Microsoft debuts security package

Live OneCare

Quote:

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The software giant's first security product goes on sale in the US from 1 June and will become available in other countries over the next 12 months.

The product, dubbed OneCare, rolls anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs into one package.

OneCare costs $49.95 (£26.50) to protect three computers for a year.

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IMO this means that Windows Defender may not be free any more. Haven't seen the full details yet on the programs included so I may be wrong.

The price does seem in line with other types of this software but a big question will be the price for what you are getting in return. $50 for a quality effective product or one that will just cover the minimum. Based on the performance of previous Microsoft products I’ll either wait for the first service pack or see how it may be packaged as an add-on with Vista.

It won't be directly bundled with XP at least but no mention of Vista. But given the legal problems in the past I seeing it being offered as an add-on:

Quote:

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Microsoft has said that, so far, it has no plans to build OneCare into its Windows XP operating system as it has with its net browser and media player. However it is likely that PC makers will offer the service as an extra when consumers buy a new machine.

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These may actually be different:

Comparisons:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...mparisons.mspx

OneCare:

http://www.windowsonecare.com/
http://www.windowsonecare.com/prodinfo/default.aspx


Note: The comparisons page mentions Defender Beta 2, and does not mention anything regarding what'll happen once this is out of beta.

Hahahaha...these guys are going to solve Window's security woes?

"According to Allchin, Ballmer spent the better part of the next two days trying to rid this PC of worms, viruses, spyware, malware, severe fragmentation, and well, you name it. Picture it: the world's 24th wealthiest person, a man worth $13.6 billion according to Forbes magazine, sitting at a table for two days, playing tech support. It was, Allchin says, a humbling experience.

Allchin says Ballmer eventually gave up and instead lugged the machine back to Microsoft's Redmond, Wash. campus. There, several engineers spent several days, burrowing deep into the system to figure out the problem. Imagine, CSI: Redmond.

It turns out there were more than a hundred pieces of malware of various types. Things that these engineers using Microsoft's own private tools could not ferret out and fix. Some of these threats hooked themselves deeply into the core operating system and essentially lied about their existence. Other malware scoured the hard drive for anything containing the string "virus," and, in Allchin's words, would "shoot them dead." The result was disabling any installed antivirus software."

http://www.itworld.com/Man/2676/nls_...525/index.html

I'll be sure and purchase this MS security software right away. Then I'm gonna call the guy who built my house, but forgot to put doors on it, and have him install a burglar alarm for me...