Microsoft to Charge $50 Per Year for OneCare Live Security Solution

Published: February 8, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft yesterday unveiled the final pricing and packaging details for Windows OneCare Live, its new "all in one" offering that will combine antivirus, anti-spyware, and performance tools into a single bundle that will be kept up-to-date automatically. Beginning in June, Windows users will be able to buy a one-year subscription to OneCare Live for about $50, a sum that covers up to three PCs.

Surveys have shown that the majority of PCs are not adequately protected from viruses and hackers. While there are plenty of free and for-fee antivirus offerings on the market, a surprising number of users don't take advantage of them, or neglect to keep their virus and attack signatures up to date. What's more, few people back up their data or perform needed maintenance, which, Microsoft rightly points out, "is risky in a digital age when consumers rely more and more on their PCs in their daily lives."

OneCare Live includes several components. The Protection Plus component provides antivirus and anti-spyware, a two-way firewall, and automatically updates to receive the latest attack signatures. Performance Plus automatically runs "janitorial" tasks, such as disk cleanup and disk defragmentation, regularly scheduled virus scans, and boot-time tracing to identify potential performance problems. There is also a backup and restore component, which requires a writeable optical drive. The entire OneCare Live offering requires Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Microsoft announced beta testing of Windows OneCare Live last summer (see "Antivirus, Anti-Spyware Strategy Moves Forward for Microsoft"). Microsoft is thanking beta testers by offering the first year of OneCare Live for about $20. To take advantage of this, you must subscribe to the service between April 1 and April 30. While the regular product won't be available until June, the beta is ongoing, and anybody can sign up at ideas.live.com.