Windows Live OneCare 2.5 enters public beta

OneCare, the anti-virus/tune-up/back-up all in one program, has just opened up a public beta of version 2.5 (current released version is 2.0.2500.22, on my machine, anyway).  Anyone can go to Microsoft Connect and sign up and try the new beta, you don't need to be signed in to get to the page:

Sign up for Windows Live OneCare 2.5 beta

Looks like there's quite a list of countries available, no US only this time.  Not sure what the changes are from the released version, and there's no information about changes on the public Connect site.

 

Source- Liveside

Get Green and Stay Green with Windows Live OneCare

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Today - the Windows Live OneCare Team is kicking off a brand new campaign: Get Green Stay Green.

The Get Green Stay Green campaign is designed to make sure Windows Live OneCare users are staying "green" - meaning their PC Health Status. Here is Amy Barzdukas, Senior Direct here at Microsoft, to talk about Windows Live OneCare and keeping your PC safe. Amy leads the Windows Live OneCare Team.

Video: Microsoft Windows Live OneCare

I use Windows Live OneCare on my 3 personal home PCs - which are connected together in an OneCare Circle (you can have up to 3 PCs in an OneCare Circle). This lets me manage the PC Health for all my personal PCs. If any of my PCs in my OneCare Circle have their PC Health Status change to yellow or red, I can quickly see which PC it is and why. I can then do what is needed to bring that PC back to green. Keeping all my PCs green is very important to me. If any of my PCs slip into yellow or red - I fix it immediately.

I have a few tips to share from personal experience in keeping my PCs green in my OneCare Circle that you can use to help keep your own PCs green:

• Make sure you have your PCs backed up. Windows Live OneCare can backup your PCs automatically to a centralized point on your home network. In my case, I have all my home PCs backed up to my Windows Home Server which Windows Live OneCare detects.
• Have your firewall turned on. Windows Live OneCare can maintain and monitor your firewall - protecting your PC from attacks. Even though I'm behind a pretty secure router - I have the firewall turned on for all PCs in my OneCare Circle to add an extra level of protection.
• Make sure Protection Plus (malware definitions) are up to date. This ensures your PC is protected from the latest internet garbage.
• Do a PC Tune-up! Windows Live OneCare can do regular Tune-ups that can ensure your PC is running at its best.
• Make sure your PC has the latest updates from Windows Update. Important updates are key to ensuring your PC stays green.

Again, keeping my home PCs green is very important to me and the above tips help me to do so.

Do you have any tips for Windows Live OneCare and keeping your PC green? I'd love to hear them. Leave a comment below. I would be particularly interested in hearing about how you use Windows Live OneCare to ensure your PCs are backed up.

Users can also visit http://www.getgreenstaygreen.com/ and find out what it takes to keep their PC "green".

Source- Windows Vista Blog

Microsoft plan to release OneCare update on April to fix "at risk" on Ad-Aware

Microsoft MVP and a Lavasoft Consultant, Janie Whitty (aka CalamityJane) informed us at Calendar of Updates forum the following:

Just to let you know, that Lavasoft did contact Microsoft about this when the January update came out and MS responded that they will be removing the "at risk" program incompatibility with Ad-Aware in their April update. I posted a notice about it here:
Microsoft Live OneCare Conflict
to be corrected in April update
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=16899

More info at the above link or at Calendar of Updates. The above is about OneCare flagging some applications as "incompatible" with OneCare which shows RED status or the system with OneCare is at risk due to incompability on some products which includes Ad-Aware by Lavasoft, AVG Antispyware by AVG Technologies and I believe McAfee SiteAdvisor.

Source- MSMVP's blog