InsideMicrosoft

Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Launches

The beta of version 2.0 of Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft’s all-in-one PC care service, should be over, with the final version of 2.0 released to all subscribers. The new version adds some really good improvements, like wireless connection security, a startup optimizer to turn off programs that start with your PC that you never use, automatic printer sharing on your network and monthly service reports.

The biggest change, though, is that OneCare is now set up to allow you to designate one of your PCs as a hub PC and connect the others to it (a OneCare subscription is good, at the normal price, for multiple PCs). You can manage the care of the other PCs from the hub, changing settings, scheduling backups and tuneups, and other things.

OneCare 2.0 also adds online photo backup, although for an added price. You get 10 gigabytes of space in Windows Live Folders, automatically synced from your computer, in order to keep your precious digital photos safe in case anything ever happens to your computer. I still don’t see any information on how much this added feature costs, and will look into it.

November 20th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security | one comment

Windows Live Suite Launches

Microsoft finally delivered the first Windows Live Suite, a single installer that allows you to install a number of Windows Live programs as a single download that updates regularly. Go to this site and configure your 1.8 megabyte download, picking from these products:

• Windows Live Mail - the ad-supported desktop email client that integrates well with Windows Live Hotmail, but lets you add any regular email account, plus RSS feeds, spell checking, PhotoMail and Windows Live Contacts. Replaces Outlook Express in Windows XP and Windows Mail in Windows Vista.
• Windows Live Photo Gallery - software for managing, finding, sharing, tagging and editing photos. Replaces Windows Photo Gallery in Vista and is a completely new feature for XP.
• Windows Live Writer - blog posting tool, supporting almost all popular blogging software. Considered one of the best products in its category.
• Windows Live Messenger - instant messaging, compatible with Yahoo Messenger. By getting it as part of the Suite, you don’t have to worry as much about installing new versions.
• Windows Live Sign-In assistant - required install, helps you sign in to Windows Live ID. When you visit a Windows Live ID site in your browser, the sign-in assistant can help out by displaying large buttons for various Live IDs and, in some cases, letting you just click on the account you want to sign in.
• Windows Live OneCare Family Safety - parental control software, allows parents to monitor and restrict a child’s internet access
• Windows Live Toolbar - Internet Explorer toolbar, very powerful toolbar for accessing Windows Live sites and services.

All the software included features newer updated versions. Live Messenger has some bugs fixed. Live Mail has a new List View for contacts, contacts import/export improvements, toolbar customization, Quick Views, improved Layout Dialog options, changing your sign in account, Photo E-Mail updates and Newsgroup updates.

Live Writer is hugely improved. The new version has video insertion (from Soapbox, including your own account, and other video websites), image uploading to Blogger/PicasaWeb, the ability to publish XHTML-style markup, 28 new languages, printing blog posts, justifying and aligning post text, and better image handling, including a fix for the blurry images problem, in addition to bug fixes and installation issues.

Live Photo Gallery gets improved color adjustment and cropping capabilities, image sharpening, shadow and highlight levels, image resizing, batch image resizing, a picture import tool that grabs pictures from your camera in a much better way than Vista or XP do, publishing photos to Windows Live Spaces and videos to MSN Soapbox. This is the first public beta of this software, also.

One complaint: The Suite is not yet available for 64-bit systems.

Curiously, the Suite offers to set your homepage to MSN.com, not Live.com, which probably indicates the change in strategy away from the personalized homepage.

September 6th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Mail, Writer, OneCare, Live, Spaces, Messenger, Windows | one comment

Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Launches

Participants in the beta of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 had their software updated to the new beta over the last day or so. Take a look at some of the interface changes:

So, what’s different?

Well, you’re supposed to install OneCare on all your computers, then manage it centrally here. You manage everything on your network, including backing up to a central location. If you have Windows Home Server, it’ll take advantage of that as well. There’s also an online photo backup feature, with free storage for your photos, but you’ll have to wait until the end of the beta to use it, unless you get an email instructing you to test it right now.

The Firewall has a new setting that turns off certain activities automatically if you are in a public place. These activities will be suspended until you change zones. Take a look:

The Configure Firewall dialog is WAY streamlined, with everything on a single page instead of a growing number of tabs, with the more advanced options hidden under a second dialog. This means there is an interface for less advanced users to fix firewall problems, while there are still tons of options for tweaking your firewall if you know how to.

There is a new feature under Tune-up for tweaking what happens at the startup of your system. It lists some programs that run at startup, with stats for how often and how recently you use those programs, and a simple click to disable that program. Goodbye, Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher! So long, Google Toolbar Notifier!

