Microsoft being a Onecare
All right, I know it's good to that Microsoft provides a free malware scanning utility and that I'm being a bit of a duck to have a go at them, but nevertheless, the Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner is a bad idea that should be taken down fast.
For starters, it uses an ActiveX control - Internet Explorer required in other words - that's annoyingly hard to install. You get warnings galore from Windows 7's UAC and IE about popups and do you really really really want to install something that has the potential to roger your system well and truly?
That's not what a non-technical user wants to see, especially if s/he thinks the computer in question has been compromised via the Internet.
Does it work then? No idea yet, because this is far as I got:
Ah yes, good old error number 0x0C600C03. Of course. Tells you exactly what went wrong, doesn't it?
And why is this done over HTTP and not secured HTTPS anyway?
See that little "Love it? Tell your friends" exhortation to email your friends about the scanner? Yep, very bad idea that too, as from now on, malware writers will start spamming about OneCare safety scanner, with the payload likely to be something you really don't want on your computer.
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Comment by steve, on 13-Nov-2009 16:35
You have to seriously wonder about the depth of thought they gave to this.....especially the "email all your friends" thing.....
That would be enough to shake one's faith in this tool right there.
Comment by Ragnor, on 13-Nov-2009 17:17
OneCare was pretty sub par, I'm surprised anyone is using it still since it's practically abandoned.
Microsoft Security Essentials superseded it and it's a much improved offering.
Comment by Dave, on 16-Nov-2009 13:54
0x0C600C03=disable your installed AV while running ANY online AV scanner.
Comment by Marius, on 17-Nov-2009 02:29
It's amazing how an article like this could have been posted on Geekzone. Onecase is way out-of-date and Security Essentials is there to replace it. SE ranks very well even when compared with paid-for products (norton and alike).
Comment by Sean, on 10-Dec-2009 22:14
As a fulltime computer geek, I cringe whenever I see a copy of OneCare installed on somebody's computer. They are few and far between though I must admint...
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Comment by Bill Bennett, on 13-Nov-2009 16:31
You've got to ask yourself "why bother" with the safety scanner when there's Security Essentials and Defender?