Windows Live OneCare (previously Windows OneCare Live,

codename A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...

d A1) was a computer security and performance enhancement service developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

. A core technology of OneCare was the multi-platform RAV (Reliable Anti-virus), which Microsoft purchased from

GeCAD Software GECAD Software was a Romanian's Computer Aided Design (CAD) software development company established in 1992 by Radu Georgescu. Over time, GECAD's focus shifted from CAD software to security-related software, mainly antivirus software. Its most p ...

Srl in 2003, but subsequently discontinued. The software was available as an annual paid subscription, which could be used on up to three computers. On 18 November 2008, Microsoft announced that Windows Live OneCare would be discontinued on 30 June 2009 and will instead be offering users a new free anti-malware suite called

Microsoft Security Essentials Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is an antivirus software (AV) product that provides protection against different types of malicious software, such as computer viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojan horses. Prior to version 4.5, MSE ran on , ...

to be available before then. However, virus definitions and support for OneCare would continue until a subscription expires. In the end-of-life announcement, Microsoft noted that Windows Live OneCare would not be upgraded to work with

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

and would also not work in

Windows XP Mode Windows Virtual PC (successor to Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, Microsoft Virtual PC 2004, and Connectix Virtual PC) is a Hardware virtualization, virtualization program for Microsoft Windows. In July 2006, Microsoft released the Windows version f ...

History

Windows Live OneCare entered a beta state in the summer of 2005. The managed beta program was launched before the public beta, and was located on BetaPlace, Microsoft's former beta delivery system. On 31 May 2006, Windows Live OneCare made its official debut in retail stores in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The beta version of Windows Live OneCare 1.5 was released in early October 2006 by Microsoft. Version 1.5 was released to manufacturing on 3 January 2007 and was made available to the public on 30 January 2007. On 4 July 2007, beta testing started for version 2.0, and the final version was released on 16 November 2007. Microsoft acquired Komoku on 20 March 2008 and merged its

computer security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...

software into Windows Live OneCare. Windows Live OneCare 2.5 (build 2.5.2900.28) final was released on 3 July 2008. On the same day, Microsoft also released Windows Live OneCare for Server 2.5.

Features

Windows Live OneCare features integrated

anti-virus Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. ...

personal firewall A personal firewall is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy. Typically it works as an application layer firewall. A personal firewall differs from ...

, and backup utilities, and a tune-up utility with the integrated functionality of

Windows Defender Microsoft Defender Antivirus (formerly Windows Defender) is an anti-malware component of Microsoft Windows. It was first released as a downloadable free anti-spyware program for Windows XP and was shipped with Windows Vista and Windows 7. It has ...

for

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...

protection. A future addition of a registry cleaner was considered but not added because "there are not significant customer advantages to this functionality". Version 2 added features such as multi-PC and home network management, printer sharing support, start-time optimizer, proactive fixes and recommendations, monthly reports, centralized backup, and online photo backup. Windows Live OneCare is built for ease-of-use and is designed for home users. OneCare also attempts a very minimal interface to lessen user confusion and resource use. It adds an icon to the

notification area A taskbar is an element of a graphical user interface which has various purposes. It typically shows which programs are currently running. The specific design and layout of the taskbar varies between individual operating systems, but generally a ...

that tells the user at a glance the status of the system's health by using three alert colors: green (good), yellow (fair), and red (at risk).

Compatibility

Version 1.5 of OneCare is only compatible with the 32 bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Version 2 of OneCare supports 64 bit compatibility to Vista. In version 2.5, Microsoft released Windows Live OneCare for Server which supports Windows Server 2008 Standard 64-bit and Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard and Premium editions. No edition of OneCare operates in safe mode. Windows Live OneCare will not support

as its development has been discontinued and replaced by

Activation

Windows Live OneCare requires users to activate the product if they wish to continue using it after the free trial period (90 days) through a valid

Windows Live ID A Microsoft account or MSA (previously known as Microsoft Passport, .NET Passport, and Windows Live ID) is a single sign-on Microsoft user account for Microsoft customers to log in to Microsoft services (like Outlook.com), devices running on on ...

. When the product is activated, the grey message bar at the top of the program disappears. The subscription remains active for 1 year from the date of activation. Windows Live OneCare does not require the operating system to be checked with

Windows Genuine Advantage Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is an anti-Copyright infringement, infringement system created by Microsoft that enforces online validation of the licensing of several Microsoft Windows operating systems when accessing several services, such as ...

Protection

Windows Live OneCare Protection Plus is the security component in the OneCare suite. It consists of three parts: * A

capable of monitoring and blocking both incoming and outgoing traffic (The built-in

Windows Firewall Windows Firewall (officially called Microsoft Defender Firewall in Windows 10 version 2004 and later) is a firewall component of Microsoft Windows. It was first included in Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1. Before the release of Windows ...

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

only monitors and blocks incoming traffic) * An anti-virus tool that uses regularly updated anti-virus definition files to protect against

malicious software Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, ...

* An anti-spyware tool that uses the

engine as a core to protect against

potentially unwanted software A potentially unwanted program (PUP) or potentially unwanted application (PUA) is software that a user may perceive as unwanted or unnecessary. It is used as a subjective tagging criterion by security and parental control products. Such software ma ...

