Microsoft Set to Unveil Free AV Software

In November of last year, Microsoft said that it would be both dropping its OneCare security product and releasing a free product in the second half of 2009. At the time, Microsoft said that the free software would allow them to "to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware." It now appears that Microsoft is on the verge of releasing a beta version of that product.

According to Reuters, Microsoft told them the following on Wednesday:

A Microsoft spokesman said on Wednesday that the world's biggest software maker is testing an early version of the product with its own employees. Microsoft would "soon" make a trial version, or product beta, available via its website, he added, but declined to provide a specific date.

The project has been code-named "Morro." While in November the two biggest security software firms pooh-poohed Microsoft's announcements, investors have not been so confident. On Thursday, at the time of this writing, Symantec stock is down more than 3%, while McAfee stock is only slightly down at 0.4%.

While free is great, there are a few reasons I wouldn't try this public beta when it is released.

• It's a beta. I'm already not a fan of betas, and particularly a beta of something that's supposed to protect my computer from malware.
• It's from Microsoft. OneCare Live wasn't exactly stellar in its protection of computers.

On the other hand, it will be free. When released, I might take a look at it. There are other free AV programs out there, however, such as AVG, Avast, Avira, Comodo, and on and on. Most of these have paid versions as well, which differ from the free versions in terms of how many times virus definitions are updated, and sometimes in terms of various real-time scanning features.

After Microsoft's announcement last year, John Pescatore, a Gartner analyst, wasn't betting that consumers users would use Morro even if it was free, due to the fact that you would be installing one MS product to fix the security issues in another MS product (the OS). And that also, he indicated, was on reason why OneCare wasn't doing so well, either.

"Consumers are hesitant to pay for a Microsoft security product that will remove problems in other Microsoft products. Think of it this way. What if you smelled a rotten egg odor in your water and the water company said, 'Sure, we can remove that, but it will cost you $50.' Would you buy it?"

Here's what Symantec and McAfee had to say:

Symantec Consumer division president Janice Chaffin said:

"Microsoft's free product is basically a stripped down version of the OneCare product Microsoft pulled from the shelves. A full Internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected."

Joris Evers, a spokesman for McAfee, said:

"On a level playing field, we are confident in our ability to compete with anyone who might enter the marketplace."