no more windows live one care stuff in shops ?

[gentleharry]

onecare.live.com/standard/en-US/activation/oc_eol_guidance.htm#

I have for the last 2 years been using windows live one care, and it seems to be doing its job. Last year when i needed to renew the subcription, i bought the cd in a local store and used the enclosed validation key no to renew for another year, which will end in may 2010. So i went looking for a new cd in local shops, and they didnt have any, and informed me they would not be getting any, and now it seems by the link above that its a think of the past..........this web site link suggests using micrsoft essential instead.............has any one come accross this. What do you think.........In may this year i was thinking of uninstalling the onecare and trying the Avast that I see mentioned on the boards here.

I do not and never will shop on line, so buying protection on line is a no no for me Sorry for the long waffle, and I do have several months left before I make the decision...............I was reading good things about a programme beginning with K..............., something or other. ( Sorry name excapes me just at the minute).........maybe this micrsoft essential thing might be ok ??

PS i am using windows XP, and only main use is to browse, and play my on line games

harry

[ken]

The one you cant remember is Kaspersky and its supposed to be very good, but its a paid for antivirus. As Windows Care hasn't been around a dog watch and its finished already, that says something about it. Its not worth paying for these antiviruses when you can get Avast for free and its better than a lot of the paid for ones. Micro$oft operating systems might be good, but their securityware stinks. When your subscription runs out, save yourself some money and install Avast. A few people have had a bit of a problem with this new version, but that will be well sorted before May gets here.

[gentleharry]

Ken, thank you for the very prompt reply to my posting. i have read the messages agin on the boards to do with Avast and will be going down that road of using it in a few months time, or maybe before .

thank you one again

harry

[nike]

Don't forget to install other software to remove adware and malware. Avast by itself is not really enough.

There are many FREE programs to do the job, and most of us here use them.

Programs like SUPERAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard, to name a few. If you don't have the protection of a hardware firewall in a router, then you will also need a good Firewall program as well. Comodo does that job admirably, but ONLY download and install the firewall part of the offering.

[larrye]

Give Microsoft Security Essentials a try. I've been using it since it was in Beta and it has performed flawlessly.

www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

[nike]

[color=F0387A]I'd love to run SAS and Mbam on your computer Larry, just to see how good the M$ offering really is. I know you are a regular visitor to facebook etc, and have an idea that you will have quite a bit of junk malware on your computer without your knowlege.[/color][/b][/i][/font]

[ken]

I haven't got Defender running on The Beast as SAS Pro runs in the background. I have got Defender running on the laptop, as I've only got SAS free on it. When I run SAS it proves that Defender is about as much protection as a bumper sticker. Micro$oft should just stick to operating systems and leave the security to them that know.

[elvisuk]

H! KC,

How do i turn off M$ Defender on W7 ?

[ken]

Turn it off in Services Elvis. Then turn off the warnings in User Accounts in the Action Centre. Otherwise you will keep getting a nag popping up in the corner. That stops having to keep giving permissions every time you want to do anything as well.

[elvisuk]

OK KC i will give it a go next time i am in W7

Thanks ;D

[larrye]

Feb 2, 2010 11:34:11 GMT @nike said:

[color=F0387A]I'd love to run SAS and Mbam on your computer Larry, just to see how good the M$ offering really is. I know you are a regular visitor to facebook etc, and have an idea that you will have quite a bit of junk malware on your computer without your knowlege.

[/b][/i][/font][/quote]

Actually it's not all that bad. A couple from PopCap and one false positive, according to Mbam site.

[/b][/size][/color][/font]

[nike]

Have you run SAS yet Larry

[larrye]

Nope, haven't run that yet. Won't it conflict with Security Essentials?

[ken]

The free one doesn't run in the background Larry, so it wont bother anything. I run the Pro version which does run in the background, so I shut all the Windows stuff off. I've got Windows security running on this laptop and when I run the free version, theres a lot more crap than I get on The Beast.

[gentleharry]

Does the " security essential " link download include a firewall. ? I downloaded from the link in my first post above, after un installing windows live one care. the last 24 hours or so, computer is booting up a little quicker than it has been. i think all i have ref firewall is the windows xp which came with this computer...........maybe on reflection i would have been wiser to hold on a while and install Avast. like i say this computer XP is booting up quicker now, and seems ok, just the firewall issue nagging in my head.............sorry ken and folks for the long waffle

harry

[ken]

The Windows firewall is worse than useless Harry. Put Comodo on and switch the Windows one off. Comodo wont slow your computer down, but only put the firewall on and not the rest of the stuff. Don't have anything to do with the Windows crap, it will only interfere with the good stuff.

[larrye]

Well, SAS found nothing in the Memory or Registry, but found 201 adware files, which I don't feel is unusual.

[mikkh]

The Windows firewall is actually better than nothing. It's well documented shortcomings are based around it not checking outgoing connections - which is fine if the machine is not already infected. That only applies to the old XP firewall anyway, because from Vista onwards it has advanced features to monitor both incoming and outgoing connections.

In these days of multi PC ownership, most people are sitting behind a real hardware firewall (router) so the need for extra software is more 'just in case' rather than useful or needed IMO. I certainly don't encumber the Windows PC in my daughters bedroom with third party firewall software.

Of course the ultimate security is not to use Windows ;o)

[ken]

The Beast running Avast without any Windows security and SAS Pro running in the background, picks up between 3 and 7 bits of adware a day. This one running Windows security and no 3rd party apps running in the background, will pick up 35 to 40 odd trackers and the odd Trojan. They both run Avast but antiviruses are not looking for Trojans. My network is behind a hardware firewall, but this one is running Windows firewall and The Beast isn't. This machine is only doing the same thing as The Beast would be doing, so its a good comparison. I run SAS free and MBAM daily on this one, so I'm not bothered about the odd Trojan. The System Restore is turned off on both, so there isn't anywhere for a Trojan to hide. I make Paragon backup images for reinstalling, in case the brown stuff does hit the fan. That always a possibility, no matter how good your security is.

[jojo]

I used Security Essentials and can't find any reason not to recommend it.

It's free.

It seems to work.

It's free.

It doesn't take a lot of power.

It's free

and it's free

[Lynnrose]

Lol Jojo x

[larrye]

LOL I agree Jojo.

[nike]

I knew SAS would find some stuff like that Larry. Those "Adware" files can really slow down a computer, and stop things from working right. 201 is a hell of a lot to have on your computer and I can't help thinking how many databases your surfing habits are now on.

Security essentials has no place on any of my computers while i'm protected with SAS and Mbam, and also SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard. I just don't think it works well enough.

Plus, Jojo, all of those programs I have mentioned here are FREE also.

[mikkh]

It makes depressing reading though - 4 malware/antispyware programs, plus a virus checker and maybe a software firewall too. I know they aren't all resident and I guess it's a sign of the times, but I am glad that Linux and adblockplus in Firefox is all I really need to get the same feeling of being safe from most nasties

[nike]

It does Mikkh, but as 97% of the world's home computer users use Micro$haft as their OS, it pays to have the knowledge of what works, and what doesn't.

I've never found a M$ security product yet that does as good a job as those four or five programs.

I have just had a customers computer here that was running "Nortons" and Windows security suite, and after removing the hard drive, installing it in an external case, connecting it to a "slave" virus removal computer, specifically set up for this purpose, the number of Trojans found on the drive was astounding.

As I ran MalwareBytes Anti-malware, Avast kept finding trojans, which I kept removing. There would have been at least 50 of them. Then after it was finished, I ran SAS, and what it found was also amazing.