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Microsoft to replace OneCare with free AV product
OneCare retirement announced, new product will be lighter on systems and pockets.
Microsoft has announced plans to put an end to its home-user security product Live OneCare, and to replace it with a simpler, free anti-malware product aimed at reducing numbers of unprotected Windows PCs.
The end date for OneCare sales has been set for June 30th 2009, with the replacement product, code-named Morro due to be made available in the second half of 2009. Cutting back on the range of system backup and tune-up tools included with OneCare, the new product will be a more straightforward anti-malware solution based on the core Microsoft detection engine, currently used in both OneCare and the corporate Forefront product. It will be handed out free of charge, with the aim of improving security in general by providing cover for currently unsecured systems, users in developing countries being singled out as particular targets for the new product.
Microsoft's official announcement of its plans is here, with comment on the expected impact of the move on the rest of the industry from Randy Abrams of ESET here and from Sophos's Graham Cluley here.
19 November 2008
Tags:
free av, microsoft, onecare.
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7 comments
In my view,free very well,I will use it
by oppoo, 25 November 2008, 15:16
Remains to be seen how good the product will be.
by Florin Jurcovici, 02 December 2008, 08:55
As mentioned previously, all depends how "good" the product is, many of microsoft's products have fallen short of other competitors products in the past (windows media player vs VLC, spybot vs any microsft anti spyware product!) and OneCare itself caused my customers SO many headaches I ended up recommending staying away.
by Richard Saunders, 02 December 2008, 09:45
You get what you pay for. Somebody is paying for it somewhere in another MS product.
by Angus McNeely, 02 December 2008, 20:56
In my experience, free security software (antivirus, antispyware, firewall) always falls short. This means Spybot S&D, AVG, avast!, Ad-Aware, Zonealarm, Comodo, and now this new Microsoft offering.
You get what you pay for when it comes to security software. I'm going with Sunbelt VIPRE.
by Cubex DE, 05 December 2008, 10:02
The AV software isn't free - it was paid for by the purchase of the Microsoft OS that should have addressed the AV issue when the product was first designed. But "open systems" user hooks and exits prevailed and OS hacking became a child's game and worse.
by Chuck Rynski, 12 December 2008, 20:15
its free for a reason. because windows is so riddled with virus, security issues, and etc that they HAVE to start fixing the problem proactively or it will get worse and worse and worse. if you never buy a AV program, then your PC becomes a host to send virii out to other users. if EVERYONE has some sort of AV program, then that problem becomes smaller. make sense? its in MS best intrest to have all PC's running windows virus free. for investors, for developers, and for consumers.
by duuuuh, 19 December 2008, 20:26
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