Microsoft Opens Security Service Beta To All

Microsoft has opened the beta program of its OneCare anti-virus service to all comers after keeping the list short since testing began in June.

OneCare, a consumer-oriented service that includes anti-virus and anti-spyware defenses, two-way firewall protection, disk clean up and defragmentation tools, and file repair capabilities, was first announced in May. Like most end-user security systems, OneCare provides automatic updates to account for new threats and exploits. Microsoft has not established a price for OneCare, nor committed to a definitive release date.

Anyone can now join the beta by logging into the Microsoft betaplace site with a Passport account and entering "OneCare" (case sensitive, without the quotation marks) as a guest ID.

Only U.S. residents can participate, Microsoft said.