PC care packages side by side

A comparison of the features in Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare and in upcoming products from Symantec and McAfee.

 

Windows Live OneCare

Norton 360

McAfee PC Protection Plus*

Antivirus

Yes

Yes

Yes

Anti-spyware

Yes

Yes

Yes

Firewall

Yes

Yes

Yes

Backup

Yes, to CDs, DVDs and external hard drives

Yes, to CDs, DVDs, external hard drives and an online backup service. Has not provided details on networked drive support

Yes, to CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, and networked hard drives. McAfee plans to test an online backup service this summer

PC health and tune up

Yes, hard-drive defrag. Deletes unnecessary files and checks on security updates

Yes, but no feature details available yet

Yes, hard-drive defrag. Deletes unnecessary files

Antiphishing

No

Yes

No

Spam filtering

No

No

No

ID theft protection

No

Yes

No

Safe Web searching

No

No

Yes, McAfee has integrated SiteAdvisor

Automatic updates

Yes

Yes

Yes

Support

Offers e-mail, chat and phone support at no extra cost

Offers at least e-mail and online chat support

Not known

Availability

Now in the U.S., other markets in the coming 12 months

Worldwide by end of March 2007

Worldwide, sometime this summer

Pricing

$49.95 for up to three PCs per year

Not yet announced

Not yet announced

* McAfee PC Protection Plus is the version of McAfee's "Falcon"-based products that it says competes with OneCare. Two more comprehensive versions will be available, as well as one more basic version.

Source: CNET News.com research