(In version 1.0, this required the separate installation of Windows Defender and was not integrated into the OneCare interface, although it could be managed and launched from OneCare. Version 1.5 integrated the Windows Defender engine into OneCare and no longer requires separate installation.) Windows Live OneCare 1.5 onwards also monitors

Internet Explorer 7 Windows Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) (codenamed Rincon) is a web browser for Windows. It was released by Microsoft on October 18, 2006, as the seventh version of Internet Explorer and the successor to Internet Explorer 6. Internet Explorer 7 is par ...

and 8 security settings and ensures that the automatic website checking feature of the Phishing Filter is enabled.

Performance

Windows Live OneCare Performance Plus is the component that performs monthly PC tune-up related tasks, such as: * Disk cleanup and defragmentation. * A full virus scan using the anti-virus component in the suite. * User notification if files are in need of backing up. * Check for Windows updates by using the

Microsoft Update Windows Update is a Microsoft service for the Windows 9x and Windows NT families of operating system, which automates downloading and installing Microsoft Windows software updates over the Internet. The service delivers software updates for Win ...

service.

Backup

Windows Live OneCare Backup and Restore is the component that aids in backing up important files. Files can be backed up to various recordable media, such as external hard disks, CDs, and DVDs. When restoring files, the entirety or a subset of them can also be restored to a networked computer, as long as it's running OneCare as well. The Backup and Restore component supports

backup software Backup software are computer programs used to perform a backup; they create supplementary exact copies of files, databases or entire computers. These programs may later use the supplementary copies to restore the original contents in the event of d ...

features such as incremental backups and scheduling.

Criticism

Windows Live OneCare has been criticized from both users and competing security software companies. Microsoft's acquisition of GeCAD RAV, a core technology of OneCare, and their subsequent discontinuation of that product, deprived the Linux platform (and others) of one of its leading virus scanning tools for e-mail servers, bringing Microsoft's ultimate intentions into question. On 26 January 2006, Windows Live OneCare was criticized by Foundstone (a division of the competing

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

anti-virus) for the integrated firewall having default

white list A whitelist, allowlist, or passlist is a mechanism which explicitly allows some identified entities to access a particular privilege, service, mobility, or recognition i.e. it is a list of things allowed when everything is denied by default. It is ...

s which allow

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

applications and digitally signed software to bypass user warnings, since neither of those applications carry assurances that they will not have security flaws or be written with a malicious intent. Microsoft has since responded to the criticism, justifying their decision in that Java applications are ''"widely used by third party applications, and is a popular and trusted program among our users"'', and that ''"it is highly unusual for malware to be signed."'' Windows Live OneCare has also been criticized for the lack of adherence to industry firewall standards concerning intrusion detection. Tests conducted by Agnitum (the developers of Outpost Firewall) have shown OneCare failing to detect trojans and malware which hijack applications already resident on an infected machine. In February 2007, the first

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

anti-virus product testing by

Virus Bulletin ''Virus Bulletin'' is a magazine about the prevention, detection and removal of malware and spam. It regularly features analyses of the latest virus threats, articles exploring new developments in the fight against viruses, interviews with anti-vi ...

magazine (a sister company of

Sophos Sophos Group plc is a British based security software and hardware company. Sophos develops products for communication endpoint, encryption, network security, email security, mobile security and unified threat management. Sophos is primarily ...

, the developers of Sophos Anti-Virus) found that Windows Live OneCare failed to detect 18.6% of viruses. Fifteen anti-virus products were tested. To pass the Virus Bulletin's VB100 test, an anti-virus product has to detect 100% of the viruses.

AV-Comparatives AV-Comparatives is an Austrian independent organization that tests and assesses antivirus software, regularly releasing charts and reports that are freely available to the public and the media. Antivirus vendors have to meet various requirements r ...

also released results that placed Windows Live OneCare last in its testing of seventeen anti-virus products. In response, Jimmy Kuo of the Microsoft Security Research and Response (MSRR) team pledged to add "truly important" ("actively being spread") malware as soon as possible, while " est detectionnumbers will get better and better" for other malware "until they are on par with the other majors in this arena." He also expressed confidence in these improvements: "Soon after, ther majorswill need to catch up to us!" As of April 2008, Windows Live OneCare has passed the VB100 test under Windows Vista SP1 Business Edition. As of August 2008, Windows Live OneCare placed 14th out of 16 anti-virus products in on-demand virus detection rates. On the other hand, as of May 2009, Windows Live OneCare placed 2nd in a proactive/retrospective performance test conducted by AV-Comparatives. AV-Comparatives.org, the test issuer, denotes that it had "very few false alarms, which is a very good achievement." The publisher also points out that false positives can cause as much harm as genuine infections, and furthermore, anti-virus scanners prone to false alarms essentially achieve higher detection scores.

Community Revival

After Windows Live OneCare was discontinued, end-users of the product could no longer install Windows Live OneCare due to the installer checking Microsoft OneCare's site for updates. This resulted in the installation giving an error message 'Network problems are preventing Windows Live OneCare Installation from continuing at this time'. A YouTuber by the name 'Michael MJD' posted a review of the software to his second channel 'mjdextras' after finding it at a thrift-store but was unable to get the software installed due to the above error; MJD Community member 'Cobs Server Closet' requested a copy of the installation media to fix this issue. As of October 20th 2020, 'Cobs Server Closet' posted to their website that they'd successfully recreated a functioning version of the installer, allowing end-users owning existing installation media to reinstall the software. This project was named 'OneCare Rewritten'. While the OneCare Rewritten software did allow successful installation of OneCare, many of the notable features such as OneCare Circles and built-in Backup feature remain non-functional as a result of being dependant on Microsoft Windows Live OneCare servers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windows Live Onecare OneCare Antivirus software Firewall software Backup software Spyware removal 2006 software