Microsoft’s free consumer malware protection service, codenamed ‘Morro’, looks set for release at the end of the month, as the current subscription service, Live OneCare, ends its run on 30 June 2009.
On this date, Microsoft will no longer be offering Live OneCare for sale, and already announced back in November 2008 that Morro would be going live as soon as the subscription model offering ended.
Morro is designed to be a standalone anti-malware application that will offer protection against viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.
It will work on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems only.
Morro is free to all, Microsoft said, because it is essentially no-frills and will “not include many of the additional non-security features found in many consumer security suites”.
“Because uptake of standard anti-malware is low around the world, particularly in developing nations, the availability of basic protection for anyone who wants it is all the more important,” said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.
“By offering such basic protection at no charge to the consumer, Microsoft is promoting a safer environment for PCs, service providers and e-commerce itself, since it is through unprotected PCs that the worst threats are introduced to the system as a whole.”
By Marie Boran
