Windows OneCare Live beta

[Steve R Jones]

I just received an email from MS:

Know anyone who'd like to join the public beta?
Very soon now, we'll be opening Windows OneCare Live Beta to the public. If you know someone who'd like to try out Windows OneCare, please send them to www.ideas.live.com to learn more and/or sign up for the beta.

Windows OneCare Live beta
Comprehensive PC health for people who have other things to think about -

What it is:
An automatically self-updating PC health service that runs quietly in the background. It helps give you persistent protection against viruses, hackers, and other threats, and helps keep your PC tuned up and your important documents backed up.

What it does for you:
• Runs quietly in the background, providing anti-virus and firewall protection
• Updates itself to help you keep ahead of the latest threats
• Runs regular PC tune ups
• Provides one-click solutions to most problems
• Makes back-ups a breeze
• Lets you see the status of your system at a glance

Welcome to Windows Live Ideas

We're glad you want to try it!



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[Rocketmech]

Looks like a good idea , but feels like MSN or worse AOL...

[pandaz3]

I am a MS fan, but I think I'll pass.

[Strawbs]

I think the final version will be for the more "un-educated" computer user! The catch is; they need computer savvy folk to test it on - I doubt there will be that many savvy users that trust MS enough to allow them into their domain when they're not looking.

[bruceb]

Sounds like a wonderful way for MS to keep tabs on who has a legit OS
and other software on their system .. If they can look at your pc to see
what you need, then can also tell what you have, it's serial number, etc
and if was already registered .. then they might uninstall it for you

All legit here but, No thanks

[Rob R.]

I dont have much positive to say about this thing. It is a resource hog that will quite noticeably slow down your machine. The uninstaller doesnt work very well either so once you uninstall, expect to see errors in your event log.

One good thing was the firewall though. It has a nice clean interface and blocks both ways. Why isnt this the one we get with XP in the first place?

[Steve R Jones]

Rob, pretty sure MS came to the conclusion that the XP firewall needed some work....

Course signing up for this beta program might help get people in the Vista program.

[Brangwen]

Fellow Members:

Business is business ... If this is the type of "program" (or better still "service") that I foresee it is or that which it will evolve into, folks will pay a periodic fee to companies (like MS) for maintainance; file storage (no more HDDs); programs/applications usage (e.g., see "menu for options") i.e., no more optical devices . . . and companies providing these services will have TOTAL control over every aspect of that which we use. Forget about MS and others losing bucks to piracy. Large servers that can be accessed as data is via cable today is on its way. Consumers (us) will own monitors and keyboards. That's it. Good? Bad? Very possible that this is a small taste of the computer experience of the future.


Brangwen

PS: I came in late on this thread, so my $00.02 may be off synch a tad ... but still interesting and not so unlikely.

[Strawbs]

Fellow Members:

Business is business ... If this is the type of "program" (or better still "service") that I foresee it is or that which it will evolve into, folks will pay a periodic fee to companies (like MS) for maintainance; file storage (no more HDDs); programs/applications usage (e.g., see "menu for options") i.e., no more optical devices . . . and companies providing these services will have TOTAL control over every aspect of that which we use. Forget about MS and others losing bucks to piracy. Large servers that can be accessed as data is via cable today is on its way. Consumers (us) will own monitors and keyboards. That's it. Good? Bad? Very possible that this is a small taste of the computer experience of the future.


Brangwen

PS: I came in late on this thread, so my $00.02 may be off synch a tad ... but still interesting and not so unlikely.

would you be happy to allow MS (or some other) to store all of your data, music, treasured photo's, etc, on some virtual (because it only exists in cyberspace as far as I can see it) server for them to browse at their leisure?

I think not! I also think most others would want some kind of hard evidence of the existence of their data - not just an assurance.

I believe it will be fine for a company to save their clients data off-site! but when it comes down to personal stuff - people tend to be a *little* (read Lot) more knit-picky.

There will always be some mistrust between client & business sector ...and rightly so IMO! after-all, Their goal is to make a profit at any price, while the clients goal is to be sure his property\data is safe, but always accessible.

I don't believe the virtual Hard Drive will ever be total! Solid State Drives may be next in line for acceptance, and I think Optical Drives will be replaced by Flash Drives for file, music & movies eventually.

[Rob R.]

Here is what every boot will look like in the event log after you uninstall this thing. These 3 errors will appear every time...

Event provider attempted to register query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceDeletionEvent WHERE TargetInstance ISA "MPSSVC_Agent" " whose target class "MPSSVC_Agent" does not exist. The query will be ignored.

Event provider attempted to register query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceCreationEvent WHERE TargetInstance ISA "MPSSVC_Agent" " whose target class "MPSSVC_Agent" does not exist. The query will be ignored.

Event provider attempted to register query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceCreationEvent WHERE TargetInstance ISA "MPSSVC_Notification" " whose target class "MPSSVC_Notification" does not exist. The query will be ignored.

[zybch]

What the hell is an "Instance Delete Event"?

Basically, I wouldn't trust MS to accuratley protect and update my PC.
Windows Update has installed drivers that won't work over the top of ones that do.
And we all know of the sizeable number of security patches that open up more holes (SP1 and 2 for instance open up the latest .WMF vulnerability, where as an unpatched XP install is safe (well safer).

If everyone owned the same hardware then I'd say 'go for it' but the millions and milions of different configurations on PCs the world over make something like this OneCare thing (which will most likely become a premium paid for service) a risky proposition at best.
I doubt many medium and large companies and organisations will go for it.

[Sark]

I didn't see any specific mention of spyware protection. I'm assuming that something like this would include anti-spyware capabilities. Could anyone verify this?

[Steve R Jones]

The MS AntiSpyware is a different program.

[Sark]

Right, duh.

I suppose if you got MS Anti-Spyware with this it would be pretty comprehensive. I used the Anti-Spyware beta for awhile and had good luck with it, so perhaps this software would also be good.

[TweakerXP]

MS... Most Sneaky !!