was MSE ever made available for Win2000?

[darthbreakout]

Was Microsoft Security Essentials or a Microsoft anti-malware client ever made available for Win2000?

[user99672]

There was "Microsoft AntiSpyware", which ran perfectly fine under Windows 2000...I remember running a beta of it on my own Pentium III box back in 2003ish, not aware of what became of that, or what the relationship/ancestry is of it to MSE

[Windows OS]

There was "Microsoft AntiSpyware", which ran perfectly fine under Windows 2000...I remember running a beta of it on my own Pentium III box back in 2003ish, not aware of what became of that, or what the relationship/ancestry is of it to MSE

Microsoft AntiSpyware eventually became Windows Defender, which since Windows 8 is a AntiVirus, but before that, it was just AntiSpyware. Plus, only the first 2 betas of MSAS/Defender supported Windows 2000. The RTM did not. As far as I know, no other MS AntiMalware program was made for Windows 2000.

[user99672]

which since Windows 8 is a AntiVirus

....what?

[johnleakedfan]

which since Windows 8 is a AntiVirus

....what?

He probably meant it was an antivirus since windows 8

[Lukas Marsik]

Microsoft AntiSpyware eventually became Windows Defender, which since Windows 8 is a AntiVirus, but before that, it was just AntiSpyware. Plus, only the first 2 betas of MSAS/Defender supported Windows 2000. The RTM did not. As far as I know, no other MS AntiMalware program was made for Windows 2000.

Yes, Microsoft AntiSpyware is what becamse Windows Defender eventually but the "Windows Defender" you can find in Windows 8+ is just rebranded Microsoft Security Essentials.

[adun]

Windows Defender is based on GIANT AntiSpyware that was first called Microsoft AntiSpyware and later renamed to Windows Defender.

While the betas run perfectly on Windows 2000 Microsoft decided On October 24, 2006 that Windows Defender will no longer support Operating Systems lower than Windows XP.
This change was made because Windows 2000 left mainstream support.

However the final version still runs under Windows 2000. You just have to change the NT Version check in the installer.

I did some tests a wile ago. The german edition of Windows 2000 was unable to run Windows Defender (final + beta) due to some windows services confilcts.
For more infos see: http://win2kgaming.prophpbb.com/topic305.html
But on English Windows 2000 (and perhaps on any onther language) Windows Defender works fine.
Blackwingcat (the one with the kernel extender for win2k, see MSFN) has some infos on his blog too.

If one wants to try it out:
(with credits to DosFreak):

1. Download Orca (Microsoft's MSI editor) and install it.
2. Download Windows Defender.
3. Use Orca to open the Windows Defender msi setup file.
4. Find the "Launch Condition" item.
5. Find the "VersionNT > 500" value and change it to "VersionNT >= 500" or "VersionNT > 400" or cut it out.
6. Save the modified file.
7. Run the installer.

[bean980310]

The MSE is not available in Windows 2000, but Windows Defender beta is available in Windows 2000. Windows 2000 does not support the full version of Windows Defender.

[DJ Deedahx]

The MSE is not available in Windows 2000, but Windows Defender beta is available in Windows 2000. Windows 2000 does not support the full version of Windows Defender.

That's what Windows OS just said...