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
.
Posted on 19 November 2008 by
Virus Bulletin
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