a very nice solution for small organizations in today's cash-strapped economy. It would sure be nice if they could use MSE on all their PCs, again, limited to 15 by the Foundation Server OS. Furthermore, it would be great if MSE ran on W2K8. A final opinion: I don't think there are too many 15-PC businesses who are going to opt for MS Forefront Security at $2500+ (www.microsoft.com/.../pricing-licensing.aspx) when products like SEP Small Business are going for less than $500 retail for 25 users.Anonymous
September 28, 2010
@mssmallbiz it seems you are the person with the answers, when will I be able to download & use this at my three business locations?Anonymous
October 04, 2010
@ Bill - MSE is licensed on a per device basis, so once MSE licensing goes live for small businesses, it will be for 10 computers in the small business, regardless if they are PCs, laptops, etc.Anonymous
October 04, 2010
Would it also be permissible to install MSE on fewer than 10 PCs within a business that has more than 10 PCs total?Anonymous
October 04, 2010
You are allways talking about small business and up to 10 computer ( not small business with 10 ). My company is a little bit bigger, but uses a different AV. Just a few SW devs ( 5 ) don't like that AV ( our I7 feel like P4 ) and would like to use MSE. So would that be possible with that license?Anonymous
October 06, 2010
@mssmallbiz We have 8 PC's and our time for renewal has come up. Will be def. instailling MSE today when the MSE site updates and let's us know officially that is is aviliable. We also have a Windows Server 2003 R2, can we install MSE on that? I read it is not recommended but why is it not recommended? Isn't it another flavour of Windows XP?Anonymous
October 07, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
October 07, 2010
@ David & FZelle - With the change made yesterday, Microsoft Security Essentials is now licensed to be installed on up to 10 PCs in a small business, but no more than that. If your company is larger than 10 PCs, you may want to consider looking at the ForeFront solutions that we provide.Anonymous
October 08, 2010
please... link for downloadsAnonymous
October 08, 2010
@ link - I have the download links included in my post above in a few places. Please give them a try.Anonymous
October 20, 2010
[mssmallbiz 8 Oct 2010 6:49 AM @ David & FZelle - With the change made yesterday, Microsoft Security Essentials is now licensed to be installed on up to 10 PCs in a small business, but no more than that. If your company is larger than 10 PCs, you may want to consider looking at the ForeFront solutions that we provide.] what does it mean? is that if my company has more than 10 pcs i cannot install on any of them because it is over 10, or i can only install up to 10 pcs; or only if my company have10 or less pcs is legal to install mse up to 10 pcs??Anonymous
November 08, 2010
If you have a non profit organization e.o School with more than 10 pc's (thin clients) can you still install mse on the server?Anonymous
November 08, 2010
@ Rob - Regardless of non-profit or not, for server based solutions, the ForeFront family of products would be the way to go since Microsoft Security Essentials is a desktop based solution.