Customer Reviews

Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 1.5 Online PC Care Subscription - 12 Months [Old Version]

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I was an original Beta tester for Live One Care and ultimately became a subscriber so my experience is well over a year with this utility. The good is that it is mindless and has very few options, it configures itself, updates itself automatically and lets you know when a problem develops. The bad is that it is mindless and has very few options. The really bad is that on lower powered laptops, like my Sony SZ230P with Intel Centrino Duo T2400 1.83 GHz running XP Pro, it will progressively bog the system down to the point where the only way to use the computer is to power down the system and reboot. The start up then took in excess of 10 minutes until the hard drive stopped spinning. I did all the usual stuff like cleaning out caches, defragging the HD, running chkdisk, cleaning the registry, etc. to no avail. The final straw was having the OneCare application fail to start properly. Microsoft has great customer support but we were unable to solve the problem short of uninstalling the software and reloading same. This would stay stable for 3-4 weeks then I had to repeat the procedure all over again. After the last uninstall, I obtained a copy of McAfee Anti-virus and installed it. The system is much faster and more stable, resembling the great Sony SZ I had when it was new. If OneCare works for you then it is a great choice but if you notice your system slowing down and your HD grinding away for many minutes at a time, you may want to consider one of the other security suite programs.

My 90 days is nearly up, Live One has never found anything wrong with my system. Curious about perfection, I ran another spyware program and found 9 TAC5 spyware, hmmm! Live One does everything else it says it does, backups, de-frags etc - as for protection, I'm quite concerned. In 90 days this program has missed an average of 7 risks per day, I don't expect every program to catch everything, 1 would have given me some comfort!

Thumbs Down!

I have used Norton, McAfee, and Trend Micro security suites in the past. While I found Norton and McAfee to seriously slow my system down and take over all areas of my machine, Live OneCare uses very little memory and can be easily managed. I have experienced no problems whatsoever and have had no networking issues, either. I can highly recommend this for people looking for an unobtrusive, fully comprehensive security system.

I have probably tried the vast majority of Antivirus and Security suites out there: Zone Alarm, Norton, PC-Cillin, Pandasoft, McAfee and others. None of them have ever provided the complete package, which is why I keep looking. I have a few criteria which define my ideal suite: 1) Strong virus protection and a sturdy firewall; good antispyware is a plus, though I tend to use a number of other programs for that. 2) Low resource use. One reason I abandoned Norton was that the program had become a resource hog, gobbling up memory and processor cycles like nobody's business. 3) Simple, non-intrusive user interface. Zone Alarm has the best firewall in the business, but the program is so intrusive it is constantly interrupting. I want to be able to set my preferences, and forget about the software.

Enter Windows Live: OneCare. I was hoping, a bit ingenuously perhaps, that since it was designed by Microsoft for Windows, it would provide a new and more elegant approach to security. Unfortunately, I have been rather disappointed with the software, and will probably switch again in the near future.

The GOOD: Clean interface, very easy to use. Geared for novices, but with some advanced configurations available if you dig around. Integrates well with windows. Generally quite fast, auto-updates seamlessly. Makes performing a variety of maintenance tasks easy (defrag, clean space, etc).

The BAD: Weak performance. Google reviews, and you'll see that the antivirus and firewall both have scored quite low in comparison tests. The Tune-Up and Virus Scan options start up without warning while you work and there are too few scheduling options for them. The whole package doesn't feel as good at rooting out problems as other suites.

The UGLY: The majority of these functions should be STANDARD in any new operating system. The fact we have to pay extra to (effectively) defrag and clean our PC's is just sad.

The bottom line is that this product is a first attempt at integrating an MS security suite with Windows. It is elegantly designed, but comes up short where it matters. It is not customizable enough, and its scanning ability is seriously lagging.

Summary:
I wasted a lot of time trying to make this work, and I eventually went back to other products.

In theory, integrating virus checker, firewall, spyware, and data backup into a unified suite (like MS Office with Word, Excel, & PowerPoint) makes sense. However, this software package seems poorly made; it did not work very well for me.

Hardware, OS, & primary software used:
1. Dell Lattitude D620 Laptop with 2GB RAM, Windows XP, MS Office
2. Dell X1 Laptop (thin/lightweight) with 2GB RAM, Windows XP, MS Office
3. Dell Dimension Desktop with 4 GB RAM, Windows XP, children's games

Prior virus/spyware products:
Lattitude & X1: Norton
Dimension: freeware provided by our ISP

Theory: Since Microsoft makes the OS & office applications that get infected with viruses, their product should be better integrated with the OS. There will be synergy by integrating several related software applications.

Lesson:
Well, after a series of terrible experiences, I hope others will benefit from my wasted time:

1. Instead of loading most of the program from the CD & downloading small updates, this seems to load only a small part of the program and downloads huge files. This made me feel that the product was shipped unfinished. You had to do this separately for each machine since it hides the downloaded files then deletes them prior to finishing the installation. This took a better part of an afternoon.

2. I purchased a 3-pack license. Installing and activating the software on the 2nd & 3rd machines required a series of very annoying steps that involved logging into their website with broken links. It finally required a phone call. At least, the phone support experience was good.

3. The product promises to minimize performance impact, and improve overall performance. On the Lattitude & Dimension (powerful machines), there was no difference in performance, but we could notice a slightly slower performance with the X1. This was later verified when we uninstalled the MS Windows OneCare and replaced it with another product.

