Microsoft OneCare is not only rubbish, it is dangerous rubbish

[DominiConnor]

OneCare comes last in every independent test on catching nasties that want to screw with your computer.
But at least it's free you say ?

Actually, a) it's not free forever, and b) It will delete important files on your computer.

It has been caught red handed deleting the entire Outlook mail file. Given that not everyone here is a techie, let me explain that unlike every other anti virus programme in the world, it doesn't just delete mails that contain viruses, it deletes every mail you have ever received.
Yes, really.
MS response for this is that these experiences make it a better product. As someone who's done computers for more than 30 years I will share with you thar this is incompetence on a scale rarely seen, not a "new lesson to be learned"

Some of the full horror is here

Bwaaahahahahahahahahaha!! Hahaha... haha...

Oh dear. MS have outdone themselves.

so this one care isn't going to srrive as an unwanted update is it?

ie I'd have to want it to get it?

OneCare seems to be a way of MS forcing everyone else of the anti-virus market. Vista was engineered so that "3rd party" AV software couldn't work properly.
Thus with Vista, you simply cannot buy good AV s/w, regardless of your budget...

ah i decided to avoid vista when I got my latest computer

I've got Vista and am running it just fine with Norton?!?!

There's whole sets of vulnerabilitis that Norton cannot deal with because of the "security" features in Vista.
Norton is not supported under vista, and there is no date for that, or which I am aware.
Offical MS list of supported apps

so I presume you've confirmed that with symantec then dc?

If Norton didn't work properly with Vista it would have told you so. It's not in Symantec's interest to let it run with vulnerabilities. Just because it's not on Microsoft's list doesn't mean it doesn't work. Avast works fine too, and probably others.

Symantec have seized the opportunity to get more revenue by selling an update for Vista.
Doesn't mean it works properly...
Symantec have Sude Microsoft
and placed adverts in the FT Complaining

And it works fine with the update so what's the problem?

I see there is no online copy of that ad. I bet they weren't complaining that vista makes their products non functional were they?

No, they were protesting that they didn't like the colour of the box it came in.
What do you think they protested about ?

MS has created places for viruses and other nasties to live that only MS can get access to.

Yes, that sounds mad.

no need to be sarcy.

I mean did they actually say "our products don't work properly with vista" or did they say something else?

The anti-virus vendors like Symantec/Norton have gone on at length that Vista contains "secure" components that they can't scan.

At first it looked like MS just being a monopolist, but it seems to have created holes that it's products simply aren't good enough to fix.

I have AVG free - it doesn't seem to be having problems

Problem is of course that if the AVG doesn't see the virus due to MS hiding things then as Donald Rumsefled would say "we don't know what things we don't yet know"

I can't give a scale on the risk, I'm not sure anyone can. MS have revealed themselves incompetent at AV s/w and the competitors have been locked out.
This can't end well.

What can we do then dc - we have Vista

sorry, dc I'm not trying to be obtuse, but an actual link with facts in would be good.

that's really bad