Virus protection has an option to “look for virus-like behavior”, or just check for viruses and spyware. You get to choose how proactive it it.

There’s printer sharing, which automatically shares any printer connected to any computer in your OneCare “circle” with all the other computers. This should take the guesswork out of printer sharing in most cases.

There’s detailed support logging, including a Monthly Report you can have displayed automatically so you know if anything happened in the last month.

Read more at Bink (including a link to get the beta).
See screenshots at Paul Thurrot.

July 12th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Starting

Microsoft sent out an email inviting closed beta testers to test out Windows Live OneCare 2.0, according to LiveSide. I am in the 2.0 beta, which is supposed to be confidential, but this website decided to leak anyway, including a link to the installer. They say that 2.0 includes these features:

• Multi PC management - designate a hub PC and then add additional PCs to your OneCare circle using a common Windows Live ID. You can then see the status of the other PCs within the group.
• Printer Sharing - share your printer with all the PCs in your OneCare circle
• OneCare Online Photo Backup - paid storage is available online for photo backups (we’re hearing 10GB but that could change by the end of the beta)
• Securing wireless networks - if your router is supported OneCare 2.0 will allow you to secure your wireless network.
• X64 support.

This blog has a screenshot of the email, but kept things confidential, as they are supposed to be. The OneCare beta is free and not recommended for subscribers. For some reason, members of the “perpetual beta” (which I am also) have to uninstall, then install the 2.0 beta.

The beta 2.0 installer actuall installs OneCare 1.6, but the version you install is “special”, and will turn into a 2.0 install in a few days.

July 5th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security | no comments

Windows Live OneCare 1.6 Released

Microsoft released to subscribers version 1.6 of Windows Live OneCare. You won’t notice many differences, but the slider that turns off the firewall has a fourth setting, one that turns it off for a set period of time, as well as an option to turn off the OneCare firewall for ever. To find that click “Chang OneCare settings”, select the Firewall tab, click “Advanced settings”, select the “Managing and Sharing” tab, and turn on “Turn off the firewall”. At least it isn’t complicated. There’s also a firewall activity report available from the dashboard.

June 11th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security | no comments

Microsoft Starting Affiliate Network

I talk about Microsoft products here daily, and occasionally I link to them on Amazon.com so that if a reader chooses to buy them, I can get a small commission on the sale. Now, Microsoft is offering its own affiliate program, the Microsoft Affiliate Network, for websites to use to get some extra cash when they mention Microsoft products. Signing up is easy, just head here, and it’s fast (I signed up half a day ago, and I’m already accepted).

Currently, the program only has referrals for Windows Live OneCare, but the account rep I spoke to assured me that more will be added shortly. You get $1.50 for every user who signs up for a free trial of OneCare, and can link to it with an image or text. Here are examples of the images (these are live affiliate ad images, so don’t click them unless you want to install OneCare now):

One thing I absolutly love: The ads are just GIF images with a standard HTML link. That means they’ll work anywhere, even forums and emails, and on mobile phones, and certainly they’ll work in my blog posts, something Google AdSense referral ads don’t. Google uses SCRIPT tags, very annoying, and Microsoft has gone a simpler, and thus more compatible route.

There are also six text links. These consist of blocks of regular text with the referral link included, as well as an invisible image acting as a tracking bug (for ad statistics). I’m not a big fan of the text, especially since at least one of them is gramattically incorrect, and I hope you are allowed to edit it, at least in small ways, without breaking program policies.

Observe:

• Help get peace of mind knowing that everything is managed for you with Windows Live OneCare—virus and spyware scanning, firewalls, tune-ups, file backups, the whole nine yards. And it’s all delivered to you in a smooth, hassle-free package. Download the 90 day free trial
• Help keep your PC trouble-free with Windows Live OneCare
• Try Windows Live OneCare free for 90 days to see how easy caring for your computer can be. Download the free trial.
• Get continuous protection for your PC with Windows Live OneCare Download the free trial.
• Download Windows Live OneCare, the new comprehensive, automatic, and self-updating PC care service that helps protect and maintain your PC.
• Windows Live OneCare works quietly in the background on your computer, so you don’t have to worry about nasty interruptions from viruses, spyware, hackers, and other unwanted intruders. It also goes beyond security, regularly backing up all your important files and cleaning up and tuning up your computer to help keep it running at top speed. Because you have better things to do with your PC. Download the free trial.

That last one is practically a full review! Maybe Microsoft wants to do my job for me!

Anyway, this program seems exciting and is definitely doing a few things smarter. I’ll keep you updated on the progress of the program as they add new products.

