Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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176 of 187 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A few minor flaws, but I think Microsoft is finally on the right track, June 1, 2006
Let me begin by saying that I despise Microsoft as much as those who have probably never used this program but are giving it a one-star anyway. Yet, thanks to my college's good ol' "PC" requirement, I own a Dell laptop and finding the perfect security suite has been a problem for me...until now.
My Dell came installed with McAfee Internet Security Suite with free definition updates and software upgrades for 3 years. However, I was very very upset with McAfee, as it is a memory hog and loves to annoy the heck out of me with pop-ups telling me to install the anti-spam program, regardless that I use gmail. So I ditched it for a free copy of Norton, provided by my school. Norton's anti-virus is a very superior program, I've had no problems with it. But it's firewall became somewhat of an annoyance, as it would repeatedly pop-up for a program multiple times within a minute. I decided to look for something better.
Enter Windows Live OneCare. I heard about the beta and since it was free at the time, I decided to give it a shot. Downloading was seamless, but installation wasn't. When I went to install, the program required me to uninstall Norton manually, and then rerun the installation program. It is indeed dangerous to run two antivirus/firewall programs at the same time, but one would think Microsoft's installation program could have uninstalled those programs manually. Either that or have given a heads up warning. Also, the program made me go to Microsoft's website and manually install Windows Defender before it could continue. Do note that at this step, you are required to submit to a validation process that confirms that your copy of XP isn't pirated, so any hackers out there beware. So I had to go back and do as it requested, and then gave installation a second go-around. No problems there, it ran smoothly this time.
After installing, I activated my "beta" subscription with a valid Microsoft Live ID (If you have a Passport, Hotmail or MSN id, then this is the same thing). The first thing that caught my eye was the icon in the taskbar. It is like an egg with a "1" inside it. The egg can display one of 3 colors at any given time (Green, Yellow, or Red). If it's green, then things are great. Yellow means that either you need to do a scan or update the definition files. Red means danger, although I never encountered it during my trial. The screen consists of a list of tasks that are recommend for you to perform (Perform Scan, update, etc.) Below are details of when you performed your last virus scan, tuned-up your computer, and backed-up your data using OneCare.
Besides the standard antivirus and firewall, OneCare boasts some amazing features, one of which is where you can cleanup unnecessary files and defragment your hard drive with a few clicks. This is very important for the well-being of your computer, and as a person who forgets to do such things I found the scheduler feature to be nifty indeed. OneCare completed a tune-up of my PC within 3 hours, although do note that I have a 200GB hard drive with LOTS of files. The antivirus scan revealed no trouble-spots within my computer, although that could be since I ran a Norton scan that very morning before uninstalling it. The firewall in OneCare is a two-way firewall, a much significant upgrade of the standard XP firewall. Upon opening web browsers and other applications, the firewall did bring up small pop-ups in the corner saying that the particular program wanted to access the internet and if it was ok. It gives buttons for yes or no. I believe this is similar to ZoneAlarm, which I used many years ago and I found it neither obtrusive or annoying. I never used the backup feature, as I prefer to do backups in native-file format (meaning I don't want all the backed-up files jammed into one particular file that can only be opened by the back-up program).
I think the biggest positive about this program is that it works almost seamlessly within Windows XP. There was definitely NO noticeable slow down in my system, especially at boot-up, compared to Norton or McAfee. The program starts up simply with the icon in the taskbar. Only if you double-click on the icon will a splash screen appear followed by the actual program window. The tasks performed all took as long as I expected them to.
PROS:
-Clean and simple interface.
-Tune-up and back-up features
-Excellent integration into Windows XP
-Tasks performed in timely manner
-Not a memory hog
-Firewall pop-ups not annoying, and usually do not repeat for common programs.
-3 licenses included (unlike the other programs)
CONS:
-Should have given prior warning about having to uninstall other security suites, as well as having to install Windows Defender.
-While OneCare in particular does not require "Genuine" Windows XP, Windows Defender does and you have to go through Microsoft's Genuine Validation process.
-$49.95 for one-year subscription is still a rip-off in my mind. (but then again, for 3 licenses still cheaper than other programs)
Overall, it works as advertised. Just because the program has the Microsoft logo slapped on it shouldn't mean that it will not function properly or mislead us, I hope. However, if you are still hesitant, I believe Norton and McAfee will be bringing out some of the same tune-up features within their own offerings by the end of the year, so be on the lookout for those. I would recommend this program. I am taking away one star because of the installation issue.
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66 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great All-In-One, Easy To Use Security Product, June 8, 2006
I've been using Windows Live OneCare since late 2005 (I was one of the beta testers) and I have nothing but good things to say about WLOC.
It does not slow down my system (like most of Symantec's products), and does not require ANY user-intervention unless there is an issue which needs to be resolved.
WLOC's "Status Light" is one of the most ingenious ideas in a long time, Green means that your computer is protected, and you are good to go, yellow means there is an issue which needs your attention, and red means you need to take action on a specific issue.
WLOC's dashboard gives you all the information you need in one screen - letting you know if all the services are active, informing you of any major virus outbreaks, the last time your computer was "Tuned-Up", virus definitions were updated, etc.
Alot of people might be concerned about using a Security Product from Microsoft after all their security issues with Windows, Office and Internet Explorer, but you have to realize that Windows Live OneCare is built on technology that Microsoft bought from three or four security companies over the past few years, so it contains technology that Microsoft did not have when Windows/Office/IE were originally developed.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Installation = Bad, June 16, 2006
Installation is not as simple as you think. First, you need to have an active HIGH SPEED internet connection. Second, you need to have a Hotmail account. Just with these two requirements, you will see that this product is impossible to install in an office with lots of workstations.
After reading the reviews here, I thought it would be easy to install the software. I'd think just put the CD in and forget it. However, It turned out that it took hours to install because the CD opened Internet Exploder and everything needed to be downloaded from the One Care website. This reminded me something called the Steam from Half Life 2 that took me 6 hours to install the game in my house with a DSL.
It took my computer in my office (with a high speed T1) half an hour to install the first part of the package. Yes, the first part. It turned out that the Anti Spyware were not part of the package. You needed to connect to the Windows Defender website to download the beta as a seperated installation.
After everything was installed, It was a smooth sailing. There was very little ignoring popup. Even 1care popped up some windows, it could just close the windows and everything would be running in the background. For example, if you started Performance Tune Up, it would display a window showing you the progress. You could just close that window and 1care would continue running Tune Up in the background. You could continue to work with your computer while it was running Tune Up in the background. If you tried this with Norton or eTrust or PC-cillin, you knew that they would take over your computer with a big window popped right in your face that they would not let you minimize or close. If you closed that window, they would stop scanning.
To be fair, I have no way to tell how good or bad the antivirus or the windows defender work against any virus/spyware. But... at least the computer is running faster after I removed Norton.
But for 10 bucks I got from CompUSA, One Care is a bargain that comes with Antivirus, Windows Defender, better firewall, auto tune up, and backup utility for a total of 3 computers.
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