July 15, 2009
ERRONEOUS SECURITY WARNINGS IN VISTA
Starting on July 14, some Vista computers began displaying erroneous warning messages from the Windows Security Center. If you run Windows Live OneCare on a Vista machine, you may see a shield with an X in the lower right corner. Opening the Windows Security Center will display two warnings: “Windows Firewall is turned off,” and “Windows Live OneCare is on but is reporting its status to Windows Security Center in a format that is no longer supported.”
As long as OneCare is green, you are fully protected. You can ignore the warning shield.
Microsoft has confirmed that this […] continued
June 30, 2009
ONECARE SUBSCRIPTION EXTENSIONS
If you have a subscription to Windows Live OneCare, you are covered until the choices for security software are more clear towards the end of 2009. Keep using OneCare.
Your OneCare subscription will not expire. Starting last month, Microsoft began extending OneCare subscriptions automatically for six months for free. You’ll get an email to confirm that before your subscription expires. Here are the details of the free extension.
You are not obligated to continue using OneCare. You can switch to another program whenever you choose. Here is information about the security software on the market now.
I’ve […] continued
June 19, 2009
MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS
On June 23, Microsoft will release a beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials, the free antivirus program that is replacing Windows Live OneCare.
Microsoft is now allowing journalists to write about the new program so a flurry of stories appeared today from people who have been testing it for the last month. All the news is good. Microsoft Security Essentials is a small download (4-5Mb for Vista), it provides excellent protection, and it has virtually no impact on system performance, even on underpowered computers. It is reportedly designed to disappear completely (not even an icon in Windows 7), with […] continued
June 14, 2009
FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT MICROSOFT ANTIVIRUS
Windows Live OneCare will be completely off the market at the end of June (although Microsoft will continue to issue virus definition updates for another year). When Microsoft announced that it was killing OneCare, the company added that it would be releasing free antivirus software in 2009 based on its enterprise-level Forefront security engine. No further information has been forthcoming.
Last week, Reuters leaked a small bit of information: Microsoft is testing an early version of the product with its own employees and it will “soon” make a trial version available.
This will be a very lightweight focused […] continued
March 11, 2009
BACKUPS – SOFTWARE FOR DATA BACKUPS
Previously:
BACKUPS – INTRODUCTION
BACKUPS – DATA vs. DRIVE IMAGE
BACKUPS – EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES
I’ll mention a few ways that you can make a backup copy of your important files, but this is necessarily just an overview. Remember, the important things are:
(1) you have a copy of your data stored somewhere besides its primary storage on your computer;
(2) you know what program you’re using to make the backup copy and you set it up correctly; and
(3) you know how to tell if the backup copy is being updated periodically.
With that in mind, here are […] continued
February 10, 2009
CANCELLING ONECARE
You don’t have to leave Windows Live OneCare right away. It’s not broken and you don’t have to replace it. It will be supported until December 2010. Still, we can’t feel completely comfortable with a product that’s being taken off the market. You should consider switching to a current product when your OneCare subscription expires.
If you decide to leave OneCare, you have to cancel your subscription, especially if you bought it online. In that case Microsoft has your credit card number and will automatically renew unless you take steps ahead of time.
The official way to cancel is […] continued
February 9, 2009
SECURITY PROGRAMS – SMALL BUSINESS SERVER
Small businesses running Microsoft Small Business Server have not had an easy time finding antivirus software. Security suites designed for large companies are frequently complex, difficult to install and configure, and all too often require an inordinate amount of handholding.
On the other hand, every small business discovers a shortcoming of security software that is managed individually by each user: there’s always someone who doesn’t pay attention. As a consultant collecting an hourly fee, I’m reluctant to log onto each workstation in a client’s office individually every couple of weeks to check whether updates have been installed and whether […] continued
February 5, 2009
SECURITY PROGRAMS – BACKGROUND
Many people have strong religious convictions about antivirus and security programs for PCs. I’m guilty of that too but let me try to step back and give you a reasonably unbiased overview of where we are in 2009.
For the last few years, I’ve been recommending Microsoft Windows Live OneCare to anyone looking for direction. It takes over several important chores – antivirus and spyware protection, backups, installation of updates to Windows and Office, defragging the hard drive, cleaning up temporary files – and makes them relatively simple, with a minimum of fuss and a small impact on system […] continued
December 8, 2008
SBS 2008 – ONECARE POSTSCRIPT
One glitch in the SBS 2008 migration nagged at me – it didn’t make sense that the computers with the individual version of Windows Live OneCare were not reporting in to the SBS 2008 console, which tracks the security status of all the workstations on the network.
This is a sample of the new console for managing workstations in SBS 2008.
A handful of the computers running OneCare were able to get through and the server reported they were secure. I looked in vain for firewall exceptions for ports or services that were different on those.
It […] continued
December 5, 2008
SBS 2008 – MIGRATION GLITCHES
Let me leave a few notes behind about some of the glitches during the migration from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008. I don’t have many answers but perhaps it will help someone to know that I’m able to commiserate with them. (Loyal clients – this is not aimed at you and it won’t help you get your work done. I’ll be back to general interest topics next week!)
As background: I was migrating an SBS 2003 server with a very basic configuration – no ISA, no use of Sharepoint, a single NIC and external firewall, and no particular pre-existing issues. […] continued
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