Microsoft has finally released its much awaited ....ahem.... anti-virus, anti-spyware solution today. Codenamed "Morro" during its development stages, this piece of software has been in development for almost a year and now it is known as " Security Essentials ". We earlier reported to you about the beta release of this software, and this time the final release is out.

Microsoft's Security Essentials is a basic anti-virus, anti-spyware software that will be consuming less memory and disk space than the commercial security suites, like the ones available from Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro etc. These players now surely have something to watch out for, although Microsoft's Security Essentials doesn't look like a major threat to the commercial security suites.

The software is the replacement for Microsoft's earlier offering, Live OneCare, which will be discontinued from now on. “The combination of Windows Firewall and Security Essentials provides you with pretty complete coverage,” says Bob Muglia, the president of Microsoft’s server and tools division.

Microsoft Security Essentials is available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 as a 4.7 MB free download from the Microsoft Website.