@wolf_z
"It's my own personal opinion that Microsoft is the only half-way principled AV dealer because they offer MSE (a quite competant product) for *FREE*, including monthly updates."
Actually, program updates aren't necessarily monthly, just that they have been for the last few. Definitions are updated daily though and the program itself checks several times a day for updates.
"I say "half-way" because they do offer a paid product and the MSE license has enough gray area to land a 747 in."
There's no "gray area". MSE is licensed for home PC's or home-based businesses ONLY. Regular businesses must pay for Forefront Client Security (FCS), which costs ~$12US/PC/yr, and is available only through volume licensing. FCS and MSE functionality is the same, except that the current version of FCS has the Windows Defender interface (which is also used by InTune malware protection, as well as the MDOP/DaRT Standalone Sweeper). All of Microsoft's desktop antimalware programs are just front ends for the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (MSMPENG.EXE).
If you want centralized management, you'll have to pay extra for the SQL Server licensing to run the management server, and that's big bucks as does the required hardware to run it on, but small businesses shouldn't need that, or else they should consider switching to InTune, which also offers remote PC management along with said MSMPENG.
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