And if you are a regular reader of the blog, you already know how much I love OneCare, so don’t worry about bias here. If you haven’t tried it out yet, here’s your opportunity. There are only about twenty links to choose from
(via Digg)

June 6th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Advertising, Live, Windows, Security, General | 5 comments

Got OneCare? Why You Can’t Sync Your Windows Mobile Device

I’ve been going crazy for months, unable to sync my Windows Mobile device (the T-Mobile MDA) with my computer, or even connect it via USB to move files over (thank god for MiniSD). Turns out there’s a known reason for it: Windows Live OneCare.

If you have OneCare, there is a good chance you can’t connect your device to your computer. The reason: OneCare’s firewall blocks a lot of things, including the sync, leaving you high and dry. Unless…

Just disable the firewall. That should get rid of almost every problem. When you want to connect your device, open OneCare, click “Change OneCare Settings” (you need administrator privileges to do this), click on the “Firewall” tab, then drag the slider down to the bottom (”Off”) and click Apply.

OneCare will ask you if you want to run the Firewall Connection Tool. There’s good news: This might fix it. Run the tool, put a check in the checkbox for “ActiveSync/Windows Mobile Device Center” and click OK. If that works (see if it worked by opening Windows Mobile Device Center/ActiveSync) then smile and move on. If it doesn’t (and for me, it only works half the time), turn off the firewall as described above. You will now be able to sync your device.

Once you are done syncing, activate your firewall again. If you clicked Apply when turning it off, the dialog should still be open, and you just have to drag the slider back up again and click OK. Otherwise, go through the steps again, and drag the slider up instead of down.

I hope to god the OneCare team figures out how to ensure that this stops being a problem in the future. They need to fix the Connection Tool so that if I select the ActiveSync option, it actually works. And Windows Mobile Device Center needs to be able to launch OneCare if it sees that there is a problem, because I spent months before I found this solution. Get on it, boys!

Also, a OneCare 2.0 beta is starting in April (maybe it won’t have this problem?), and you can sign up for it now by filling out a survey.

According to Paul Thurrott, the new version will feature “the new version will include wireless connection setup and security features, a boot time optimizer, monthly reports, online photo backup functionality (at extra cost), unified monitoring and maintenance of networked PCs, printer sharing, and automated tune-ups.” That sounds so cool, I just can’t wait to try it. The boot time optimizer (which I hope will optimize hibernation as well) alone is worth the effort.

March 14th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Vista, Windows, Security | one comment

Windows Live OneCare: Just $20

(via LiveSide)

February 1st, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Security, General | no comments

Microsoft: “All Major Security Firms Ready For Vista”

Microsoft has issued a press release noting that all the top security software companies will have products compatible with and designed for Windows Vista. They’ve got Symantec, which will have Norton Confidential, Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus, all of which will be Vista-compatible by launch date. There’s also TrendMicro, all of McAfee’s 2007 products, Computer Associates Anti-Virus 2007, Panda, Safebrowse.com, and a bunch of others, even Microsoft’s own Windows Live OneCare (which works wonderfully for me right now on Windows Vista), which will release a new version the same day Vista hits stores.

January 18th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Vista, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Windows Live OneCare 1.5 Ships

Version 1.5 of Windows Live OneCare has been Released To Manufacturing, ensuring that the first Vista-compatible version of Microsoft’s security suite will be ready in time for the Vista launch, just 24 days, 15 hours, 23 minutes and 31 seconds away. It will be available to download and buy by the end of the month, and if you already have a OneCare subscription, you will be updated automatically and for free when it is available.

I’ve been running OneCare 1.5 as part of the perpetual beta, and trust me, all the changes have only served to make a really good product even better. I’m not sure what significant changes are in the new version, besides Vista support, but little things have been improved as the product continues to improve and, in my opinion, remain the best consumer security product on the market.
(via LiveSide)

January 5th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Conflicting Reports On OneCare Sales

Larry Dignan quotes some NPD data which says that Microsoft’s security subscription suite, Windows Live OneCare, has taken just 0.8 percent of the security marketplace. This is very confusing, given that NPD data said back in August that OneCare was accounting for 15% of retail sales. The only explanation: Retail sales only make up a small percentage of security software sales, with most people getting their antivirus and other security software pre-installed on a new PC.

