Saturdays at CPA Success are usually spent reviewing online tools that can help increase our productivity. Keep in mind that we do not endorse any of these services. We simply offer them up for your consideration. Do your own homework and find the service that best meets your needs.

Chris Jenkins from the Ohio Society of CPAs is back this week with yet another great tool. Chris?

Hey, have you heard about Microsoft Equipt?

No? Well, just from the name, you can guess what it is, right?

Nope, me neither.

As it turns out, Equipt is actually a fairly good offering. Equipt combines Microsoft Office 2007 Home, Windows Live OneCare and Windows Live Services into a single subscription-based product.

Priced at $69.99 for three PCs, Equipt offers base Office 2007 features, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Microsoft fills in any gaps by utilizing its Live Services offerings for mail, instant messaging, photo sharing and document collaboration. If that wasn’t enough, they also throw in Live OneCare Antivirus free (normally $49.99). Unlike its boxed counterpart Office 2007 Home and Student that don’t qualify for upgrade pricing, Equipt subscriptions include version upgrades.

There are some drawbacks, though. If you’re currently a Windows Live OneCare user, there is no way to upgrade to Equipt, and currently you can only purchase Equipt though Circuit City.

If you’re looking for a cost-effective solution that combines Office 2007 with Antivirus, Equipt is worth a look. You can find more information about Microsoft’s Equipt on its Web site.