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Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta - A more detailed look

Time: 00:01 EST/05:01 GMT | News Source: LiveSide | Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum

With the launch of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta this week, we thought it was worth going through the program in some more detail to do it justice. It is more than a simple anti-virus program, providing both backup and home network support as well. Here's a quick review showing why you should give it a try.

The best part about OneCare 2.0 beta is by far the multi-pc support. If you have multiple users and machines in your household and think Windows Home Server could be overkill, OneCare 2.0 could be the program you are looking for. Alternatively if you are looking for an easy to use stand-alone security program, OneCare does that very well too.

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#1 By 8556 (71.98.29.32) at 7/17/2007 12:56:16 AM

I did not like v1 and v1.5 for multiple reasons. Still, I have controlled my fear long enough to download beta v2 with the hopes that it no longer sucks and dosn't screw up Vista. I have had great results with Avira AntiVir (free for personal use) and poor results with OneCare in both Windows XP and Vista. Hopefully, MS has made real progresss in One Care so we don't have to wait for v3 to get acceptable performance. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. After all, the features really are well laid out, even if sometimes flawed in execution, such as not blocking virus and spyware files as weill as AntiVir, SpySweeper, and a slew of other programs.

This post was edited by bobsireno on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 01:19.

#2 By 8556 (71.98.29.32) at 7/17/2007 1:16:54 AM

Another odd thing happened with OneCare 2 beta just now. Opera, my preferred browed won't connect, even though I allowed it to do so. If this keep up OneCare is history, again. Of course, IE7 got online without needing to ask for permission to do so. This kind of crap is what bothers me about MS software. Since Windows 3 clearly stated upon installation that MS DOS was needed for proper performace, a lie, MS has not let up with subtle undermining of other products. Sometimes, it's not very subtle. Can't MS just play nice with everyone and get over the world domination thing?

This post was edited by bobsireno on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 01:20.

#3 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 7/17/2007 10:40:18 AM

MS DOS was needed for proper performace

Huh?

I haven't tried any of the OneCare stuff yet. It sounded like from a usability standpoint, the first edition was great... but from an effectiveness standpoint, definitely sub-par. I'm not sure in those "anti-virus software tests" how much is relevant to real-world use (are they turning off all other protection methods just to see how the AV fares against a battery of click-even-though-it-says-VIRUS executables? Are they shutting off attachment blocking for certain file types in Outlook, disabling UAC, etc.), but I would think that their first priority should be to increase effectiveness in those tests.

#4 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at 7/17/2007 3:05:30 PM

"Can't MS just play nice with everyone and get over the world domination thing?"

Most 2-way firewalls can be tricky to setup. We have to be very careful about using all of the features of McAfee, otherwise you end up with a very safe PC that can't connect to anything.

#5 By 48398 (70.102.157.10) at 7/17/2007 5:58:04 PM

*cough* NOD32...

#6 By 1428 (64.237.163.236) at 7/17/2007 10:08:17 PM

I was a beta tester for both Windows Defender and Windows Live OneCare. I am subscribed to WLOC and my subscription is renewed annually automatically. I love my PC, WLOC, Defender and Microsoft. But I am not blind.

It has been close to a year now the when non-beta WLOC was offered to the public. Small operational changes had been made in versions 1.1, 1.5 and 1.6. A new beta version 2.0 is out, even with the unsolved problems in 1.6.

There are software operational and installation problems, primarily with the Windows Live ID! Just recently the Microsoft WLOC Development Group started helping Mr. Steve Boots, et al, with the trouble shooting. Just months ago he and his group were alone in the dark; it was a one man forum. Speaking of the WLOC forum: now you have free beta 2 and a non-beta 1.6 paid subscriptions, together in the same forum. The paid 1.6 was relegated to the end, instead of first, or better, alone.

Using WLOC gives us a sense of security. Having that green icon is the taskbar after boot up is great, you have all the “antis”: virus, phishing, and spyware. But that sense of security is part of what has been offered for a yearly subscription of $50. OneCare is also backup and restore, defragmentation, and performance tune-up. On these last 3 WLOC fails miserably, a big mistake by a corporation that its major revenue is Windows and Office software. Offering the most complete and technologically advanced integrated product should be the main strategy. With all the good intention with Windows WLOC, I will now criticize what I think is a wasted effort and a fail strategy.

WLOC is offering an all-in-one security and performance for your PC that includes 6 areas: Antivirus, Antispyware, Anti-phishing, Firewall, Performance tune-up, and Backup and Restore. The first 4 work very well under Defender, the last 2 are under the WLOC umbrella which integrates Defender, thus including all 6. Defender is by itself an excellent program.

WLOC has been, is, and will be working on the Performance tune-up and Backup and Restore area. This is the area where WLOC can excel the competition and place Windows back in the pinnacle that once had. But this difficult to do with their actual Backup and Restore and Defragmenter, very difficult when you have out there programs like Perfect Disk, Registry Mechanic, Acronis True Image 10 Backup, Crap Cleaner and Belarc Advisor among others, the last 2 are free.

