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(UPDATE)  Apparently sometime late last night the new builds (and indeed all downloads, and the download link in the sidebar) have been removed from Connect.  The plot thickens.

In somewhat stealth mode, Microsoft Security Essentials, or MSE, posted a new upgrade on Connect today.  If it wasn’t for the eagle eye of Emil over at Ars Technica, we would never have noticed.  The new build, or more precisely, builds are available either from Microsoft Update (1.0.1500.0) or Connect (1.0.1501.0).

What is unusual is that there is no word of any kind from Microsoft on the nature or the availability of the new updates, other than that they appeared.  Our old friend and MVP Steve Boots posted in the MSE Forums, confirming the updates:

Confirmed. It was made available within the last hour.
You should be receiving automatic notification of the availability of the updated version by MSE within the next week, typically earlier if you reboot the machine and it does the check for updates.
The installer files will be updated on Connect today.

In another post on the forum, Steve and others note that you don’t have to go to Connect or MS Update, but can just tell MSE to upgrade:

While there is a dearth of information coming from Microsoft on the update, forum posters haven’t found much new other than the systray icon has changed from blue to green , and that the icon now turns red , a la Windows Live OneCare when real time protection is turned off.  One poster noted a speed increase in file scanning, but that may be subjective.

Anyway good work by Emil spotting this, go and get your MSE upgrade now.