Microsoft Updates OneCare
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Beta 2.0 version adds security and management functions to software-and-service product for small businesses.
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(InfoWorld) - Nearly a year after Microsoft introduced Windows Live OneCare, the company's first foray into the security market is still getting low marks from analysts and users. A recent report comparing the antivirus products of various vendors ranked Microsoft's product at the bottom in terms of detecting potential security threats. At the same time, users are complaining that OneCare, which includes firewall, antivirus, backup, and antispyware software, quarantines the entire mail store of their Outlook and Outlook Express programs, making it impossible for them to retrieve e-mail. AV-Comparatives, a project in Austria overseen by security researcher Andreas Clementi, published the antivirus comparison report, which also looked at products from Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, BitDefender, Fortinet, F-Secure, and several other antivirus products from smaller vendors. In detecting Windows viruses, worms, macros, scripts, and other OS threats, Microsoft ranked last out of the 15 vendors tested, detecting them 91 percent of the time. G Data Software AG's Anti-Virus Kit (AVK) ranked first with 99.6 percent detection, while products from three vendors -- Kaspersky Anti-Virus, MicroWorld Technologies eScan, and F-Secure Anti-Virus -- tied for second with 99 percent detection. TrustPort Antivirus Workstation from AED came in third with 98.9 percent detection. In preventing intrusion through backdoors, Trojans and in other malware detection, Windows OneCare also ranked last out of 13 vendors, with 79.6 percent detection. TrustPort came in first at 99.5 percent detection; AVK came in second with 99.4 percent detection; and AVIRA GmbH's AntiVir Personal Edition Premium came in third with 98.9 percent detection. If ranking low in its rates of malware and virus detection isn't enough to irk users, a recent update to the product has been quarantining the Outlook.PST file, which stores mail in Outlook and Outlook Express, users reported recently on a Microsoft Windows user form. "This is the most unacceptable act Microsoft has ever committed," groused one user on the forum. "I run a small business, and I am screwed. I have no way to respond to e-mails because I made the mistake of trusting Microsoft ... and all of my e-mails and contacts are gone." Microsoft confirmed the problem Friday and said it will update the Windows Live OneCare engine to fix the problem as part of its monthly patch release cycle. The company also offered the following step-by-step fix to recover lost e-mail in the meantime: *Â Close Outlook or Outlook Express *Â Click change OneCare settings in the main OneCare user interface *Â Click on the viruses and spyware tab *Â Click on the quarantine button, and then select the pst or dbx file, and then click on restore. To ensure that the problem does not continue until the next update, Microsoft said users should also do the following: *Â Click change OneCare setting in the main user interface *Â Click viruses and spyware tab *Â Click on the exclusions button *Â Click on the add folder button *Â Navigate to the specific folder that contains the .dbx or .pst file to be excluded. *Â Click OK.
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OCTOBER 18, 2004  - Microsoft Corp.&#39;s move to a monthly patch-release cycle one year ago this month has made it easier to install security updates for Windows and other products, IT managers said last weekâeven as they were greeted with a
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After a whopping twelve security updates last month, March will bring Windows users a welcome sigh of relief: Microsoft has no patches planned for next week. The company will, however, release a number of non-security updates; 2 will appear on Windows Update and 4 on Microsoft update.
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Microsoft Corp has signed a new 500m pound ($920m) contract to supply a desktop operating system and software to the UK&#39;s National Health Service, including provisions to develop a tailored interface for clinical systems.
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Microsoft has released its last regular security update of the year which includes five new patches, all rated &#39;important&#39;, and the reissue of a &#39;critical&#39; patch after extensive revisions.
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Microsoft has released fresh security updates for Office, and an update to its MSN messenger application. The MSN Messenger update brings the product to version 4.0.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has finally broken its silence on the timing of the release of theÂ highly anticipated Windows Vista Service Pack 1, saying the software updates should be in final release in the first quarter of next year with the company shipping off a beta next month to 10,000 to 15,000 testers. The company stressed that SP1, "is not a delivery vehicle for new features," said David Zipkin, senior product manager for Microsoft. SP1 will include OS updates strictly to fix bugs and enhance the performance, reliability, and application compatibility of Vista, he said. Zipkin acknowledged that Microsoft has "a reputation of sneaking fixes into service packs in the past." For example, Windows XP SP 2 included a host of new security features after XP was exploited by the Blaster worm and other serious attacks. However, the service pack also was incompatible with many applications running on XP, which caused massive headaches for a lot of users. Vista SP1 will not break any applications already running on the OS. "Anything that works on Vista is going to keep on working on SP1," he said. Vista SP1 will include the 20 updates for the OS already released over Microsoft's automatic update services as well as ones that are new to the update. In all, thousands of Vista files will be changed as part of the release, Zipkin said. However, Vista SP1 will be a significantly smaller download than Windows XP SP2 was, he said. XP SP2 was more than 100MB in size, while Vista SP1 will be about 50MB, he said. Microsoft will deliver SP1 over its automatic update services to consumers running Windows Vista. Business customers can use this service as well or roll out a stand-alone version of SP1, which has a bigger footprint, through whatever software a company uses for pushing updates to desktops, Zipkin said. The stand-alone version of SP1 will be bigger than the one automatically pushed out through Windows update services for several reasons, one of which is it contains all of the 36 language updates, Zipkin said. The SP1 pushed out over the Web can detect what language a PC is running and only install that update. Specifically, SP1 will fix performance features, such as allowing for the computer to resume functionality after being in the Hibernate or Standby state, and also reduce the time it takes between a user hitting CTRL/ALT/DELETE to get the log-in prompt so they can log on to Windows, Zipkin said. Microsoft also in SP1 will improve the performance of Internet Explorer 7 to speed Javascript processing and reduce CPU utilization so sites running AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) can run faster, he said. On the reliability side, the update will reduce the likelihood of Vista crashing from a vague "search protocol handler" error message that users have reported happens frequently, Zipkin said. The company also fixed other common crashes users have reported through Microsoft's automatic reporting service. Many businesses have held off on updating to Vista until the arrival of SP1. Zipkin said that while Microsoft supports their decision, the company is recommending they test applications with Vista now so that they are ready to deploy immediately when SP1 is available. For consumers that may be waiting, Microsoft recommends they go ahead and install Vista or purchase a Vista machine now, and they will receive SP1 via automatic updates. To date, Microsoft reports that about 60 million consumer licenses for Vista have been sold, and 42 million licenses have been sold to businesses through its volume licensing program.
