There is also the question of how OneCare will work with Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, due to be released later this year. The company is touting Vista's ability to track spyware in real time, and to perform other system health precautions, such as an advanced hard-drive backup. Microsoft's Hall wouldn't go into the details of how OneCare Live, which is currently designed for Windows XP and earlier operating systems, would evolve to accommodate Vista; but he noted that the company will not integrate OneCare Live into the new operating system.

Instead, Microsoft sees OneCare Live as a sort of standalone minder. Actions that can keep one's computer healthy -- regularly updated patches, virus software, backing up files -– already exist, Hall notes. "We see our value in pulling all those together. It's chaperoning features that are already available."

One of the leaders in the home computer security industry, Symantec, recently announced a new product, called Genesis, due this fall. Tom Powledge, director of product management at Symantec, notes that the beta version of OneCare Live does not defend against spyware in real time -- something that Genesis will do. (Spyware records personal information such a passwords and social security numbers to facilitate fraud.) "We're starting to see more targeted attacks against consumers, with the motivation of financial gain," he says, unlike a few years ago when the major threats were e-mail viruses that deleted files. "OneCare Live is still focused on the mass-mailing 'worm' of a few years ago."

Even so, OneCare Live fills a void in many homes: basic computer maintenance. So it might be a quick fix to the problems that arise from imprudent Internet use, suggests Murray of nCircle. "About 80 percent of the problem is...a user education problem," he says. People are still opening sketchy e-mail attachments and downloading music from suspect MP3 sites. With OneCare Live, Murray says, "you don't have to think about the problem."