McAfee Total Protection is also called Falcon, currently in beta and can be downloaded at http://beta.mcafee.com, is a new all-in-one and complete security platform and threat protection service. McAfee Total Protection features SystemGuards module, which monitors computers for specific behaviors that might signal virus, spyware, or hacker activity, X-Ray for Windows module which is designed to detect and eliminate rootkits, SiteAdvisor tool is designed to identify potentially dangerous Web sites that contain spyware or adware, Wi-Fi network monitor, a Windows clutter cleaner, and a backup tool for keeping important information safe. All modules work together to prevent ID theft, phishing scams and spyware, protect your kids against offensive content and declutter your PC.

Windows Live OneCare meanwhile is a comprehensive, all-in-one and always-on PC care service from Microsoft. Windows Live OneCare features Protection Plus which helps protect computer from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, hackers, and other threats, Performance Plus that defragments your hard disk, removes any unnecessary files and ake sure important security updates from Microsoft are installed efficiently and on time, plus Backup and Restore.

IT News reviews McAfee Total Protection beta and compares it with Windows Live OneCare service, and concludes that since McAfee’s products are still in beta – relatively early beta at that – a lot may change before they ship. Even at this point, though, it’s clear that Total Protection will offer significantly more maturity than Microsoft’s OneCare, which is a sparsely-featured Version 1.0 product at this point. It appears that the price you’ll pay for McAfee’s beefy feature set is complexity, unless the user interface gets serious fine-tuning during its beta test period.

Full Review (dead link)