Microsoft Security Essentials: 19 Countries or Globally by Mistake?

Of course everyone seems to realize already that it is impossible to work on a Windows-based computer without having some antivirus and internet security solution installed and running – simply because the Microsoft’s operating systems do not happen to be actually safe and the number of vulnerabilities is enough for no one to be able to work and feel security.

The constant patches that we get from Microsoft in Windows Update are told to improve the situation with time but of course they are no ultimate solution to the overall problem and even the software giant itself realizes this. The solution that the corporation now has is Microsoft Security Essentials – the free antivirus solution that Microsoft is going to eventually make available to all users of genuine Windows operating systems.

Last week was officially released after a short beta testing period and became available as a free download. Initially the application is not available globally so the number of users who will be able to enjoy the added security of the Microsoft Security Essentials is limited to a total of 19 countries, including US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Japan, and some other countries. Other countries will get MSE at later dates, e.g. in Russia it will become available in the first half of 2010.

Microsoft Security Essentials have received quite a number of favorable reviews from bloggers and print publications so it is no wonder that there are many users around the world who are more than willing to try it out as soon as it becomes available. And these users obviously reside in many countries, not only those 19 from the list of initially supported ones. So of course the users from the countries excluded from the initial usage are unhappy about this situation and are trying to find alternative ways to download and install MSE – even despite of the fact that the application is not even intended to be available to us.

One such way is obviously downloading the application from multiple torrents where it is readily available to those who cannot get it directly from Microsoft. And while Microsoft keeps persuading us that downloading software from torrents may be dangerous because the code could be compromised in some manner, it hardly ever stops people.

Another paradoxical way to get Microsoft Security Essentials was to actually download it directly from Microsoft itself – no matter what the official availability was. The thing is that during the first day of MSE availability, it was available to global users even from the countries on the unsupported list. For example, in Russia anyone could download a copy during a whole day after the release – and only after that some limitations arrived that prevented Russian users from downloading the distributive.

In an interview to one of the largest IT publications (in Russian), Microsoft representatives explained it was due to a technical issue and not intentional. Of course this “technical issue” is quite intriguing given that such releases of much advertised and widely discussed products invariably draw immense attention from users and making the release unlimited even after declaring it to be limited is quite a dubious move.

But the most crazy thing about the entire situation is that while Microsoft has limited its own list of countries where Microsoft Security Essentials is available for download and is supported, the company somehow suspects that all the international users who live elsewhere are entirely stupid: while I cannot access Security Essentials page in Russian from Russia, no one forbids me going to the US version of the page where anyone can grab their distributive kit easily – and no proxy is required at all.

Basically the only thing you have to do is tell (well, lie) you are actually from the US (or probably any other country from the list of supported 19 countries) and it will easily let you download everything you want. I have just tried it myself and it works easily so the limited initial period can be absolutely unlimited as Microsoft somehow forgets to check IPs.

Right now of course one of the most curious thing is how Microsoft will (or will not) support those users who have managed to download and install the application while they could due to Microsoft’s technical glitch (as well as those who can still download it from the US website). Microsoft reps do not make it clear if new signatures and definitions will be available to such users claiming that they are not certain what policy will be regarding such updates. But given that it’s a security product where updates are essential, Microsoft should really have some policy in place – at least for those users who did not lie to the corporation but legally downloaded the application during the first day of its availability due to a technical problem admitted by the corporation.