Windows Live One Care

[Richard]

The day Vista came out there were no virus checkers for it. So Microsoft has
this Windows Live One Care which can be downloaded for a 90 day trial. It
take Vistas Firewall off line and puts it's own Firewall in. I don't know if
McAfee or Norton or something else does that? I'm trying to study Vistas
Firewall and I wanted to tweak it but can't because One Care took it over.
Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[Dale]

The day Vista came out there were no virus checkers for it. So Microsoft
has this Windows Live One Care which can be downloaded for a 90 day trial.
It take Vistas Firewall off line and puts it's own Firewall in. I don't
know if McAfee or Norton or something else does that? I'm trying to study
Vistas Firewall and I wanted to tweak it but can't because One Care took
it over. Does anyone know anything about this?

Yes. I know that most of it is wrong.

But you can download a 90 day trial of Windows Live OneCare, so your post is
not completely wrong.

There are a lot of anti-viruses for Vista and have been since long before it
came out. And, why do you want to tweak a firewall that's turned off? Why
not tweak the OneCare firewall instead? And why not get an external
firewall instead of one from Microsoft that allows Microsoft specific
network traffic without your approval?


Dale

 

[Richard]

The day Vista came out there were no virus checkers for it. So Microsoft

Yes. I know that most of it is wrong.

But you can download a 90 day trial of Windows Live OneCare, so your post
is not completely wrong.

There are a lot of anti-viruses for Vista and have been since long before
it came out. And, why do you want to tweak a firewall that's turned off?
Why not tweak the OneCare firewall instead? And why not get an external
firewall instead of one from Microsoft that allows Microsoft specific
network traffic without your approval?


Dale

I went into Fry's Electronics and ask if there were any virus checkers for
Vista and they said no. I ask 3 people from the store the same question and
then I spent an hour reading all the boxes and there was not any software
which would check for virus for Vista and then I started calling the
companies up and they all said the same thing. On the box they say a free
upgrade for Vista. That means in a month or two when they get it. So if you
knew of any software for checking viruses for Vista the day it came out I
sure wish I could of emailed you and got the info. I also don't care if
Microsoft sends me anything because I do like Microsoft and have faith in
their Firewall which I have read quit a bit about. So I just turned off the
Windows Live One Care and made Microsoft's firewall active. However my
question is: Using a built in firewall, I think I can get away with just a
virus checker instead of a Internet suit?

Thanks
Richard

 

[Dale]

Since you were able to get here to post your firewall question, it is too
bad you didn't think to post your anti-virus question here as well. Frye's
Electronics (or any other place like it) is not where I would go for advice
on PCs. When Frye's Electronics tells you there's no anti-virus available
for Vista, what they meant was there wasn't one on their shelves to sell
you.

In answer to your question, you can use the internal Windows Vista firewall
and an anti-virus checker but I wouldn't recommend it. The Windows Vista
firewall only prevents external attacks but it doesn't prevent software on
your PC from "phoning home" with your personal information. You'll never
know what software on your pc is communicating on the Internet. While not a
very good firewall, the OneCare firewall is much better than the Vista
firewall just because it, if you configure it to do so, will also report
outgoing requests from your PC to the Internet.

I think others here have successfully used Zone Alarm's firewall and report
that it is even better than OneCare (not much of an endorsement but maybe
they're Way,Way, Way better than OneCare - which would be a good
endorsement).


Dale