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AOL Will Soon Offer Security Bundle
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-06-07
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A software package called Total Care will bundle antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall utilities in a package AOL plans to market to the general public.
 | | AOL to Offer Security to the Public |  |
The new security suite reported by CNet places AOL in competition with Microsoft, which recently opened up its Windows Live OneCare product for security and maintenance to the public.
The market for security bundles and services has become a crowded one. McAfee announced its Falcon service for managed PC security will debut soon, and Symantec also has a similar service in development.
McAfee and CA already partner with AOL for services delivered to AOL's subscriber base through the Safety and Security Center. AOL's Total Care will likewise bring in products from third parties, though the article noted AOL's partners were currently unknown.
AOL's beta test of Active Security Monitor demonstrates some progress the company has made in developing products for the PC security market. The Monitor evaluates a system's security components and other factors to determine an overall Safety Score.
On a test machine, the Monitor rated the PC with a Safety Score of 96. It complained that the system did not have file backup or PC optimization software on it, and suggested installing programs for those functions. It also recommended AOL's Xdrive storage service for backups.
The product did declare the test system's virus definitions out of date, even though the latest available signatures for Grisoft's AVG were on the PC.
AOL's status as an ISP may make it a threat to Symantec, which leads the consumer security market. A Gartner analyst cited in the report sees this as a potential problem for Symantec:
"We expect the big brand ISPs and search companies to launch their own security offerings," said Arabella Hallawell, a Gartner analyst.
"Symantec will suffer from not wanting to embrace the ISP channel," Hallawell said. That's in addition to losing market share to security newcomer Microsoft.
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Tags: AOL, Total Care
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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