Name: Windows Defender (beta 2) Price: Free
Windows Defender (Formerly Microsoft AntiSpyware) has taken away the need to worry about [1] Malware; small programs that can harm your computer. With this new program from Microsoft, you can be assured that hidden programs that install themselves while you visit certain websites are stopped.

There have been some excellent improvements between beta 1 (AntiSpyware) and beta 2 (Windows Defender). For one, once Defender is installed, you are barely notified and/or receive complicated annoying messages. The program seems invisible, yet it scans your computer regularly. A few features have been sent home in the move up to beta 2. These include a browser-hijacking utility that prevents websites from changing your homepage (among other things). Another feature we have let go of is the ability to clear all of Internet Explorer’s private data. Microsoft has probably done this to prevent doubling up. This feature will come with [2] Internet Explorer 7, so there would be no point to include this.

Overall, Windows Defender is a nice and simple program that has few glitches and problems. It’s probably not quite what we were expecting, but still gets the job done.