Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), Redmond's free consumer security software for PCs, is available for download by the general public

The rollout of the antimalware solution comes after three months of public beta testing, limited to thousands of users. The software offers basic protection against viruses and spyware. The free MSE offering likely will compete with paid security offerings from McAfee and Symantec.

MSE is sometimes described as a replacement for Windows Defender, a free app from Microsoft that just removes spyware. Apparently, the two security apps can exist side by side. MSE disables Windows Defender and users don't have to remove it, according to a June Microsoft forum post.

MSE will be available for download on Sept. 29 for use on "genuine Windows-based PCs," according to Microsoft's announcement issued on Monday.

The software will work with the following operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP using Service Pack 2 or 3. It's designed to use a small amount of CPU and memory resources and run on older PCs, according to Microsoft's announcement.

MSE also will work with Windows XP Mode, which is Microsoft's virtualized XP desktop that runs on Windows 7. Both x32 and x64 versions are supported.

Microsoft plans to roll out MSE in eight languages, in 19 countries, on Tuesday. Those countries include "Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States," according to the announcement.

The home page for the MSE solution can be accessed here.

[link]

Free Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation

Windows 7 is the next release of the Windows client operating system, built on the secure foundation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Performance, reliability, security, and compatibility are core tenets of this release as we collect your feedback to meet our engineering goals of making Windows 7 the best-performing and most stable Windows operating system to date. All the new innovations in this product are meant to enhance your capability as an IT professional to better provision and manage increasingly mobile PCs, to protect data, and to improve end-user and personal productivity.

Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial

Windows 7 Enterprise was designed specifically for IT Professionals, so that you can test your software and hardware on a final version of the product. In addition, it provides the opportunity for you to become more familiar with the key improvements over previous versions of the Windows operating system, and experience firsthand how Windows 7 can make your PC environment more productive, secure, and manageable.

Guidelines on usage:
- Protect your PC and data. Be sure to back up your data and please don’t test Windows 7 on your primary home or business PC.
- You have 10 days to activate the product. If not activated within 10 days, the system will shut down once every hour until activated. Unsure on how to activate? Visit our FAQ.
- The 90-day Trial is the full working version of the Windows 7 Enterprise, the version most of you will be working with in your corporate environment. It will not require a product key (it is embedded with the download).
- The 90-day Trial will shut down once every hour when you have reached the end of the 90-day evaluation period.
- The 90-day Trial is offered for a limited time and in limited quantity. The download will be available through March 31, 2010, while supplies last.
- After the 90-day Trial expires, if you wish to continue to use Windows 7 Enterprise, please note that you will be required to purchase and perform a clean installation of Windows 7, including drivers and applications. Please keep this in mind; Windows 7 Enterprise is not available through retail channels.
- Technical details/updates/questions: Please review our FAQ or visit the Windows 7 support forum.
- Stay informed. You can keep up with general technical information and news by following the Springboard Series blog. Want technical guidance, tips, and tools? Visit the Springboard Series on TechNet.
- Keep your PC updated: Be sure to turn on automatic updates in Windows Update in case we publish updates for the 90-day Trial.
- Microsoft Partners-: Learn more about Windows 7 on the Microsoft Partner Portal.

Minimum System Requirements*:

1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 GB of RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
DVD-compatible drive
Internet access (fees may apply)
*Note: Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and record live TV, BitLocker, or navigation through the use of “touch,” may require advanced or additional hardware. Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM and 15 GB of available disk space; and a processor capable of hardware virtualization, with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on.

Requirements:

· Processor: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
· Memory: 1 GB of system memory
· Hard drive: 16 GB of available disk space
· Video card: Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
· Drive: DVD-R/W drive
· Internet connection (to download the Beta and get updates)

Limitations:

· 90-day Trial


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Developer: Microsoft
License / Price: Trial / N/A
Size / OS: 2,488.3 MB / Windows 7
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Download:

Windows 7 7600.16385.090713 [Trial]

[link]

Enjoy

From Brandon LeBlanc of Windows Team Blog:


Quote

Back in April, we introduced the Windows XP Mode beta and after a few months of incorporating your enthusiastic feedback, today we are announcing the availability of the Windows XP Mode Release Candidate.

