Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas

On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:06:01 -0700, chas wrote:

Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.


In my view, Norton products are the worst available. OneCare isn't
very much better.

I am very much against the idea of software suites, whether security,
office, or any other kind. I believe in choosing what I consider to be
the best product of each particular type, without regard for what some
vendor has packaged together as a suite.

The best antivirus program available is NOD32. If you want a freeware
product, I recommend Avast!

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Security Suites are bloatware. Use specific applications.
Vista'a firewall is good.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Avast Anti-Virus is Vista compatible (32bit and 64bit Versions), FREE,
auto-updating, and a low resources user of your computer.
And, only have 1(one) Anti-Virus installed / running on your computer at any
one time..
Conflicts may occur if you have more than 1(one).

--
Mad Mike


"chas" wrote:

Windows Liveâ„¢ OneCareâ„¢ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas

Microsoft just released a new, vastly improved, version of Windows OneCare.
You can try it free for 90 days.
http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"chas" wrote in message ...
Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas

chas wrote:
Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas


You'll get nearly as many differing opinions as you will responses.

I'll start by saying that I don't think any security "suite" is a
good choice. It'd be better to use smaller, less-resource-draining
stand-alone products. And, having had personal experience with
Verizon's business practices, I certainly wouldn't trust anything they
offer. Even if the product/service itself is fine, there'll be hidden
costs and "unadvertised" conditions and limitations associated with it.

I had used, and recommended, Norton Antivirus and then Norton
Internet Security, for many years, on Win98, WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP,
all without any significant problems. I had used McAfee prior to that.
But it's been several years since I've been tempted to try McAfee
products. Their quality seemed to take a steep nose-dive after they were
acquired by Network Associates.

However, when my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton
Internet Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially
higher than the preceding year's subscription), I decided to try less
expensive solutions. I downloaded and installed the free version of
GriSoft's AVG (http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ). It proved
to be easily installed, easy to use, and quite effective. Additionally,
I was pleasantly surprised to see a small but very noticeable
improvement in my PC's performance, once I'd replaced the Symantec
product. Another free (for personal use) anti-virus product is AVAST! 4
Home Edition (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html), which is what
I've used without problems on both WinXP Pro and Vista Business.

For a recent comparison of anti-virus products:

Retrospective / ProActive Test
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Vista's built-in firewall is perfectly adequate for most people.
While it's not quite up to the ease-of-use standards of Kerio or
ZoneAlarm, it has been noticeably improved over WinXP's version.

There are two interfaces for Vistas built-in firewall:

1) A simplified one accessed through the Control Panel that is the only
one most people see. To further supplement this view, Sphinx's Vista
Firewall Control http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/) is a piece of freeware
that makes the Vista Firewall much more easily manageable to the average
user.

2) And the more advanced "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
(WF.msc), accessed via the Start Menu's Administrative Tools folder, for
the experienced user who wants more granular control.

To find and/or deal with issues caused by any sort of "adware"
and/or "spyware," two products that are quite effective (at finding and
removing this type of scumware) are Ad-Aware SE from www.lavasoft.de and
SpyBot Search & Destroy from www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free
versions. It's even possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to
"immunize" your system against most future intrusions.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

"chas" wrote in message
...
Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas

Until very recently I would not recommend a Norton product, however the new
Norton Internet Security 2009 (and Norton Antivirus 2009) are dramatically
improved. I have NIS 2009 on three computers and it is running flawlessly.
It installs in less then two minutes and doesn't need a reboot, receives
"pulse updates" as often as every five minutes, and most importantly has
very low impact on system resources. In recent reviews it has scored very
well in terms of detection and malware removal. I would stay away from
Norton 360 v2 which is a real pig in the old Norton tradition. Hopefully it
will get revamped, but the only thing it offers over NIS is online backup
AFAICT.

Hi,
I would second Ken's suggestion for NOD32 and add the Windows Vista
Firewall. With a little common sense you'll be just fine security-wise.

