While Microsoft and Google have both expressed interest in building online resources for "cyberchondriacs," Microsoft has beat Google to the punch with the debut of an online offering that maintains personal health records, reports The New York Times.

HealthVault allows people to upload medical and health information so they can manage it and look up what they might be suffering from. Doctors will also be able to upload patient information for a more well-rounded profile.

Realizing the best way to encourage site use is to leverage worries about online privacy, most efforts have been devoted to keeping personal records safe. Profiles will be stored in an encrypted database, and searches will not be traceable back to the searcher.

Microsoft partnered with a number of health companies, hospitals and organizations to provide information to the site.