As you may know, Windows XP Mode is specially designed for small and medium-sized businesses to help ease the migration process to Windows 7 by providing additional compatibility for their older productivity applications. The newly updated Windows XP Mode now works with the RC and RTM versions of the Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise SKUs.

Before I get into what has changed from beta to RC, I’d like to take a moment to clarify what Windows XP Mode is designed for, and highlight the point that in many cases Windows XP Mode will not be necessary. Windows 7 has a strong compatibility story with Windows Vista, and many applications that currently run on Windows XP-based or Windows Vista-based PCs should just run natively on Windows 7 – allowing you to take advantage of better performance, better management and better security built into Windows 7. In most cases, we recommend running applications natively in Windows 7. Windows XP Mode provides what we like to call that “last mile” compatibility technology for those cases when a Windows XP productivity application isn’t compatible with Windows 7. Users can run and launch Windows XP productivity applications in Windows XP Mode directly from a Windows 7 desktop. I also strongly recommend that customers install anti-malware and anti-virus software in Windows XP Mode so that Windows XP Mode environment is well protected. For customers that manage several Windows PCs running Windows XP Mode and want to simplify management tasks, we offer Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) as part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.


New Features in Windows XP Mode RC :

• You can now attach USB devices to Windows XP Mode applications directly from the Windows 7 task-bar. This means your USB devices, such as printers and flash drives, are available to applications running in Windows XP Mode, without the need to go into full screen mode.
• You can now access Windows XP Mode applications with a “jump-list”. Right click on the Windows XP Mode applications from the Windows 7 task bar to select and open most recently used files.
• You now have the flexibility of customizing where Windows XP Mode differencing disk files are stored.
• You can now disable drive sharing between Windows XP Mode and Windows 7 if you do not need that feature.
• The initial setup now includes a new user tutorial about how to use Windows XP Mode.

Download: Windows XP Mode Release Candidate [link]

Source : Windows Team Blog [link]

Windows 7 pricing and availability announced
Windows 7 pricing and availability has just been announced, along with a couple nice benefits to help put you into Windows 7 at half the price. First, Windows 7 will be rolling out on new PCs starting October 22nd. But starting tomorrow if you buy a new PC from a participating retailer you'll be able to get Windows 7 for little or no cost at all. (See [link] for more details)
As for pricing, the retail prices for full and upgrade versions of Windows 7 follow:
Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99
Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99
And if you want to skirt around paying full price - pre-order! From tomorrow until July 11th in the US and Canada (July 5th for Japan) you can pre-order Windows 7 Home and Professional from the Microsoft Store, Best Buy, or Amazon and get more than 50% off! That means Home Premium version for under $50 and Windows 7 Professional for under $100. Click here for more pre-order information.
link [link]

Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera have just unveiled a new feature of Windows 7 today that they have been forced to keep a lid on for quite some time. Introducing Windows XP Mode (XPM) for Windows 7!

[url=[link]

over a month ago, we were briefed about a secret Microsoft technology that we were told would be announced alongside the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) and would ship in final form simultaneously with the final version of Windows 7. This technology, dubbed Windows XP Mode (XPM, formerly Virtual Windows XP or Virtual XP, VXP), dramatically changes the compatibility story for Windows 7 and, we believe, has serious implications for Windows development going forward. Here's what's happening.

XPM is built on the next generation Microsoft Virtual PC 7 product line, which requires processor-based virtualization support (Intel and AMD) to be present and enabled on the underlying PC, much like Hyper-V, Microsoft's server-side virtualization platform. However, XPM is not Hyper-V for the client. It is instead a host-based virtualization solution like Virtual PC; the hardware assistance requirement suggests this will be the logical conclusion of this product line from a technological standpoint. That is, we fully expect future client versions of Windows to include a Hyper-V-based hypervisor.


XP Mode consists of the Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). It will be made available, for free, to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions via a download from the Microsoft web site. (That is, it will not be included in the box with Windows 7, but is considered an out-of-band update, like Windows Live Essentials.)


More news - HERE - [link]
Screenshots - HERE - [link]