Posts with tag onecare
Microsoft says Gmail is a virus
Microsoft announces OneCare official release
After months of beta-testing, Microsoft has announced the official release of Windows Live OneCare, its Windows security and maintenance suite. OneCare includes anti-virus software, firewall, a backup utility, and spyware protection via Windows Defender, plus disk defragmentation, cleanup, and Windows Update features. OneCare is now available through the Windows Live web site and will cost you $49 per
Thurrott likes Windows Live OneCare
No surprise, right? In fact, about
the only thing Thurrott didn't like about
OneCare was a lack of end-user antispam tools. But he's rationalizing this (as Microsoft does, and rightly so) with
the fact that most ISP's provide some spam filtering, and Hotmail does, and supposedly the desktop version of Hotmail
will provide some user customization. Paul's article is thorough enough to appeal to an average user here as well,
which makes for a good forward to anyone who is considering McAfee or Symantec purchases. Frankly, while $49.95 a year
is a pretty good deal, I get the feeling Microsoft could have turned that price down just a wee bit without really
flinching. At $29.95 a year, McAfee and the rest would be as marginalized as Apple or Mozilla (ahem). One ray of sun in
the pricing, however, is the April-only special of $19.95 for the first year. That's worth trying and testing, if
nothing else!Symantec to release subscription-based security mega-pack
Symantec is making loud noises about its new
"Security 2.0" initiative, which will usher in "a new age of trust on the Internet." What is
it? Well, it's some new products with a snappy name. The first product is an unnamed app resulting from Symantec's
recent acquisition of WholeSecurity that's designed to prevent phishing. The second is a big new package Symantec is
calling "Genesis," and which will go head-to-head with Microsoft's OneCare, providing "anti-virus,
anti-spam, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, firewall, PC optimization and maintenance elements, the transaction
security tools, and online/offline backup." Genesis will be a subscription-based product and is being readied for
Windows Vista users.[Via Slashdot]
Microsoft OneCare not much of a firewall
Microsoft has made much of Windows OneCare, its new security bundle that includes, among
other things, a firewall. It turns out, however, that in its default configuration OneCare's firewall is full of
holes. According to InfoWorld's Roger Grimes, OneCare automatically permits all traffic from two types of programs:
Any program using the Java Virtual Machine, and any program digitally signed. Microsoft has responded to the criticisms
by saying that the JVM exception can be turned off (something that novice users will never, ever do), and that spyware
is rarely signed. Concerning the latter, Grimes correctly points out that signed spyware is not unheard of and that
when OneCare becomes the default security solution for many users, signed spyware will become the norm. While OneCare
is still in beta and Microsoft could change the default settings for its final release, their responses (posted on
Grimes' blog) don't really inspire optimism.