On the one hand, as long as Microsoft refuses to get manufacturers to bundle OneCare, probably due to antitrust concerns, they will have to go the hard route to get users to adopt. On the other hand, Microsoft’s users are all real users, not the many Norton users who get Norton’s software with their new PC, and refuse to pay when the free period is up. Microsoft may find success as the security software people are actually willing to pay money for, which means a lot of customer loyalty, and it also means that any market share they pick up, it will be very hard for the competition to win back

January 3rd, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Win A Free Year Of Windows Live OneCare

LiveSide is running a contest that will gift five lucky readers/bloggers with a free 1-year subscription to Windows Live OneCare. Winners will get a whole year of the service, which provides antivirus, firewall, and backup for up to three computers and is a free upgrade to next month’s release of OneCare 1.5. To win, you’ll need to link to the contest blog post with “Why You’d Like Santa To Visit You”, tag it with “Windows Live OneCare Competition”, and do it before tomorrow to be one of the 5 chosen at random.

It looks like thus far there are only four entries, so as long as you enter, you’ll have a huge shot at winning. Hell, I’ll enter, just because it’s there:

Why I Want Santa To Visit Me

So he’ll set off the alarm and scare the hell out of my wife, and have to run from my dog (who barks at every visitor). Also, so I can get a pony. A pink pony!

If you really think about it, Santa is like an intruder. Like the kind of intrusions that cost computer owners and IT departments millions of dollars a year. And the only way to block against intruders is with Windows Live OneCare, which will safeguard your PC against all kinds of threats, both the super-dangerous and the super-jolly.

If you don’t win, a year costs just twenty bucks on Amazon. Best deal in the security industry.

December 24th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Windows Live OneCare Finally Comes To Vista

If you paid for Windows Live OneCare, in my opinion the top security software on the market for your buck, you had to make a tough decision when looking at all those sweet Vista betas. See, OneCare didn’t run on Vista, so you had to choose one or the other.

Fret no more! OneCare 1.5 was released today, and it supports all versions of Vista from RC1 and on. It is beta software (and I’m still trying to figure out what the hell perpetual beta users are supposed to do), and it looks solid (Paul Thurrott has screenshots). You can start installing it just by running this file.

October 10th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Norton: Nothing’s Worse For Windows

ThePCSpy did an analysis of many major Windows programs in order to determine which one slows down Windows the most. Included were McAfee SecurityCentre, Microsoft Office 2003, OpenOffice 2.0.3, Windows Live Messenger 8, Yahoo Instant Messenger 8.0, AOL Instant Messenger 1.5 Preview, Trillian 3.1 Basic, Gaim 1.5.0, Apple QuickTime 7.1, DivX 6.3, Kazaa 3, Azureus 2.5.0.0, uTorrent 1.4, BitComet 0.7, WinRAR, WinZIP, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Java Runtime 1.5.0.06, .NET Framework Runtime 2.0, DirectX 9.0c, and several other programs, codec and font packs.

The absolute worst offender, no surprise to me, was Norton Internet Security 2006. Anyone who has used Norton to protect their system knows that nothing ruins a computer faster, making your computer run so slow that any security benefit just isn’t worth it. Now, you’ve got some amount of proof. Norton increased boot time on a completely clean system to 118.33 seconds, up 43 seconds from 75, and delayed the system by almost 58%.

Other figures:

I don’t know what the numbers for Windows Live OneCare are (and hopefully Oli will give it a test), but considering that Norton scored as poorly as expected, this is your best reason to get a subscription to OneCare. It’s still just $20.

(via Download Squad)

September 12th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Security, General | 2 comments

Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Beta Now Available

The Windows Live OneCare Family Safety (five word product name!) beta is now a public beta, about a week after I got the private beta invite. Talk about your quick betas! Go check it out, and protect your children from evil. Oh, one thing Microsoft forgot to beta test: The product name.

Jeez, look at the logo:

The Windows Live OneCare Family Safety blog explains:

While we are still in the testing and development phase, OneCare Family Safety will offer some great features to help families create a safer and enjoyable online experience, including:

• Content filtering. Web filtering will allow customers to choose allow, block or warn settings for a range of content categories, and unique settings can be applied for each member of the household. Parents can review and adjust settings any time from any Internet-connected PC to help meet the family’s evolving needs, and your family’s settings will be automatically applied to any computer that has the Family Safety software installed.
• Expert Guidance. Expert guidance from respected child organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics on age appropriate settings and online activities will provide valuable guidance for parents. For example, users will have access to guidelines on how to help a child use online communications safely or how parents should talk to children about inappropriate Web browsing.
• Activity reports. Parents will be able to access activity reports for each user in the family, anytime from any Internet-connected PC, to help them stay informed about how their children are browsing the Web. This kind of information can help facilitate important conversations between parents and children about using the Internet in a way they feel is safe and appropriate.
  Contact management. In future versions of the service, parents will be able to create “allow” lists for other Windows Live services their children might use to communicate with others – like instant messaging, for example – to help prevent their children from crossing paths with unknown contacts and instead only communicate with contacts that parents have approved.