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Microsoft this week began distributing its latest update to the Windows XP operating system to home users through its Automatic Updates feature.
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In sharp contrast to last month&#39;s barrage of critical patches, Microsoft has offered up just one &quot;important&quot; fix for users to implement in its scheduled round of security updates for November.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft released a beta version of its next-generation Windows Live OneCare 2.0 desktop security and management package on July 11, touting a number of improvements made to the product, including the ability to monitor multiple PCs on a local network. Available for free download on the company's Web site, the combined software and service offering -- which is aimed specifically at consumers and small businesses -- also adds new functionality for backing-up data and protecting against malware attacks. Introduced roughly six months after the launch of Microsoft's OneCare 1.5 release in January 2007, the beta -- which like its predecessors includes firewall, AV (anti-virus), backup, and anti-spyware programs -- boasts security improvements, including new tools for locking-down wireless networks and an automated, self-adjusting firewall. Among the new management features being introduced in the product are support for the sharing of printers among multiple computers, a start time optimizer for speeding computer boot cycles, and an online backup system for photos and other images. As part of the service portion of the offering, Microsoft said it has added more proactive system fixes and end-user configuration suggestions to the package along with monthly reports on important computer events or recommended upgrades. The centralized backup feature claims the ability for users to configure and monitor automated storage controls for all PCs covered under a lone OneCare subscription -- which can cover up to three machines -- in a single network location. The newest iteration of the package also adds support for 64-bit PC systems. Microsoft, whose security software product business remains in its early stages, is the third major company to release a new version of its consumer endpoint protection tools in the last month alone as both McAfee and Symantec have also revamped their competing applications. The software giant gave no indication as to when it might push OneCare 2.0 from beta into production but said it is actively seeking feedback from users who decide to try out the package. Since its initial launch in May 2006 OneCare has drawn mixed reviews from end users and security researchers. While many experts have said that the product's pricing -- $49.95 for protection and management of up to three PCs for one year -- has drawn the interest of many consumers, the product has fared poorly against its rivals in some head-to-head bake-offs. In such a comparison study published in March 2007 by researchers at AV-Comparatives -- a project based in Austria and overseen by security researcher Andreas Clementi -- OneCare performed poorly next to similar products made by Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, BitDefender, Fortinet, F-Secure, and several other anti-virus providers. According to the report, OneCare ranked last among the products tested in detecting Windows viruses, worms, macros, scripts, and other OS threats, detecting 91 percent of the threats. In stopping systems intrusion through backdoors, Trojan viruses and other malware attacks, OneCare also ranked last out of 13 vendors with 79.6 percent detection. Despite any perceived shortcomings in OneCare, at least one industry analyst said that Microsoft has had a significant impact on the consumer AV landscape for its relatively short run on the market, specifically around pricing. By offering coverage for multiple PCs for much less than it would have cost using older products from market leaders Symantec and McAfee, Microsoft has forced those companies and others to drop their own pricing and changed consumer perceptions about the cost of AV tools, said Natalie Lambert, analyst for Forrester Research. "The market is dramatically changing, and Microsoft is part of reason for that," Lambert said. "If you look at demand, consumers are not willing to pay for security software as they were in the past, they've found ways to get these programs for free, and Microsoft started some of that activity by driving prices down." In terms of functionality, Lambert said that OneCare 2.0 appears to have pulled Microsoft closer to some of its rivals, although she does not believe that most consumers are ready to use all of the tools, such as centralized backup for multiple PCs. Instead of buying off-the-shelf AV products as they may have done in years past, the analyst said that consumers are increasingly using programs bundled for free in their PCs or signing up for services offered by their ISPs, many of which are offered at no charge. "Partnerships are more essential than ever before in this market," she said. "Winning this space will come down to who has the most and best partnerships in the future; consumers want full functionality, but they don't want to pay for it, and the vendors will need to get money from someplace, and it will be from the PC manufacturers and ISPs."
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Monthly security updates include IE, Windows Media, and Visual Studio fixes.
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A software patch to protect your system is available from Microsoft.
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Microsoft was not alone to release a security update to one of their applications this week (they updated the firewall, which was shipped with Windows XP).
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Least among equals Microsoft's Live OneCare placed last in a test on the effectiveness of anti-virus security packages by Austrian researchers.â¦
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In sharp contrast to last month&#39;s barrage of critical patches, Microsoft today offered up just one &quot;important&quot; fix for users to implement in its scheduled round of security updates for November.
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A number of changes and updates are coming to Vista by way of the upcoming Service Pack 1. We took a look through Microsoft's change log to see just what's new.