Microsoft anti-malware protection for free for consumers

If you are about to planning for purchasing antivirus software consider this.

In hopes of getting more consumers protected, this week, Microsoft announced that it will offer a new security solution to consumers at no cost beginning in the second half of calendar year 2009. This new offering will focus on getting the majority of consumers the essential protection they need by providing comprehensive, real-time anti-malware protection, covering such threats as viruses, spyware, rootkits, trojans, and other emerging threats, in a single, focused solution.

In order for us to focus on delivering this new security solution to millions of customers around the world, we have decided to phase out Windows Live OneCare and will discontinue retail sales of Windows Live OneCare subscription service beginning June 30, 2009.

Question is why? OneCare even have outsold McAffee Virusscan. It probably is another goodwill thing to make Microsoft and Windows look better. Or maybe there was no future in OneCare as it was bloated with printer sharing, networking and performance tuning. Another question is how this will affect other third-party consumer security products.

Via OneCare blog

Update

We know that there are still some 60 percent of consumers in developed markets, and even more in emerging markets, that don’t have up-to-date security protection on their PCs, and we want to help provide that core level of protection.

…core malware protection in low-bandwidth scenarios, or that will run on less powerful machines. That's why we will design “Morro” to have a smaller footprint and to use fewer computing resources.

Via PressPass Q&A: Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management, discusses Microsoft’s strategy to provide broader access to critical anti-malware protection.