--
Victor Constantinescu aka YounGun
Security MVP
http://victor-youngun.blogspot.com/


"chas" wrote in message
...
Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:51:49 -0500, "Carey Frisch [MVP]"
wrote:

Microsoft just released a new, vastly improved, version of Windows OneCare.
You can try it free for 90 days.
http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm


Come on, Cary. Why not let them know about how the commercial product
W1C is being taken off the Market by Microsoft very soon, and replaced
by a completely free product.

Why have them pay for a year of the commercial product when the same
product is being re-released by Microsoft in the Summer of the coming
year completely for free.

Either Microsoft thinks that security is more important than money for
real, or they just couldn't sell W1C at any price. I tend to believe
the latter.

But it's possible that MS has developed a social conscience, too. Too
bad their first product from their new social conscience is such a
poor product.

By the way, Carey, where is yours to make such a recommendation for a
soon-to-be-discontinued product?

Suggesting a trial product for long-term security is irrational and
poor social engineering. You have a "bully pulpit" here. Use it for
promoting good, rather than shilling for Microsoft, why don't ya?


--

Donald L McDaniel
Promote Peace and Doing the right thing.

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:11:39 -0800, Donald L McDaniel wrote:

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:51:49 -0500, "Carey Frisch [MVP]"
wrote:

Microsoft just released a new, vastly improved, version of Windows OneCare.
You can try it free for 90 days.
http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm


Come on, Cary. Why not let them know about how the commercial product
W1C is being taken off the Market by Microsoft very soon, and replaced
by a completely free product.

Why have them pay for a year of the commercial product when the same
product is being re-released by Microsoft in the Summer of the coming
year completely for free.

Either Microsoft thinks that security is more important than money for
real, or they just couldn't sell W1C at any price. I tend to believe
the latter.

But it's possible that MS has developed a social conscience, too. Too
bad their first product from their new social conscience is such a
poor product.

By the way, Carey, where is yours to make such a recommendation for a
soon-to-be-discontinued product?

Suggesting a trial product for long-term security is irrational and
poor social engineering. You have a "bully pulpit" here. Use it for
promoting good, rather than shilling for Microsoft, why don't ya?

You know, if you're going to throw stones at folks here it might behoove
you to get your facts straight first. Notice the attribution line above
from your post, which contains the date that Carey posted the post to which
you responded. Now perhaps you might want to go and check the PressPass
section of the Microsoft web site to see when the discontinuation of
OneCare was announced. See the problem here?

--
Paul Adare
MVP - Identity Lifecycle Manager
http://www.identit.ca

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:51:59 -0700, "Victek"
wrote:



"chas" wrote in message
...
Windows Live™ OneCare™ , Norton 360? or ???
Any thoughts or comparisons welcome.
Thanks,
Chas

Until very recently I would not recommend a Norton product, however the new
Norton Internet Security 2009 (and Norton Antivirus 2009) are dramatically
improved. I have NIS 2009 on three computers and it is running flawlessly.
It installs in less then two minutes and doesn't need a reboot, receives
"pulse updates" as often as every five minutes, and most importantly has
very low impact on system resources. In recent reviews it has scored very
well in terms of detection and malware removal. I would stay away from
Norton 360 v2 which is a real pig in the old Norton tradition. Hopefully it
will get revamped, but the only thing it offers over NIS is online backup
AFAICT.

Commercial Products:
Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 -- Absolutely the best Security
Package on the Market
Avira Internet Security 2009 -- Comes in a good Second

Free Products
Avira Antivirus 2009 Home Edition
Avast! 4 Home Edition
Comodo Firewall
PCTools Firewall

LAST CHOICE
Windows Live OneCare -- It is discontinuing as a commercial product
this coming year and being replaced with a free offering from
Microsoft. Additionally, it is a poorly-working product if the object
is to get rid of viruses or other malware and be safe from the same.

--

Donald L McDaniel