Windows Live OneCare Tutorial

　　A brief review of history

The prototype of the Windows Live OneCare began about 5 years ago, and Microsoft started a subscription-based anti-virus service similar to what is now Widnows Vista's Third-party services through Plug-ins. But the plans were largely scrapped, and Microsoft expanded its concept by adding other PC health and security features and creating MSN OneCare products. It was called a member of the Windows Live service in 2005 and then released its first version in early 2006. At that time, it was only compatible with 32-bit Windows XP.

In 2006, Microsoft updated several onecare,2007 years to reach version 1.5, which can be compatible with Windows Vista (only 32-bit), end of May 2007, 1.6 release, add a few small changes.

　　Second, Oncecare function and its influence on the industry

The retail price of Windows Live OneCare is $49 per year and, of course, it may be lower in the store. After you subscribe, you have antivirus and antispyware capabilities (which are implemented with free Windows defender tools), a more powerful dual firewall than XP SP2 or Vista-integrated firewalls, and Windows update and Automatic update consolidation to keep you updated, PC Tuning (Auto defragment, Backup, and restore) features.

When Microsoft first released the product, OneCare a ripple across the entire client-side security market: McAfee and Symantec had been accustomed to selling expensive, sophisticated security packages, but OneCare was cheap and beyond the standard PC security feature set. Soon after Microsoft released OneCare, these companies began making OneCare products. First, Norton 360 was released early this year, and McAfee is also testing the class OneCare products.

Symantec and McAfee also noted OneCare's antitrust problems: They said that Microsoft should not benefit consumers by selling security products that fix windows vulnerabilities, because these problems are generated by their own windows, Fixing the security problem is Microsoft's job. Paul believes there is some truth to this assertion, and there is controversy over whether Onccare should be part of Windows. On the other hand, Symantec, McAfee and other vendors have been operating in the security market for years, earning billions of of dollars from this hacker-focused windows. Of course, Microsoft should be allowed to enter the market altogether, but if Microsoft were to add OneCare to Windows, security companies would come up with antitrust laws against Microsoft.

Symantec, McAfee, and other vendors have been competing with OneCare since the release of OneCare, and there have been accusations that OneCare is actually ineffective for malware. The allegations come from most respectable and secure product-mandated testing bodies, including ICSA Laboratories, Virus Bulletin and West Coast Labs. However, Paul does not think this is true, and for the PCs he owns, OneCare is proving to be effective against malicious software.

Finally, OneCare's impact on the market is positive: rivals have either already released or are about to release similar OneCare products, so Microsoft has really changed the way consumers and security companies think about their products. Now the concept of PC security is becoming more complete and has spread to related services such as PC maintenance and performance, backup, and the care of the entire PC. Even if you stop using a competitive product, it is likely that you will be affected by the OneCare feature set regardless of the solution you use.

　　Third, enter 2.0: what we expect

At the end of this year, Microsoft will release Windows Live OneCare 2.0, with many new features, some of which are quite well worth looking forward to. The following highlights the new features:

　　1. Enhanced features on Windows XP

First thing is important for XP users: Windows Vista is generally more secure than XP because Vista has a profound architectural change. However, OneCare also has some functional balances, such as OneCare, which can improve the functionality in XP and Vista. In the current OneCare version, the firewall is a good example, it has been updated to 2.0:onecare firewalls are more secure than XP and Vista firewalls. In OneCare 2.0, Microsoft even married several Vista security features to XP. The Wi-Fi link security feature is a good example, we will continue the discussion below, originally XP does not have this function, it is OneCare bring.

OneCare is deeply integrated with the security features of Windows, so you can ensure that your system configures the system in as secure a way as possible. For example, OneCare will monitor IE7 phishing filters and Microsoft updates to ensure that you are secure and updated in a timely manner. In OneCare 2.0, OneCare also integrates with the printer sharing mechanism in Windows to ensure that any configured printer can be automatically shared with other users on the network.

　　2. Multi-PC management

Previous versions of OneCare can be installed on multiple PCs at home, providing convenience for multiple PC users, OneCare 2.0 provides centralized, multiple-PC management. This has indeed brought a few new concepts to the OneCare world, first of all, which enabled the functions of a group of OneCare-protected PCs in the home or small business network to now be accessed as a circle. You can use the OneCare installation to manage your PC circle, which can be designated as the Network Center. From this network center, you will have access to additional tools to manage the health of other PCs. At the same time, the non-central PC sees the traditional OneCare UI, which provides access only to the local machine.

Obviously, this is a huge change. This is a very good feature and you can configure your PC remotely on other PCs in your home. For example, you can make sure that your children's PCs are always securely configured, without having to manually go to the machine, log in, and personally. This feature is also extended as a backup, and you can configure other machines in the loop to automatically back up any storage devices on the network.