The actual WLOC defragmenter and backup don’t stand a chance against these programs. It is common to have the defragmenter don’t complete the task. The backup is partial and shows only zip files, no way a complete full computer backup be done and the file accessed like in Windows. Things like this have been requested in the forums and I know the WLOC is working hard in the programming of these features. But why do they? Do you think General Motors will design and built for their cars the radio, antenna, paint, tires, glass shields … etc. No, their business is designing and building chassis and motors. They “connect” to the cars the best consumer rated components like radios, speakers and other options. The “connection” will be evaluated for performance, compatibility, ease of use, price, and size among others. Are you beginning to see what I am trying to explain about connecting some programs to the existing Defender and make the always updated and top of the line WLOC?

Efrain Morales

#7 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 7/18/2007 4:33:06 AM

Boy... where to begin....

I've been a BETA tester for WLOC and Windows Home Server for a long time. One of the things that started off well for WLOC was that for one reasonable price, one could secure protection for three PC's - now 2.0 adds management for these PCs from one location. Ok, fine, but the same group for which this would be attractive needs a better backup solution and better and easier to use home PC management as well. WLOC can be made to work across these needs, but not all that well and not nearly as well as Windows Home Server (WHS) for backup and basic systems and home network health management and monitoring can.

The WHS group/forums is looking to leverage the parts of the WLOC that work well, and merge their functions under the management and client tools available in WHS. If you think about it even a little, it makes great sense - since the target market is very likely to have some kind of externally attached storage already - and perhaps even a NAS of some kind.

So we take that group [some 40 million families], and assess options. WLOC doesn't do it all. WHS doesn't do it all [yet], and despite central management, we see Microsoft creating the same kinds of challenges for customers in the home and small network segment as we see in the enterprise - where central management exists, but it exists in island groups - a grouping for AV, another for backup, and others for access control, etc... only when one invests huge bucks, can they integrate all of these... perhaps SCE will change that.

Microsoft is off to some great starts and re-starts, but they need to get these groups talking to one another a lot more and start development processes that are, by design, better able to integrate with one another as they are developed - not after and not as separate, and in the case of WLOC and WHS, at least partially competing products. I'm sure it looks worse than it is, but that is also part of the problem - the communication is confusing in the market. Internally, I hope that they are already hooked up and working on how to ship products in this space that can connect "after" a person has purchased one or the other.

But here's the rub... say they do that and WLOC and WHS start to work well together where each does was "it" does best. Great for all, but does MS then fear that Symantec and others will come after them and demand API's and an architecture that allows Norton 360 to interface in the same way? They likely would, but that isn't the point, or the problem. MS ought to tell them to piss off. I really think that MS is holding back like this out of some fear - that their thinking has been shaped by such fears. They need to get away from that, continue to work with the DoJ where required and just focus on the solutions again. Focus on the customer and code for them - and stop coding for the lawyers and marketing people at Microsoft. They need to code for us again. "MS, look at your P&L - lawyers and accountants and marketing are all on the cost side - hook your "producers" back up with the people buying what they create - we can see them, but increasingly, we have to look around the ash and trash making a mess of all this."

#8 By 1428 (64.237.163.236) at 7/18/2007 9:12:36 AM

Hi Iketchum:

I finished my post on the WLOC topic. I added a few comments at the end and deleted all about Microsoft stock and the forum, it now read like this:

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1872556&SiteID=2

I have done the revision to avoid another 2 posts I made on WLOC installation and ID creation being lost to oblivion. They were sticky in the initial forum page, now they are at page 31, minutes away at being lost forever. I have requested twice they be moved to their original position, for the benefit of the users, because one of them have been accessed 7,984 times and the original post more than 29,000 times! The installation one can be used to tune up a PC, even if you don't install WLOC.

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1235832&SiteID=2
http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1215046&SiteID=2
http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1252&SiteID=2

In the first 2 the counter has been reset to zero, but not in the last site.

Efrain

#9 By 1428 (64.237.163.236) at 7/18/2007 9:16:31 AM

#10 By 8556 (12.207.97.148) at 7/18/2007 4:45:27 PM

#3: The reference was to a line that appeared, in the last millenium, when installing Windows 3 on a DOS machine. If MS-DOS was not installed then a message appeared that Windows will not work properly wihout MS-DOS, which was a lie. I was upset that Opera did not work right away after installing OneCare. By the way, Post 2 was posted late at night and does not read as lucidly as I would prefer.

OneCare needs to be fool proof AND include an effective anti-virus engine to be a useful program for the general PC user that wants everythign to "just work". OneCare is still better at looking good than being effective. Efrain's #6 is very clear in this matter and is well written.

#11 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 7/18/2007 8:59:13 PM

#9, Thanks, Efrain. These are very helpful posts.

Are you in the WHS BETA/RC?

I read your post in the forum and one of our guys used the uninstall util linked from there to solve a problem for a home user who had WLOC - so thanks for posting the detail - it was a big help.

I am working on a WHS now - love the RC and the auto [UPnP-x] set up of routers for remote access - pretty keen stuff.

#12 By 4240821 (213.139.195.162) at 10/27/2023 4:45:14 AM