McAfee starts beta testing of Falcon platform

McAfee starts beta testing of Falcon platform

Security application makers McAfee have finally started testing of their upcoming challenger to the Microsoft’s Live OneCare and Symantec’s Norton 360 products.

The company unveiled betas of two of the four consumer security subscription services it plans to launch this year. These beta products support only the Windows XP platform though McAfee aims to make it available for other Windows operating systems as well.

The beta of McAfee Falcon platform includes McAfee Total Protection and McAfee VirusScan Plus and is freely available for download on the company’s website.

McAfee Total Protection package comes with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-spam components, a firewall, wireless network security tools, identity protection features, and automated backup. VirusScan Plus however comes with just anti-virus and anti-spyware modules, and a firewall.

The company plans to launch the final version of this suite by the end of the year just in time for the launch of the Windows Vista operating system.