According to developers familiar with the project, Microsoft has started informing partners of its "A1" security subscription service. While it's been known that the company was developing some sort of anti-spyware and anti-virus products, Microsoft would not say how the projects were coming along.

Information that has begun appearing on blogs and pro-Windows sites, says an anti-spyware beta will appear as early as in a week's time.

Microsoft said its anti-spyware software is planned to be released, in some manner, as a free product. It is expected that the "A1" bundle will be sold on a subscription basis, a common billing method employed by leading security vendors. By doing so, users can be kept up-to-date on the latest security threats.

Microsoft purchased anti-virus company GeCAD in 2003. Last month, it bought anti-spyware maker Giant Company Software. How these technologies will be incorporated by Microsoft is not known.

Microsoft may repackage some of these technologies. It's expected, in light of Microsoft's security health-validation technology, which it openly discussed last year, that future version of Windows will be equipped with "A1."