Might the ghost of Microsoft OneCare haunt us all?

As I blogged last night, Microsoft has announced that it is killing off its Windows Live OneCare security product, and will replace it with a freebie anti-virus product for home users.

In my earlier post I speculated about how this might cause some problems for security hippos Symantec and McAfee, as they will doubtless find consumers more than happy to use a free solution from Microsoft than pay £40 for a copy of McAfee VirusScan or Norton AntiVirus.

Yes, consumers have had the option of using free anti-virus software before (from the likes of AVG, Avira and Avast), but…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.