Date:19/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061907000700.htm

National

Welcome to new PC protection suites

Anand Parthasarathy

Test versions launched

Bangalore: Protecting your personal computer from viruses, worms, hackers and spies may require you to select the services you need from a surfeit of options — and then pay for them with an annual subscription. The old method of installing an anti-virus software and a firewall — and hoping they do their job — may no longer be an option.

Within days of each other, Net security leaders McAfee and Symantec (better known by their brand — Norton) have placed for public trial, beta or test versions of new PC protection suites which may well end up as paid subscription service offerings by year end. Symantec has announced an upcoming consumer PC security service to be called "Norton 360", which will integrate many of its existing technologies to battle the Web's baddies.

The service will provide data protection through automatic online back up and transaction security. Customers are being encouraged to take part in the free public beta programme to `test-drive' the service by registering at the web site: http://www.symantec.com/norton360betaprereg .

This week, McAfee released its beta test versions of two consumer security products, the high-end Total Protection and the entry-level VirusScan Plus. Details available at http://beta.mcafee.com/betamcafee/default.aspx

Security features

The new versions are based on McAfee's recent "Falcon" software that integrates a number of security features into a single tool. The company has promised a PC Protection Plus package, which will also allow users to back up data on a CD or DVD. Industry watchers say the almost similar strategies of the two net security players may be a response to Microsoft's launch last month of its own entry in this niche: Windows Live OneCare, which in the U.S. provides anti-virus, anti-spyware and a firewall solution for up to three PCs on a home for under $50 a year.

The One Care beta can be downloaded from www.ideas.live.com. The paid service has not yet been offered in India. Does this instance of great minds thinking alike, have more to do with marketing economics than consumer demand? It is too early to say. It is true, lay users have been hassled by the complications of having to set up an anti-security product bought as a boxed software today.

They don't want to answer umpteen questions about settings and preferences — they just want their PC protected. The security players think this can be best served by charging an annual fee — and, of course, it does their long term bottom lines no harm.

The real irony is that one becomes a prey to viruses and hackers, in the first place, because tools such as Internet Explorer are constantly under attack. Now we may end up having to pay Microsoft additionally to get protection against the security loopholes in its own product!

If that sounds like a bad idea, one can always sign up with the third party protection services like the Nortons and the McAfees — but one pays in any case.