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Currently in internal beta testing in the US, the software will be a paid-for subscription service under the moniker Windows OneCare.

OneCare will target Microsoft's massive consumer install-base, offering anti-virus, anti-spyware and two-way firewall components, as well as performance optimisation utilities and back up and restore tools.

It marks the first such comprehensive security product formed on the back of acquisitions such as Romanian antivirus GeCAD and anti-spyware outfit GIANT.

Windows currently includes a firewall as well as utilities for backup and restore functions. It has also made an antispyware beta based on GIANT technologies available for free, so it would appear that customers would be paying essentially for improved antivirus software and optimisation tools.

A spokesperson for the company couldn't say whether the OneCare would mean customers would be a complete solution and do away with the need for antivirus or security products from rival companies. Nor would she say whether Microsoft would cease to develop the firewall and backup/restore functions already in XP in order to drive custom to OneCare.

'Windows OneCare is the next major advance in our ongoing efforts to help keep consumers' Windows-based PCs "healthy" in a way that's simple and as worry-free as possible for them,' said Ryan Hamlin, general manager of the Technology Care and Safety Group at Microsoft. 'We're designing the service so it will continually update and evolve over time, helping to ensure that our customers will have the most complete and effective protection and safety services in place every time they turn on their PC.'

Microsoft has

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been toying with its anti-virus technologies for some time now. While it quickly rebranded and launched a spyware product shortly after its GIANT buy, and was similarly candid following the acquisition of Sybari - essentially a front end antivirus solution into which one can plug a number of supported av engines - Redmond has been keeping mum on its own antivirus plans, despite buying GeCAD nearly two years ago.

But with cries of 'antitrust' still hanging in the air, it comes as no surprise. With OneCare, Microsoft is taking the first step to directly challenge the antivirus vendors. These vendors were previously courted by Microsoft to share information through the Virus Information Alliance, but they may be a deal more cautious when it next gives them the come-hither look on the basis of sharing information for the common good.

Vendors feel somewhat betrayed by Microsoft's moves into this market. When Bill Gates first announced that there would be a consumer antivirus product at the RSA conference earlier this year, Trend Micro's President of European operations Raimund Genes, told us: 'Microsoft pitched Service Pack 2 as its security offering at an IDC conference in the middle of last year and promised that it would not compete with the antivirus industry. One week later in an interview with the Financial Times, Steve Ballmer said that he believed there was a business opportunity for security for Microsoft.'

While Trend Micro's core market is in the enterprise, companies such as Symantec and McAfee with large numbers of consumer customers have felt the heat from Microsoft's announcements. Symantec stock has fallen away 28 per cent and McAfee's share price has dropped some 13 per cent since the beginning of the year.

McAfee's Bill Kerrigan, executive vice president of consumer security, had this to say: 'Security is tough and McAfee is 100 per cent dedicated to security and customers of all sizes. Single users right up to the world's largest organisations look to McAfee as a proven and trusted provider. Rebuffing determined cyberintruders requires specialisation. McAfee aren't in the business of worrying about productivity applications or creating Xbox games. We're totally dedicated to worrying about security.'

Ouch.