Microsoft Debuts Windows Live OneCare 90 day trail then US$50 for three computers per annum

Just trying it out and find it to use a lot less system resources than the one I removed Doing a virus scan now and still able to use computer no troubles Had to remove Zone Alarm and my Virus program (This program requires freeware Windows Defender)

Please expand on the "Had to ..." part of that sentence ....

"The job ain't done till ZA won't run..."

The program comes with a Firewall, Virus detector, Spyware detector, unnesscary programs removal, Windows enhancer (read the verbals for it on it's web page)
Unfortunatly program can only be installed online and with no firewall or virus program running so there is risk (I also use a hardware firewall)

Let's see - MS makes money on the buggy software they sell, then they have the nerve to actually try to sell you a fix for that buggy software. Sounds like a protection racket to me.

Hmm, not sure why the need for Anti-Virus and Firewall would be considered buggy. Then add into the fact that any 3rd party can replace working Microsoft DLLs with their own buggy versions (which is far more likely to be a cause for a problem than an original DLL). Sounds like just an opportunity to hate Microsoft with no real evidence to back it up other than you don't like them for being successful.

Personally, I use almost all Microsoft software. Only found a couple minor bugs, and those were corrected with a call to Microsoft. Pretty much impossible to write bug free software, as you never know what you're going up against when it gets out into the real-world... But then, this wasn't really about buggy software, it was about a chance to bash Microsoft for offering a new service...

2 of those facilities (unnecessary program removal, firewall) could, and should, be included as additions to Windows itself rather than requiring a separate online install - which has its risks as you note.

However regardless of the merits of OneCare, virus/spyware detectors are reactive measures and people are quite justified in wishing to see MS spending effort fixing the core of the problem (e.g. the outstanding security issues in Internet Explorer) rather than trying to turn them into an alternative source of profit (especially if OneCare benefits from "inside knowledge" on undisclosed vulnerabilities).

I doubt if Microsoft can just add it to their "suite" Doing so woould probably be considered anti competitive

I have only tried it tonight it is (so far) a good choice and at a very competive (½ price to say Nortons "System Works" and for 3 computers).Which I have just removed (2005 version) to try out what I see as Windows version. So far I find it superior in that while scanning (doing a full scan) I can still work my computer

At present it is offered for a free 90 day trail so one can do nothing or try the new all-in-one, always-on PC care service from Microsoft

It is this attitude that results in software that requires patches, updates - not new capabilities - from the moment of release through out its life. There is no excuse for software that over/under runs buffers, over runs loop counters etc. or other problems that have been documented in Microsoft software, as well as others.

For your information it is possible to write software/firmware that not only is bug free but that accounts for probable hardware failures in an expected way.

VMS is one such OS

There are many areas that are just plain buggy from design on down. My biggest gripe is executing data as code. Documents are data. HTML is data. Email is data. Don't execute it, or at least don't execute it by default.


You probably weren't around during the IBM monopoly. That's the same specious argument they used -- "If you use only our software and not our competitors, your system will run better." Maybe so, but it fosters monopolies, and that's just plain evil. Without competition in 3rd party software we'd be an MS monoculture. I think a lot of PHB's would like to see that, but it would be death for anyone with an ounce of creativity since monopolies stifle innovation.

In my own defense, I've been a UNIX developer since the early 70's and was a fan of MS from 1980 until 1987. After a business presentation in Redmond and a couple of other meetings with Herr Gates, I became less enthused. Then I started watching MS destroy a lot of good companies and screw up a lot of my friends futures in the process and I became less and less of a fan. I finally swore in 1999 that I would no longer support a monopoly and have been working in Linux ever since. The only saving grace is that I'm primarily a technology developer and not a dancing widgets developer, so I do most of the heavy lifting on Linux, then let someone else port to Windows if its needed there. My only restriction is that the technology stays portable and independent of the dancing widgets that Windows folks seem to need.

Heh! ... Recalling an event whereas the "mainframe" was undergoing an upgrade over in another building datacenter ... all IBM but ... new technology .. which meant that the data wasn't a straight across transfer .... all I remember was the huge team of support engineers running around, pulling their hair out .. got to talking to one of my "local" fiugs, got to the heart of the problem .... had them do a data transfer via that high-speed 2400 bps modem to one of the iNTEL based 386-10MHz machines I was running (Microsoft XENIX) . did a few awks, greps, tr's, etc .... and turned around and fed them their data back in the format they needed <g> They'd already blown two weeks trying, a couple of dumb enlisted Army guys did it in a couple of days (would have been faster, but ... 2400 bps <g>)

I was actually never a fan, but then I worked on "everything" ... IBM, SUN, DEC, DG, Rolm, Unisys, AT&T, Honeywell, Wang, a bunch of special purpose systems I'll never recall in a short time-frame, and of course, my own Apple II and TI-99/4A, the C-64s, Amigas, Ataris, Osbornes, Kaypros, etc that I got to play with because "I knew something about compuers" .... Anyway, where I was headed was that it was funny to watch the development of MS-DOS, seeming ike they kept "adding back in" the power that already existed under XENIX .....

Yeah, that old "let us license that for a while" game in particular .....

Just ran into that yesterday on a "build me a web-page" request ... my response was that "I don't allow that crap on my system .. I'm surely not going to try to foist it off on someone else ...."

do not remove Microsofts (Beta) AntiSpyware WINDOWS DEFENDER as it is needed for "Windows Live OneCare"

So far (presently) 90 day trail product can only be upgraded for USa residents. Billing is to be automatic annual re-billing and one must sign up to Microsoft Passport?