4. The product has difficulty updating. It opens a small message box that asks you to click to update OneCare, but that takes you to a webpage that only works about 1 in 4 times.

5. Except for the first time, data backup always has several errors that I have to manually fix. This has very rarely happened with other data backup software I've used.

6. Some applications, the firewall asks everytime for permission to connect to the Internet although the application is in the list to always allow this connection.

There are much better anti-virus programs than this. Stay away. After scanning my computer, the program found a virus but the "Quarantine Failed". That can happen with certain files, BUT incredibly the program will not tell you which file is infected! This is a known issue mentioned on Microsoft website.
Not only that, review sites state OneCare is not able to identify as many viruses as other programs. Finally, scanning your computer is much slower than competing programs if you have compressed files.
On the positive side, program comes with backup/tuneup features and license for 3 computers. But software acts like BETA.

Just a li'l background on this user: I'm a college grad in the field of computer engineering, the last 7 of 8 years working have been spent in the I.T. field, and I fix and build computers whenever I'm not "working". I'd personally consider my experience with computers in the upper nerd category, just shy of total geek.

I've used all the antivirus suites out there. Zone Alarm? Didn't like it. It was way too intrusive. The popups asking for permission that everyone whines about in Vista...were far more ridiculous in Zone Alarm. Norton? Liked it. Avid user for about 5 years, until i re-upped my sub by buying (yes..buying) a new version...and just 2-month into it, the key magically became "corrupt" and I couldn't use the program. I could either uninstall and purchase a new one, or call them and get a new activation key. Either way, I was out, at minimum, $70. McAfee? Okay. This one I hadn't used in home, only my last job. We built 300 computers for our stores, stretching across 3 states. Of those 300 computers, all had McAfee, and after just one week, 180 of them had viruses. So that's no good. Trend Micro PC Cillin? Probably my favorite out of this bunch. Downloads updates just fine, and updates to the software. You can purchase up to three years of the program (for instance, the 2006, 2007, and 2008) versions, you can have it on up to 3 PCs. What's not to love? Well...it's nearly impossible to configure on Xbox Live. And when you turn the firewall off to use Windows Firewall, you constantly get an error message saying you're not fully protected.

Okay, so now we get to why you're really reading this. My views on OneCare.
But first, one little thought to keep in mind here. I'm not one of those who uses Vista (tho I do), OneCare, plays on Xbox, but still talks about how greedy [M$] is.

Windows OneCare is a good little program. Looking at it, sitting there, open, on your desktop, you'd think this program was designed for your average computer user who has no clue what a "virus" or "spyware" is. Once you get a little further into it, it's actually a neat little program. It's VERY easy to configure, unlike a lot of the more popular (both in retail, and just with fellow nerds) software out there. Making backups is a snap. The virus/spyware scans are quick. The tuneups are efficient. One thing I like so far is how insanely easy it is to schedule all of these things. The fact that it works hand in hand with Windows firewall, which not so coincidentally, immediately recognizes and allows the ol' xbox 360..takes a lot of hassle out of the equation.

One other feature I really like is one of the simplest. The logo with the "1" in the quick launch toolbar by the system clock. If all is well, and you've done everything you can...it stays green. If you hadn't made a backup in a while, or some other thing's wrong, it'll turn yellow. Lord only knows what red is. Probably a virus. But it's really cool to be able to tell at a glance if you need to fix something.

I've only been using this program for about 48 hours, but as it is right now. I really, really like the program. It's not a resource hog. It's easy to install, tweak, and schedule. I have no real dislikes about the program. I guess the only one I really had...when I first installed Vista (home premium, 32-bit), OneCare didn't want to install as well, which seemed odd. Two days later, it installed just fine, and has been great ever since. After I get some more time with it, I'll follow up.

They kicked the geeks out of the room when this was finished and then rewrote the front end to talk to you in plain English. If something isn't working right on your system, you'll know why and what to do because you're told clearly.

Another nice feature is that it automatically cleans up unused temp files and defrags your machine. No other product does all this. It comes with a backup program to and occasionally reminds you to backup your files.

I'm converted about 20 people to using it over other products.

I had Norton 2006. Then I updraded my PC from XP to Vista Home Premium and was in the market to look at Vista-compatible antivirus (primarily, since Windows Firewall is now 2-way and good enough in Vista).

I actually bought Norton Internet Security 2007 but couldn't get to install it on Vista; so returned it.

I went online to the onecare.live.com site to download the trial version. it installed in a breeze without any issues. Ran a complete scan and felt it was actually a bit faster than Norton Internet Security 2006. It also had other goodies like auto-defragmentation, backup, tune up etc. Nice value. There are claims out there that other anti-malware programs may catch more viruses, worms, spyware, etc but I think for those who use common sense and fair caution on internet and email, OneCare is great (more than adequate).

I plan to now convert the trial version to fully licensed version. It integrates with Vista so well that it is not intrusive at all.

Now what I wish OneCare did better or differently:
- Backup program should have given more and easier options to select which folders/files I want to backup. They could have simply borrowed the backup interface (at least for advanced users) from Windows XP.

I have used one care 1.5 for over a year it protects my computer and does not seem to slow it down. Am currently testing the Beta 2.0 it adds some important features but is still light weight.