(via LiveSide)

August 31st, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments

Vista To Embed Windows Live Services

Looks like Microsoft is going the very dangerous route of embedding links Windows Live services in Windows Vista. Mary Jo Foley has heard from some Vista testers that the next private build, 5506, will contain links in the Welcome Screen to Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live OneCare, Windows Live Toolbar and Windows Live Mail Desktop, as well as including Windows Live Messenger in the Start Menu.

Bink has a screenshot.

Wow, I guess Microsoft figured it had finished most of the old antitrust lawsuits, so why not give Google a chance? Sergey Brin and Larry Page can rest easy that, even if their companies loses to Microsoft, they can probably pull in at least half a billion in a lawsuit.

But seriously, Microsoft needs to tread carefully. Bundling software in the operating system has been hurting them badly for years (and is arguably the single mistake the company made that is responsible for its current stagnation) and almost split up the company. I know Microsoft wants so badly to beat Google, but they are already doing a good job of developing services, so just be careful how you promote them.

In the case of Live Messenger, this is really unnecessary. Live Messenger is the successor to MSN Messenger, the number one worldwide IM client. Microsoft doesn’t need to push this as much as it needs to push everyone to upgrade.

As for Live Mail Desktop, it is a superset of Windows Mail, the mail client in Windows Vista. Instead of taking any chances, why not embed most of the Live Mail Desktop features in Windows Mail? Better yet, why not have the account setup dialog in Windows Mail say “Need to use Mail with a Hotmail/Live Mail account? Click here to download an updated version called Windows Live Mail Desktop”?

Finally, for Windows OneCare: I’ve said this before; Vista should annoy users who don’t have antivirus. Every time the computer boots, and every day at 12 noon, the OS should fill the entire screen with a warning against the dangers of not having antivirus. Merely by expanding the market, Microsoft will make a ton of money, especially with its low-priced offering.

August 17th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Mail, Live, Messenger, Security, Windows, General | no comments

Windows Live OneCare Grabs Second Place (already!)

Microsoft debuted Windows Live OneCare to the marketplace at the end of May at a retail price of $49.99 (and many stores offering it for as little as $19.99). In June, OneCare accounted for an astounding 15 percent of the market, amazing for a brand new product. Clearly, OneCare has a decent chance of winning this thing very quickly, gobbling up market share every month from the established players.

This may also be an indication that (a) other security software is overpriced at $100 for a suite, considering that the operating system costs less than that and (b) the other companies, like Norton, have developed almost no brand loyalty, due to buggy, resource-hogging software. Of course, even though Microsoft grabbed 15% of sales, it only got 8.2% of sales dollars, showing that price doesn’t help. Conversly, Microsoft’s $20 costs Norton $100 with every sale.

Microsoft’s new product — which includes a two-way personal firewall, anti-virus scanning, automated backup, and PC tuning utilities — hit Symantec’s sales the hardest. According to NPD, Symantec’s unit share of the consumer suite market dropped from 69.9 percent in May to 59.8 percent in June; its dollar share also fell, from 74.1 percent to 68 percent. The other vendors that sell at retail, including McAfee and Trend Micro, weren’t as affected by Microsoft’s entry.

Hopefully, Microsoft can market OneCare well enough to the legions of new PC buyers who let their initial Norton trial subscriptions expire and pick up those customers as well. The simplest way to grab that market: Make sure Windows Vista bugs the hell out of users, on a daily basis, if they don’t have an active antivirus. Those annoyed users will hop down to Best Buy, and when they see OneCare on the shelf for twenty bucks, they’ll pick that up.
(via Digg)

August 16th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Security, General | one comment

Windows Live Safety Scanner Now Under OneCare Umbrella

Microsoft has rebranded the Windows Live Safety Scanner (the free site that scans your computer for viruses and other problems) under the OneCare brand as the Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner. Gotta love those five-letter product names. Putting under OneCare is a smart decision, but Microsoft’s product naming process has more in common with a filesystem than actual brand marketing.

MS:\Windows\Live\OneCare\Safety_Scanner

Jeez.

BetaNews says:

The tool is now available in 43 international markets, and is updated on a daily basis with protection from the latest threats to Windows. Microsoft frequently directs users to the safety scanner when a new virus surfaces. For a full range of PC protection and care services, users can subscribe to the full Windows Live OneCare for $49.95 USD per year.

(via Findory)

August 15th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | OneCare, Live, Windows, Security, General | no comments