　　3. Automatic Printer Sharing

If you configure a printer on any PC in the OneCare lap, the printer will automatically share the configuration with other PCs in the lap, so you only need to configure it once. This feature is integrated with Windows Point and print technology in XP and Vista, as it is automatically run, so no input is required from you. However, it should be noted that it cannot run across 32-bit and 64-bit machines, so shared printers from 32-bit Windows can only run in 32-bit Windows. And, as you might imagine, a PC that shares a printer must run for shared resources that are available.

　　4, Wi-Fi connection security

Now, OneCare provides a convenient and unlimited Network Setup Wizard that guides you through configuring wireless network protection and then connecting clients to the network. This is important because there are many completely unprotected wireless networks: it is clear that the tools that accompany network devices are too complex for the average person to properly configure the device. For Belkin, Buffalo, D-link, Linksys, Netgear, and other supported router surfaces, OneCare can automatically configure the wireless network for its security. However, it is now only compatible with 128-bit WEP security, but this is almost the safest solution, plus a higher level of WPA security.

　　5, active PC Health repair and recommendations

It also checks for the safest PC configuration when OneCare performs routine tuning (PC Health and maintenance related tasks, such as disk collation, redundant file deletion, malware scanning, file backup, and Critical update installation). Then, OneCare will take the initiative to make changes to your configuration so that there will be no problems in the future. The interesting thing about this feature is that when it works in conjunction with the built-in Windows and Microsoft product features, it also performs proactive tuning on a number of third-party products.

What does that mean? In other words, if the IE7 ad is blocked off, OneCare will open it, and so on. OneCare can remove damaged boot process portals, adjust Office macro security settings to default values, purge failed tasks from print queues, and so on. In Third-party software, OneCare can work in conjunction with Adobe Flash Player, Java Runtime, Acrobat Reader, and various DVD burning programs and displays and graphics drivers. In fact, the current OneCare 2.0 also has hundreds of active adjustments, and Microsoft said the number will continue to increase.

In addition to proactively adjusting some of the issues, OneCare 2.0 will provide solutions to other less serious problems, as well as through behavioral items and monthly product reports in the OneCare interface.

　　6. Startup time Optimization

OneCare 2.0 extends the adjustment functionality in previous releases, provides new startup time optimizations, monitors which programs run automatically every time the PC starts, and lists which programs are rarely used. You can remove these items from the startup process, accelerate the PC startup, and increase the overall system performance.

Under current configuration, only a few weeks after the use of OneCare, you will see the launch time proposal (Appbeta:onecare need time to understand your use habits). However, Microsoft may change the time interval based on the testers ' feedback in the official release.

　　7. Online photo backup

In the past, people used to be used to using CD-ROM media storage, such as CDs or DVDs, to meet the growing demand for online storage, OneCare offers online photo storage capabilities. Coincidentally, Paul has backed up 22GB of photos of Google's PicasaWeb service over the past few months, a 4.5 of his victories. There is no doubt that this is an interesting feature, because online storage can prevent hard disk damage and other disasters caused by data loss. In addition, offline backups are excellent and should be considered by all users.

In OneCare 2.0, online backup is done through the Live.com service named Windows Live OneCare Online Backup, so you need a Windows Live ID. Of course, to use the service, you also need to register and activate OneCare 2.0, which means that you are either a beta tester or a money purchase. Paul says Microsoft will offer free 1GB of storage and more space to pay for it.

　　8. Monthly Report

OneCare often run silently in the background, but some users want to know if they can get occasional updates from the product to know the extent of the process. To this end, the new monthly report is created, which allows users to see backup, adjust results, malware protection status, firewall protection status, and, if necessary, a column of measures not to fix any problems.

　　9, 64-bit support

Many Windows Vista users should be excited to hear that the OneCare compatible 64-bit version of the operating system (note: OneCare cannot run on 64-bit XP). At installation time, the OneCare installer detects the operating system, and if 64-bit vista is used, the 64-bit version is installed.

　　Four, not a summary of the summary

For months, Paul has been nervous about using OneCare 2.0 to detect its health, and it is curious to see Microsoft fix the trivial issues of previous versions. However, the OneCare 2.0 feature set is quite gratifying, and it seems that Microsoft has done a very productive job.

Appbeta Note: Pual said this paragraph is not a summary summary because he has already mentioned at the beginning that he will conduct a more detailed assessment at the end of 2007 OneCare 2.0 official release. Therefore, this article has not been continued ...

After reading, I also can't help downloading and installing OneCare 2.0, but this version requires English system. Since the ultimate version can download the English pack, so I installed the English package, in order to install OneCare, I have modified the relevant settings in all regional languages to English. However, there is one important thing: there is one item in the registry that needs to be manually changed or not installed, which is why I failed to install it earlier. This registry key is located as follows:

[Hkey_local_machinesystemcontrolset001controlnlslanguage] "installlanguage" = "0409"