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Microsoft Set to Test Antivirus Service

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

June 21, 2005, 12:46 PM

Microsoft is seeking beta testers as it prepares to roll out a pre-release version of Windows OneCare, the company's comprehensive security package it announced in May. The beta program will run during the summer and will be followed by a wider public beta test later in the year.

Windows OneCare will run in the background, notifying users of updates and potential threats to their system, such as worms, viruses and spyware. OneCare will also automatically carry out PC maintenance and backups. Interested Windows users can apply now for the summer beta test by visiting Microsoft Beta using the Guest ID: OneCare.

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By nsnboy

posted Jul 21, 2005 - 4:43 AM

wait for the Release version

Score: 0

By jcorque

posted Jun 23, 2005 - 1:00 AM

I've used Zone Alarm for years and currently using there security suite. I've never had any problems with there product so unsure what all the fuss is about. If Microsoft's OneCare proves to be a winner I may switch.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 23, 2005 - 1:38 PM

The "Fuss" is about it letting people into your computer without you knowing. I switched when I got a virus when I had ZoneAlarm. My current firewall(free for personal use) is Keiro, and has never let anything through.

And yes, I know Antivirus protects from viruses and fixes them, but my point is that it let it through, something many other programs would not do.

Score: 0

By shy_one

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 2:58 PM

The beta is only open to U.S residents for now according to the beta site:(

Score: 0

By Chazwazza

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 3:52 AM

Microsoft will never be able to create a product as good as ZoneAlarm Security Suite so I don't know why they would even try.

All they are doing is opening up more avenues of criticism and complaint.

Score: 0

By roj

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 4:07 PM

I sincerely hope it doesn't match the efforts of ZA. that application is pure unadulterated junk and I would never recommend it to anyone.

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 3:19 PM

ZoneAlarm has to many bugs and the virus scanner doens't detect anything ever.

Score: 0

By athome

edited Jun 22, 2005 - 8:22 AM

First off, Zone Alarm? (LOL) If you can get it to work, then more power to you. Personally, it is poor programming.

Second, MS has a great product, and you bought it. You're using it and will continue to do so. In fact you are most likely making a living out of either servicing it or using it.

Third, they aren't perfect! We all know that! If you are looking for a "perfect" product, you should use the programs Linux and FireFox. These two products have never had any problems since their conception, and I keep hearing how perfect and superior they are to MS, so you should install them and stay away from MS. (hahahahahahahahahahahaha)

For all you Linux lovers out there, I am not bashing you personally. I have both, but this type of thinking is idiotic. Nothing is secure. It is only a state of mind and a matter of time. Holes are being found all the time and more and more at a time for both. This is because as more and more people use it, more and more people will attack it. Some pretty darn creative at that. Still, they are not perfect and will fail when you least expect it.

We keep moving forward, and I commend MS for their efforts on the OneCare. I can oly hope that it will live up to our expectations as a one-stop program. I am tired of all the programs I have to install to keep a system clean and the time it takes to update each and run them is idiotic too. One can only wait and see.

Score: 0

By Isoptera4

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 10:47 AM

excuse me but linux and firefox are certainly not perfect as there is no such thing in the computing world

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 3:22 PM

He knows that they aren't perfect he was being sarcastic.

Score: 0

By checkmate

edited Jun 23, 2005 - 8:53 PM

Could be right.

Score: 0

By wat0114

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 9:58 PM

You guys are all missing the big picture: hackers aren't going after firefox or Linux, they've got their sites set on M$!!!

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 10:26 PM

There are plenty of people out there hacking Linux systems, the thing is that any kiddie with 10 minutes of free time can trash a Windows box if it's still out of the box. Most of these kiddies couldn't boot Linux much less figure out how to run a script to root it.

That unfortunately may change eventually, only time will tell. I lean towards Linux being more secure, but there are distros that defy that logic (blank password for piranha comes immediately to mind).

Score: 0

By Julesword

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 10:39 PM

Now Microsoft wants to profit from their own mistakes!
So how much a month are we going to pay MS to try to protect ourselves from the bugs that they were too lazy to fix?

Score: 0

By athome

edited Jun 22, 2005 - 8:06 AM

A virus/adware/syware are not a bug in MS's programming and therefore not their responsibility. They, however, are going to help you keep your system safe from these threats and you complain. If you don't want it, don't use it. Otherwise, shut up.

Score: 0

By heat_fan1

posted Jun 29, 2005 - 2:21 PM

One of the reasons you don't see viruses/adware/spyware on Apples is that for the most part it's not worth attacking an Apple that a lot less people use! If 90% of PC users were running Mac OS, I'm sure you'd see a hell of a lot more "bugs" on Apples.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 23, 2005 - 1:35 PM

>> A virus/adware/syware are not a bug in MS's programming and therefore not their responsibility.

Oh so wrong - get a Mac, and you'll see "no bugs in their programming".

Viruses/Adware/Spyware are all "acceptable" bugs though, that people expect to have to defend against. Still, it is possible for a company(Apple) to make it so you don't have to.

