SOMETIMES I PREDICT CORRECTLY

(and sometimes not)

In this case I'm talking about Microsoft Security Essentials - a decent anti-virus from Microsoft which lacks some of the more elegant features of Symantec's Internet Anti-Virus 2012, but what the heck, it's FREE.

When they first came out with this I was a tad suspicious (as to their intentions, and of course, quality of the program), but found Security Essentials to work pretty well.

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(Credit: OPSWAT)
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According to the article I just read "While Avast dominates worldwide security suite usage, and Symantec leads in North America, Microsoft Security Essentials is rising fast, says a new study by OPSWAT, a software development tool and data service company in San Francisco." My initial thoughts about this when it first came out was that Microsoft was going to pull paying customers from Symantec, Trend Micro, etc. to their free anti-virus software, and then at some point, begin charging for it. I've yet to see this come to fruition, but I expect this is the course it will take. For the complete story, on CNET.com, look HERE.