| Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users) | 
 enlarge | From: Microsoft Software
Category: Software
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $12.00
You Save: $37.95 (76%)
New (76) Used (9) from $12.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  190 reviews
Sales Rank: 22
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.5
nv:Software Type: Utilities
MPN: C7S-00135
Model: C7S-00135
UPC: 882224494274
EAN: 0882224495134
ASIN: B000V6YPAY
Release Date: November 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great For The First 20 months November 23, 2008
In Feb 07, after reading horrible reviews of Norton and McAfee internet security software, I decided to go with the relatively untested Microsoft Onecare. I had no complaints until last week when Onecare failed to detect and remove a Trojan Downloader. I spent hours running scans (one in safe mode) and all I got was a message saying it could not be removed-- all this despite assurances from Onecare technical support that it would correct the problem. The Trojan disabled my firewall and after the two unsuccessful scans, I spent another 3 1/2 hours on the phone working to restore the firewall. I'll have to say that Onecare technical support was patient and tried to resolve the issue but the fact remains that Onecare let me down. I'm still having issues pulling up web pages. For those thinking about Onecare, you might want to choose another security software program as I read Microsoft will no longer sell Onecare after June 2009. That speaks volumes.
 Security check with just a click of the mouse November 23, 2008
Live One Care may be a bit difficult to install but it has many good security features and also PC Health. It seems to show up when applications access the net and registers all. It also does not slow down the computer as others do.
 Computer security and backups are now a background task. November 23, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
First encountered Microsoft's Windows OneCare in 2005 as a Beta project that I participated in. Wouldn't have gotten involved except that I had found Symantec's Norton AntiVirus to have become a real resource hog, and the products from McAfee weren't any better, despite their claims. I had been a loyal user of Norton AntiVirus since those days that Peter Norton was still running his innovative company, one that pioneered anti-virus applications as we know them... but that was then, and this was now.
I dropped the Norton products after a series of problems that were well-documented in the 'computer geek' community, and began to install Grisoft's AVG Free anti-virus on some of my systems. About a year later Microsoft released it's Beta test of Windows OneCare, and that seemed to be a product with few bugs and a lot of promise. When the Beta test was over, however, I standardized my computers with AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, and that continued until late last spring when I saw an associate's installation of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 and listened to his reasons as to why why he had switched from Symantec's products.
Initially I downloaded the trial version from Microsoft to test it out, but within two weeks had become convinced that this was not only a competitively priced product (other products have only recently caught up), but it's resource footprint was small. It didn't seem to interfere with normal operations or offer obnoxious reminders of how my computer was being protected.
Windows Live OneCare runs quietly in the background, doing its job well and quite unobtrusively. It's licensed to be used with up to three users, and right now is protecting my aging HP Pavilion a210n Desktop PC, my son's laptop computer and my notebook. It does a good job of protecting our PCs from outside security hazard while keeping things on the inside running smoothly, performing disk cleaning and file defragmentation in the background. Our files are backed up to a connected Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 250 GB External Hard Drive, and once set up properly has required no intervention whatsoever. All of its updates run quietly via Microsoft Update, and this has kept my systems up-to-date with the important security updates.
Pros:
* Very reasonable cost for what it does.
* Runs quietly and effectively in the background.
* Excellent monthly reports on activity.
* Has an excellent two-way firewall.
* Automated backups to external hard drive or USB storage devices
Cons:
* OneCare interface is different, may seem somewhat awkward.
* Other anti-virus and firewall programs need to be removed.
This product isn't perfect; no security application that I've encountered to date is. The occasional reboots for updates are irritating, but all applications of this type have them to work properly. The Windows Live OneCare interface is different, and may seem somewhat awkward until you get used to it, but it does function properly. Had laughed last spring when I read that OneCare had mistaken Skype (the Internet telephone application) for a piece of malware, but have see similar false reading from almost all of the anti-virus and security applications on the market over time.
The above remarks may sound picky, but they're really not; they're just a personal reflection of what I've found while I've used this product. But all things considered, and especially since it's so well-behaved as it runs quietly in the background, doing its job quite unobtrusively, Windows Live OneCare is a real 5-star application from my perspective.
It's a Great Product! November 22, 2008
I have Comcast so I get McAfee for free. Well, I ended up with a virus that practically shut my computer down. After Microsoft helped me get rid of the virus they recommended Live OneCare. They offer a 45 day trial and I really liked it. Compared to Norton and McAfee, Windows has them beat by far and better yet Amazon's price is just about 45% off the regular price. I truely recommend this antivirus. It's programmed to tune up your computer once a month and automatically backs up your files. It's easy to use. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 Don't waste your time installing on an older computer November 15, 2008
I thought this would be worth a try since it came included with Qwest DSL service, and reviews here seemed generally positive. It did not work well on my 7-year old system, though. After a couple weeks struggling with it, I finally was able to uninstall it.
First of all, this requires a lot of RAM. My system was doing OK, but getting a bit low on RAM at 384 MB until I installed this. With Windows Live OneCare installed it wanted around 500 MB just to boot up--even while not running anything. So it was using Virtual Memory and paging like crazy, with the CPU pegged at 100%, even after I let it sit for hours, thinking it just needed to run an initial scan. Well, RAM is cheap and it was time, so I went ahead and upgraded to 1 GB (as much as my old motherboard can handle.) That was a lot better. Then the other annoyances began.
I run normally under a limited account, and WLOC was constantly bugging me to allow various processes to access the Internet, etc. To do so I'd have to log out and log in under an adminstrative account. The worst thing was just plugging in a USB flash drive would require an administrative installation--EVERY TIME. That got old in a hurry.
The last straw was it started interfering with proper shutdown of the system. Instead of shutting down, it would just hang. Then after all my other computers had automatically installed this week's critical MS Update, and this one still hadn't, I tried manually installing it by going to [...]. It just hung IE, and wouldn't even open the page. So I decided to uninstall it. Guess what? Control Panel Add/Remove Programs wouldn't come up. Windows Restore wouldn't work because it wouldn't shut down properly. Luckily I found OneCareCleanup.exe via Qwest's help center, and that did the trick. Now all seems well, and I've reinstalled the security software I previously was using.
Bottom line, I wasted a lot of time on this. Microsoft ought to do better. This is bloatware at its worst, as far as I can tell. Maybe it's better on a new machine, but I definitely do not recommend it on an older system.
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