How is Windows Live OneCare?

[alphaomegainfinity]

Last night I installed the latest version(90 days free) of Windows Live OneCare on my Vista Ultimate 64 bit PC. The interface is sleek I must admit. How does this compare with other free alternatives like AVG or Avast? What are the detection rates?

[maxsquared]

Never used Onecare but for 64 bit I found Avast is the best, most people prefer AVG but I personally found it annoying, as it stamps a signature in outlook emails.

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Why would you want to pay to protect your computer? Just get AntiVir + Comodo Firewall + Windows Defender.

[dmd3x]

Why would you want to pay to protect your computer? Just get AntiVir + Comodo Firewall + Windows Defender.

If I were to pay, I'd get NOD32 or Avira Premium. but AntiVir (the free version of Avira) is really good... and Comodo Firewall and Windows Defender do a decent job.

Definitely Check this out: http://www.av-comparatives.org/

[tsupersonic]

bottom line, it's not as good as other pay solutions.

[alphaomegainfinity]

I haven't yet paid for it. 90 days is a long enough time to start zeroing on a stable free antivirus solution. Hopefully Avast or AVG can suffice. But not much good words from AVG 8 either. So kinda confused as of now.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

You would have to be a bit of a one care to pay for it TBH, if you want totally free do as dmd3x advises, for pay for software ESS (Eset Security Suite) is recommended.

[dmd3x]

I haven't yet paid for it. 90 days is a long enough time to start zeroing on a stable free antivirus solution. Hopefully Avast or AVG can suffice. But not much good words from AVG 8 either. So kinda confused as of now.

AVG also scored really well on av-comparatives (score of Advanced +) as well as Avira. It seems Avira is more popular around here though.

[New_Age]

to protect a PC use the following

-SUPERAnti-Spyware

-S&D (Optional)

-AVG 8.0

Found at Filehipp.com

[Mr. Gibs]

Onecare is good, I've used it ever since its first release [and im a beta tester as well but thats besides the point]. Plus its tuneup features and stuff make it a good all-round pc protection thing

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Best free antivirus software: Avira AntiVir.

[spenser.d]

Onecare is good, I've used it ever since its first release [and im a beta tester as well but thats besides the point]. Plus its tuneup features and stuff make it a good all-round pc protection thing

+1

It's a pretty decent piece of software and has kept my computer safe since it was in beta.

-Spenser

[KrAzY FrOg]

I agree with Razorfold. I have been using One Care since beta and love it. it has prevented me from getting many trojans and viruses. plus the added centralized backup feature and beefed up firewall... it has it all. The bigest feature I find most useful, is the one care circle. you can install one care on multiple computers (all of the PCs in my house plus my parents and sister's) and can monitor them from my PC. if there is an issue (missing update, backup not running, virus detected, etc...) i know about it and can tell them to do something or let me connect up with them to clear it up.

[ViperAFK]

bottom line, it's not as good as other pay solutions.

Agreed, it's definitely not a bad piece of software, quite good in fast, but Programs like kaspersky and nod32 are better.

[peacemf]

This is a great product. Its very simple to use, simply install and it does most of the work in the background. You do however need to allow some rules like when a new network is detected. Other than that you dont get the annoying pop ups like with Zone Alarm, asking you to make the decisions. Its not as sysmte heavy as Nortons, which has so many parts to load and slows your system in general. I know security buffs will say Kaspersky is beter, but its much more complex to use. This is the Apple Ipod of security software. Its easy to use and best of all does most things in the background!

It uses a 3 colour coded system:

Red- implying something needs attention NOW,

Yellow - some things need doing,

Green - its all good

It comes with firewall, antivirus, spyware and backup.

Everything can be set to automatically do things at a set internal (like every month etc).

However there is the option of choosing the "start tune-up" button, which does everything, and fixes everything as well.

Unless Norton's you dont get that message saying "i cant fix it, you do it!"

You also have the option of adjusting the start up applications.

Also there is an advanced option to automatically backup your photos to an online storage.

You also have the option to share printers between the three systems you have setup to use your OneCare.

There is also a monthly report that shows you everything that has occurred, graphically, and its easy to understand.

Overal im happy with this application, it does everything for me, so i dont have to spend hours removing viruses that other programs failed to pick up!

BOTTOM LINE BUY IT :)

unless you like fiddling around with programs for hours!

[jkyle]

Works well - stays in the background and out of the way. I have read that it has lower detection rates that other name brands but I dont know how many systems I see in our pc repair shop that come in with AVG, Avast or others that report themselves clean once you install Onecare and do a complete scan have mutiple viruses active on them. I liked AVG for years but it seems to me they have really slipped in the past year. Onecare complete scan is pretty slow but otherwise works great. Backup is not as full featured but gets the job done. I use it on my home system also after seeing how well it worked on customers systems. Its kinda funny seeing all these peeps "Oh noes, you must not pay for security software" while spending hundreds or thousands on the game of the week. But you got the demo and judge for yourself I think you will be pleased by it.

[magik]

bottom line, it's not as good as other pay solutions.

Agreed. If you're going to pay, NOD32 would be your best bet IMO.

[Ayepecks]

It's a great AVG, IMO. Better than Norton or McAffee IMO. I've used all three and OneCare's features kill the other two while being far simpler, I think.

[Knife Party]

oh please, save me the hassle :/

[Owen W Veteran]

I haven't yet paid for it. 90 days is a long enough time to start zeroing on a stable free antivirus solution. Hopefully Avast or AVG can suffice. But not much good words from AVG 8 either. So kinda confused as of now.

If you want a slow computer, go ahead and install AVG 8. It's boatware.

Avira is the fastest and finds most viruses.

[NEVER85]

I didn't really like it on my Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 install, but it's still better than alternatives like McAfee and Symantec, but I'd never take it over Kaspersky or NOD32.

[Incast]

If you want a slow computer, go ahead and install AVG 8. It's boatware.

Avira is the fastest and finds most viruses.

That explains why my desktop turned into a boat when I installed AVG8.

AVG8 is not bloatware if you install and configure it correctly. I installed and chose not to install the Link Scanner. Right now I have three AVG processes running in services; Resident Shield (6.7mb); AVG Tray Monitor (1.2mb); AVG Watchdog Service (0.5mb). That's a grand total of 8.4mb in use.

Where AVG can be criticised is for its rising level of false positive detections, and it's for this reason I'm considering NOD32.

As for OneCare, I'd recommend it if you're not confident with PC administration, you will benefit from how user friendly it is. Otherwise check out some of the other suggestions in this thread.

[ZenPirate]

Caveat - I've been in the Perpetual Beta of OneCare since day one.

That said, Microsoft has hired quite a bit of talent to really improve OC's virus detection. The big win for OneCare is the backup system. If you currently do not backup your data then onecare is a good idea. It'll back up to DVD, or to external drives. Restore works great even if you have to reinstall Windows. I would shop around for OC because it's MUCH cheaper to buy it on amazon, or newegg than to purchase it directly.

[Ambroos]

Personally I've always used Avast, but later on I've been thinking of just not getting any Antivirus software on my pc. Ad Muncher (as long as you update it) + Firefox takes out more viruses then any antivirus would ever do.

[splicer707]

Avoid OneCare. It's software for dummies from Microsoft.

If you want great free protection go for AVG. Otherwise choose NOD32 / Panda Antivirus or Kaspersky.