Windows One Care

S

Steffo

Hello.

I know I'm a bit off topic but I'd like to know if anyone has an opinion
about The Windows One Care: it's free at the Beta stage and I'm wondering if
it's better than the Free AVG Grisoft and how it compares to the Norton.

Thank you for sharing your ideas.

Steffo
 
L

Linuxgirl

That's probably just me. I'm not fond of automatic patches and after the
initial install it takes some time to get through all the setup screens but
for the average user it is probably (bites tongue) an excellent security
system for Windows users even though it will most likely spell the end for
many of the non MS security products (firewalls, antivirus, etc.) in use
now. :)
 
S

Steffo

Hello Linuxgirl.

I guess you are using it and I'm wondering if it's working fine.
You probably had another AV in the past and maybe more than one: how would
you compare the One Care to the ones you had?
 
L

Linuxgirl

I'm not one to ask that of. You should probably Google for the many forums
involved with One Care. I have it installed on one XP Pro test system and
have seen no problems or bugs yet. I never install a beta on a production or
client system. As I said, from what I see, it should be an excellent
protection product for the average PC user when the final is released and
will replace all the individual security applications most use now. There is
a public beta release now so if you have adequate backups on your
system.....try it. :)
 
A

Andre Da Costa

I am using Windows OneCare, and it feels limited and takes forever to scan
directories, I also cannot find the option to make exceptions to directories
it should scan. Its scanning 2GB ISOs I have on my hard disk and it just
takes forever regardless the ISOs are from a trusted source "Microsoft".
--
Andre
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm
 
J

John Hudson

I tried One Care,several times. Running XPpro sp2, broadband, 3 gig CPU, 1
gig ram.
Slowed access to the web to almost a crawl on some but not all sites.
MS people did work with me trying various solutions and finally gave up. I
uninstalled and went back to my old AV and cleanup tools. I would not have
been 100% happy with it anyway. Too much automatation where you are trusting
them to get it right. I feel better doing my own scans. At the time I tried
you had to backup to CD's I went to external HD's years ago.
 
B

Bill Sanderson

I have some reservations about One Care--I believe it could be better, but
what can I NOT say that about <G>

I don't hesitate to recommend it to others. In my experience, there are
viruses that it isn't catching--but that's true for AVG as well.

One feature I like very much is the unobtrusiveness of the antivirus
definition updates--and the program, in general. I understand LinuxGirl's
objections, but I really like the automatic updates, and the fact that all
you see is a baloon indicating that they are done.
 
B

Bill Sanderson

FWIW, there've been some revs since you tried it. External HD's now work,
although internal or network ones do not.... I haven't seen performance
issues, but I've seen them in the support newsgroups.
 
B

Bill Sanderson

Hmm - I just realized that I'm being a little more positive than I really
should have been.

One of my reservations about Windows OneCare is that it eliminates the "No
Exceptions" one button firewall shut down.

This is an important safety feature for laptops that connect to the Internet
via untrusted networks--be they hotels, public wireless hotspots, or
whatever.

I don't recommend installing Windows OneCare on such portable machines at
this point.

--
 
L

Linuxgirl

Andre said:
I am using Windows OneCare, and it feels limited and takes forever to
scan directories, I also cannot find the option to make exceptions to
directories it should scan. Its scanning 2GB ISOs I have on my hard
disk and it just takes forever regardless the ISOs are from a trusted
source "Microsoft".

I just finished uninstalling One Care from my test system. As it is right
now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. There are few "options" Andre. There
isn't even an option to exit and use it manually. There is no option to
*not* do system scans or do them manually and that scan is a resource hog. I
had another firewall installed (sygate) or I would not have known that it
was "calling home" and that call home doesn't state what kind of report it's
making. The fire wall is a pain because it blocks before it asks and then
you must click "permit next time" and then start over again.

Until MS figures out that many simply do not like an application that takes
control of your system, they will have difficulty selling this.
 
B

Bill Sanderson

You can do manual scans. I'm not sure whether you can not schedule them.

I'm shocked that you would want a firewall that lets the trojan get its
report out before notifying you about the attempt. Blocking before
notifying is the right way to do this, as far as I'm concerned. If you can
convince me that some other magical way of managing this would be equally
safe and less disruptive, I'd be open to persuasion, but this seems like the
safe way to do it to me.

--
 
L

Linuxgirl

Bill said:
You can do manual scans. I'm not sure whether you can not schedule
them.

You're correct Bill but you cannot stop automatic scans. The options are 1,
2, 3, or 4 weeks but no option for "never".
I'm shocked that you would want a firewall that lets the trojan get
its report out before notifying you about the attempt. Blocking
before notifying is the right way to do this, as far as I'm
concerned. If you can convince me that some other magical way of
managing this would be equally safe and less disruptive, I'd be open
to persuasion, but this seems like the safe way to do it to me.

I think you misunderstood. All firewalls that I'm familiar with will ask if
a certain application should be allowed to access the internet or the
network (at least the first time). One care does not.....it blocks it first
and asks if you wish to let it the "next time" you access it.

My biggest complaint is that I was unable to *exit* the program, take it out
of startup and simply use it manually. Also the MS reports which as I said,
I would not even have known about if I had not left Sygate active.

I'm not saying it's a bad application.....I'm saying it has a long way to go
before I would allow it into any production system. :)

LG
 
B

Bill Sanderson

I've definitely got issues with OneCare as well.

I don't find the firewall terribly attractive--I miss the "no exclusions"
switch.

I'd like to see a competent antivirus on every machine, and I had hoped that
OneCare might be a route in that direction--but that remains to be seen,
both in terms of the overall competence (I'm pretty hopeful there)--and the
pricing.

--
 

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