Microsoft OneCare 2.0 coming soon

Although OneCare 2.0 is still in its beta stage, Microsoft has announced the new version emphatically - this indicates that OneCare 2.0 should become available in the near future.

OneCare 2.0 is now said to be better suited for home and small corporate networks. The new OneCare Circle feature allows individual client PCs to be linked to a designated PC which acts as a server and will display the status of the OneCare versions installed on the clients. Any problems that are detected, for example a deactivated firewall or out-of-date virus signatures, can be solved from the server at the click of a mouse.

Another new feature is Start Time Optimizer, which monitors the programs executed during start-up and tracks how often these programs are subsequently used. After some time, programs which don't get used very often can be removed from the autostarts. Microsoft has also integrated an assistant to scan PCs for common performance issues and resolve any problems found.

Like other Internet security suites, OneCare is also to offer online storage for backups. However, backup storage in Windows Live folders costs extra once it exceeds the free 500 MByte limit. As before, an individual OneCare license allows users to install the software on three PCs. Prices will remain stable for the time being at around 50 US dollars for OneCare 2.0.

(mba)