Microsoft to offer free security

Hi Guys/Girls,

Have to say I was a keen user of OneCare for some years and never had any malware/virus/trojan issues what so ever,It warned me about them but quite happily dealt with them swiftly.

I didnt mind paying the annual cost, considering you are allowed to protect up to a circle of 3 machines and have one of them as a master hub, was great.

Its only downside was that it was for Vista only. Sounds like a step in the right direction, my Windows 7 reg is currently sat on my new Macbook within a VM, so although I am currently only protected by defender from a windows perspective, I am pretty secure behind my time capsule router!!

Cheers

Ex_Brit said:

Sounds good, if they don't get their pants sued off for doing that. The question remains however, how good is their protection anyway? Apart from Windows Defender, I've never used MS protection.

I used One care for a whole year and it was an ok experience. It had the usual protection settings, backup files and what not. Pretty lightweight too compared to some other software. There was one time scare where Microsoft had an updating problem and the software reported that your pc was not being protected. Eventually it was fixed but it was a hassle. Might give the freeware a try though.

x3haloed said:

I don't really know either. I haven't tested Live One Care. The truth is, I don't really need antivirus software anymore. I haven't been using antivirus software and I haven't gotten a single virus in the past two years that I've been using Windows Vista.

If Microsoft's new security software is lightweight enough, I may just leave it enabled just for the "feel good" aspect of knowing that I do have antivirus software, much in the same way that I leave Windows Defender enabled, becuase I really can't say I've seen real performance benefits to disabling it.

If you're not running any AV software at all, how do you know if you do or don't have virus?

I have an excess need for AV, being a PC game modder who downloads lots of tools and mods, many rars and zips from untrusted sources, I have been using Eset NOD32 and Outpost Firewall, and the occasional free online scan from Trend Micro since shortly before Vista, and I still do.
I haven't given them a spin on W7 yet, since I'm using the Kaspersky (which is really annoying sooo many pop ups and "Help me! I'm an AV and a firewall and I don't know what I'm actually supposed to do!) beta, or trial thing that W7 itself suggests. I won't recommend it, but to be fair I haven't tried the other suggested ones.

Just saw this, now we are talking :)