TechMacro

Just after one year since the re-launch of OneCare, the commercial subscription edition of its anti-malware service for individual Windows users, Microsoft announced it will discontinue the service and replace it with a free alternative with code name “Morro”.

“Ultimately, we believe the decision to offer a security solution at no additional cost to consumers and phase out Windows Live OneCare is the right step to broaden PC protection and improve the Windows experience for more users around the world. Microsoft will continue to deliver on its commitment to provide consumers around the world with a world-class security solution.” said the development team on blog.

The new product will be designed for a smaller footprint which, therefore, will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs like netbooks.

Retail sales of Windows Live OneCare will end on June 30, 2009 and “Morro” will be available in the second half of 2009 and will feature standard anti-malware capabilities to detect viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans, according to Microsoft’s announcement.

Using the same engine that powered Windows Live OneCare, Morro will deliver the same core protection against malware as that offered through Microsoft’s enterprise solutions, but will not include many of the additional non-security features found in many consumer security suites. However, there is no mention of firewall-like capabilities integrated into Morro, so that will probably be a function left to Windows Firewall.

User can download it as stand-alone software and Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems are all supported.