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From:Microsoft Software
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#48 |
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 Works, does not slow down system, 2008-04-07
What I like most about this product is that it does not slow down your system like Norton or McAfee. And it does what it should, protecting you from virusses, spyware and such.
Perfect Protection Software for Vista, 2008-04-05
I recieved this product very quickly from amazon and was free after rebate. Even if you don't get this offer, amazon still sells this product for $20 less than any retail store! I got this software on my computer with brand new vista and it has since than cleaned and protected my computer with no effort on my part. There are no annoying popups other than the one time, can this program access the internet, popup. Virus scans, updates, and backups are all taken care of in the background. The interface is very user friendly and the help support is outstanding, chat, telephone, and mail, all very responsive. Very pleased with this software and have recommended to all my friends and family and they all love it! It even has a "my network" where one person can know the status of everyone in their network so that the situation gets taken care of. By far the best product for Vista!
Great security suite for the money, 2008-04-05
As an independent pc tech, I try a lot of programs, and I'm always looking for the perfect all-in-one security suite, both for myself and my clients. No need to mention the ones that don't stack up; I get tired of people bashing programs because it didn't look right, or crashed their Pentium II. Not that I'm a Microsoft lover, nor am I purely an underdog supporter. But I'm learning to appreciate what gives me the most bang for my buck. And I also don't pay much attention to the independent pc test magazines, because they seem to give anyone a thumbs-up, and I wouldn't give the same programs a second look.
All said, I've been using Windows Live One-Care since it first came out, and it does a good job of keeping systems secure, integrates and updates with Windows seamlessly and quietly (what else would you expect?), uses very little system resources, doesn't keep popping up demanding my attention, does a lot of scheduled, necessary maintenance jobs that I would do, and can often be free after rebates, for 3 computers.
C'mon, find something that does a decent job, without slowing my computer down, for less than $17 a year, and I'll sing its praises for at least a year!
Cons: it doesn't get rid of all the unnecessary, temporary Windows and Internet files (but I seldom find anyone or anything that goes as deep as I do to eliminate them), it won't automatically back up to an internal DVD, and its new "OneCare circle" is not all that efficient of maintaining remote pc's (sorry Mom, I'll be over when I can). All this would make it perfect, and I'd pay the $50 retail all day long, if it did all this, too.
3 of 5 customers found the following review helpful:
 Gets a second star for ease of network setup; otherwise, this program is a bust, 2008-03-31
EDIT 4/7/08: In December 2007, OneCare version 2.0.2392.4 (not the current version, granted, which is 2.0.2500.22) failed ICSA (icsa labs dot com) testing for Desktop/Server Monthly Cleaning, though it did pass the Desktop/Server Monthly Detection test. Even with a newer version available, this really takes the program back to one star for me. No version of an anti-virus software package should be failing these basic tests. Pathetic, really.
There seems to be one good thing, and only one good thing, about using Windows Live OneCare as opposed to other solutions, such as McAfee, Norton, and others: It makes home networking for Vista extremely simple. When OneCare was installed on both PCs in my house, they immediately saw each other and without prompting set up print sharing. That was pretty impressive.
Then OneCare started to remind me, constantly, that I needed a backup plan. One of its functionalities is performing automated backups. My roommate's PC can backup important information on an external hard drive attached to my PC. That's pretty cool, right? So I ordered a Western Digital Passport. When I set up the WD Passport, and tried to start my "backup plan", OneCare wanted to initialize the Passport with NTFS. That was a problem, because the Passport can't be reformatted for FAT, FAT32 or NTFS, but I didn't learn that until much later. I searched through all of OneCare's help files, trying to find anything on what to do if the drive can't be reformatted, and there was nothing but information on how to reformat. After trying to reformat the drive a dozen different ways, I went to Western Digital's website, where a few searches finally gave me the information I needed: the Passport uses its own proprietary file system, and can't be reformatted.
I went back to OneCare's help screens, and looked again for supported backup devices. Just as I had seen prior to buying the Passport, OneCare listed an "external hard drive" as a compatible device, but said nothing about the requirement of reformatting to NTFS. I looked again, trying every search I could think of, but could find absolutely nothing about OneCare needing the external hard drive formatted to NTFS. All I could find was that Microsoft "recommended" (that was the exact word they used) that the file system be NTFS because it is a more secure system.
With that, I contacted OneCare support, where I was told that OneCare *required*, not "recommended", NTFS on the external hard drive. I asked the OneCare tech to show me where, in the help screens or anywhere in Microsoft's Knowledge Base, it says that OneCare requires NTFS to function. He could not.
Obviously, I returned that drive.
There are a few other things that OneCare doesn't do. It has zero spam protection, and doesn't scan incoming e-mails or attachments. Given that Microsoft knows Outlook inside and out, I found that latter omission to be extremely odd. Thirty five minutes later, after an excruciatingly slow chat session with a OneCare tech support, I was told that I would need to use Norton, McAfee, or something else provided by my ISP if I wanted spam and e-mail protection. But wait - OneCare requires that you delete any and all antivirus programs! Norton and OneCare can't co-exist; neither can OneCare and McAfee.
I asked OneCare tech support what, then, was the benefit of using OneCare as opposed to these other programs that did more, and for the same or similar price (or, for me, as a Comcast customer, McAfee is free). His answer was, and this is a direct quote, "OneCare is an antispyware, and an anti virus at the same it helps you protect your computer".
Huh?
When you put that all of that together, with the fact that OneCare is a bundle of System Tools bundled into Vista for free, using OneCare makes no sense whatsoever. So, I asked for info on how to obtain a refund. The link he provided me with didn't work, so he gave me a phone number. I haven't called them yet, but I will, and wonder how easy this will be. In both of my conversations with OneCare tech support, I didn't get the feeling that they really understood their product. Perhaps I *can* use McAfee for e-mail scanning, virus scanning, etc., and just use OneCare to manage my network, or "OneCare circle", as they call it.
This program is a bust. Don't waste your money.
 Managed services for the home, 2008-03-29
Windows Live OneCare 2.0 introduces the managed services concept to home PC users. The software optimizes your PC with three closely related sets of programs:
1. 'Protection Plus' includes virus and spyware monitoring, anti-phishing filters and firewall to help keep the bad stuff away from you.
2. 'Performance Plus' optimizes your hard drive and repairs it in case something unwanted manages to get through or whenever you want to fine-tune your system; the set of utilities includes disk defragmentation, unnecessary file cleanup, scandisk for spyware/malware/viruses etc., and a check for security updates from Microsoft.
3. 'Backup and Restore' helps you configure your home network of up to 3 PCs and backup to either CD/DVD or an external device located on your network.
The software is intended to be used with the Live OneCare service where the latest software such as anti-virus definitions are downloaded. Activating the service was easy, and running all three of the services takes only a few minutes. Since the initial install, I have found the minimal time spent maintaining the service to be worthwhile; for example, I set the protection and performance functions to run at night when the computer is not in use.
While one might argue that is is possible to do some of the things that Windows Live OneCare does manually, the point is that you benefit from the software's automation of routine tasks which allows you to spend more time doing the things that you want to do. Additionally, it simply makes sense to be as proactive as possible and there is no better way to do that than to subscribe to a service that is continuously refreshed with the latest patches and security updates. By putting all these services together in a convenient package, Windows Live OneCare saves time and gives you the peace of mind knowing that your computing investment is protected.
I highly recommend this product to everyone.
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