Score: 0

By glenvdb

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 8:55 PM

I personaly applaud Microsoft by doing this. I am A computer tech and over 90% of my service calls are because Norton corruped Windows. Norton is the worst borgware possible (and makes over 1700 registry changes to Windows). At least Microsoft will make sure it works WITH windows, and wont change windows to work with the software.It probably won't be the best, like the anti-spyware, you will have to run it with another program to catch all the viruses, but its a good start.

Score: 0

By gerryf

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 8:32 PM

The one thing that is has been constant in the Microsoft universe is it takes them three versions to get it right.

Antispy seemed to break the trend, but I suppose we can attribute that to the fact that MS bought it and mostly rebadged it.

Gotta wonder what this product will be like, but I cannot get too excited yet.

Score: 0

By csamaha

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 8:19 PM

I'm a little confused. This article says that there will be spyware detechtion built into OneCare. I wonder if that means that the free windows antispyware software that Microsoft offers now will no longer be available, but rather be incorperated into this software. I hope not, because I like Windows Antispyware as it is now in combination with the antivirus software I use (NOD32). I'm also not so sure that it's good to have the same company that makes your operating system also making your antivirus software. It seems to be a conflict of interest, but as I said I do like their antispyware software so it will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 5:52 PM

OneCare = Revenue generating patches

Score: 0

By nickpowers101

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 5:01 PM

I'll be looking forward to this beta with keen interest...

Score: 0

By GoodThings2Life

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 3:10 PM

Personally speaking, I still use Symantec Corporate Edition 9.0 (preparing to update to 10.0) on the servers that I manage, although I am inclined to give this a try on some desktop systems for testing. If it works as well as I suspect, I may make a switch after the start of the year. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Microsoft offers with OneCare.

Score: 0

By athome

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 8:24 AM

I might have missed something, but will this be available at the server level? Or, is it just for the clients and home users?

I also use Symantec Corp 9. I am interested on what results you may find.

Score: 0

By GoodThings2Life

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 1:11 PM

Server level support hasn't been announced by Microsoft yet, but if it is, I'll switch there too. I just meant that I would consider switching my workstations/desktops to use theirs instead if it's decent.

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 8:58 PM

Same here. I just made the upgrade about two weeks ago actually. The corporate version is actually a really nice program unlike their desktop one which is insanely bloated. But Sybari is very respected so I'd like to see what MS does with their software.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 2:50 PM

Yes...MS is finally doing something right - buying all the good companies and sticking a 'Microsoft' label on all their products. Hey, if it works and you got the money...why not, lol?

Personally, I use AVG Free and Keiro Home. They work well and don't cost a thing, and are 10x better than ZoneAlarm, and a ton faster than anything Symantec has created in the recent past.

Score: 0

By Isoptera4

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 3:09 PM

Prove its better than zonealarm. Proof not heresay.

Score: 0

By GoodThings2Life

edited Jun 21, 2005 - 3:16 PM

Of course, this is opinion and not necessarily "proof" since you or anyone else could argue it all you want, but...

ZoneAlarm has had an issue with actually remembering/corrupting its settings files since version 1.0... it's bloated (tries to do too much... I liked it when it was JUST a firewall), slow/resource-intensive (high memory use and processes), and has an ugly interface... not to mention too complicated for the average user to figure out, let alone be of use to protect the common user. Although, the same can be said of Norton Internet Security / Norton Firewall) except for the bit about ugly interface (at least it's consistent with other Norton products) and pretty much any software firewall.

Frankly, if you want to run a firewall, it's better to either stick with what Windows offers built-in or else hookup a hardware router/firewall.

Score: 0

By Isoptera4

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 1:55 PM

MS came out with a kick-ass antisypware prog and maybe they'll do the same with this antivirus app. MS seems to finally doing something right, this should have the AV companies shaking in their boots and crying out MONOPOLY soon enough.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 1:31 PM

I only hope that at least MS will have an option to UNINSTALL it if it comes with future windows versions. I'm all for it though, too many home users buy a computer with a 'trial' antivirus and think they're always protected anyway.

Score: 0

By ezh

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 1:23 PM

Wait for Kaspersky Internet Security - that would a killing application.

Score: 0

By heat_fan1

posted Jun 21, 2005 - 1:08 PM

I'm using Norton Internet Security, and it is a good program for me, but it could use some improvements. For one, it uses too much memory. Hopefully One Care will be a good program which will both be a nice alternative to NIS and give Symantec a huge incentive to fix up NIS.

You can expect some inherent advantages OneCare will have over any other program, notably Windows integration. Can't wait to check out the beta of it and see how this program is.

Score: 0

By novcie_sdf

edited Jun 22, 2005 - 3:38 AM

Is this antivirus solution the one they have bought from GeCad Software?
If so, the final product can only be very very good or extremely bad.
I use BitDefender Profesional and my systems are ok(I gave up using Symantec's stuff).

Score: 0

By athome

posted Jun 22, 2005 - 8:04 AM

"If so, the final product can only be very very good or extremely bad."

Wow!

Score: 0

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