OneCare Live: Microsoft's security suite

The SP2 fix for Windows XP is still not enough for the computer to be safe, but waiting for the powerful security tools of Windows Vista takes a lot of time. Furthermore, warnings about Windows vulnerabilities are being discovered more and more.

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Main interface of OneCare

Currently, OneCare has released a beta version.In this version, spyware protection is not yet available, perhaps this feature will be available in the next or official beta. OneCare supports 2-way firewall, protection and prevention. Real-time virus, backup important files and automatically calibrate the device's performance.

Firewall function

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Advance Settings feature in OneCare firewall

OneCare firewall protects computer systems against external attacks like Windows Firewall in SP2.But OneCare is more powerful, has the ability to manage which programs are allowed to connect to the Internet, just like firewalls from other vendors.Turning off the firewall means that all programs can access the Internet, but still has ports to protect against external attacks.

In testing, to verify the basic functions of the firewall by checking some standard ports.As a result, OneCare's firewall only opens one RPC ( Remote Procedure Call ) port, which is often used by Blaster worms.When the firewall is turned off, file sharing ports 139 and 445 are still open, very dangerous - hackers can attack through these ports.Microsoft says this is a programming error and will quickly fix this.Before installing OneCare, Microsoft reassessed that computers can share and access web-based information very well.After installation, the ability to share files is still good but cannot access the files on other computers.This is another error of OneCare.

By default, OneCare's firewall allows legitimate programs to access the Internet without confirmation (these programs are listed by Microsoft in the list) and automatically update the list of programs. this legal.When certain programs are blocked, a warning will appear and you can change the program's Internet access again in the future.Users can also choose to allow all programs to access the Internet or give warnings for the first time for all new programs to be used for the first time, but you should use the default mode. of OneCare.

Another defect of OneCare, OneCare's firewall also has no "harmful" protection techniques against viruses, worms, trojans . These "vandals" can easily evade these. management program like firewall.Through testing, we easily removed the firewall by "killing" processes or turning off OneCare firewall services - this could be a vulnerability that worms, viruses, and trojans easily exploit.

Anti-virus

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Warning when detecting viruses

OneCare's antivirus module is built from the anti-virus technology that Microsoft acquired from GeCAD in 2003. This module checks samples of viruses, programs, and firewalls . updated based on Internet connections and this information are updated hourly.By default, this module manages all accessed files, cleans infected files and inserts files that contain viruses.

However, OneCare does not have a scheduled scan that must be used with Tune-up (discussed later).Virus scanning of OneCare is similar to other antivirus products.By default, OneCare will scan the entire hard drive, not removable drives, although you can choose manually.To isolate infected files, OneCare simply renames these files - the virus still exists on the file.This may be an insecure method, but it is much faster than other programs.

Data backup

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The wizard helps simple data backup

Software cannot protect computers against disasters, so backing up data is essential.OneCare automatically processes and scans files with changed data and is available for backup.OneCare also offers the ability to search for music, photos, documents and other email or data types . and OneCare also backs up files on the desktop or in the My Documents folder .

Users can select file types or add files or folders manually to the backup list.In this beta version, OneCare only supports the optical CD-RW and DVD storage media.OneCare provides a simple backup wizard to CD / DVD.However, there will be difficulties backing up external hard drives, network drives, or high-capacity USB Flash drives.With the right equipment, the backup process takes place quickly and simply.By default, OneCare will conduct a full backup of all data on the computer once a year.

OneCare can also recover all or specified files, backed up on the same computer or another computer.However, it is not easy to recover older versions of a file with OneCare, although these files are not deleted but are stored and compressed in zip format.Unfortunately, OneCare does not provide a way to access it, and users have to find these files manually.Since these files are stored in zip format, users can use zip extracting facilities such as Winzip, Winrar . to open them.

Schedule and optimize with Tune-up

Tune-up is a module that allows you to combine features and work together.This module periodically defragments the hard disk, runs a virus checking program, identifies the files to be backed up and checks for updated software packages.Tune-up is also capable of finding and removing unnecessary files like the Windows XP Disk Cleanup features.By default, Tune-up will run once a month, but you can also schedule it to your liking.

To install OneCare, you need to remove all the security tools that are running on your computer, but in fact, OneCare can't be as powerful as the powerful toolset like Symantec's, MacAfee . Firewalls. protects the system against malicious software using Internet connections as well as preventing external attacks, but still contains errors.The antivirus program has not been tested yet, but it also seems "weak".Although OneCare's backup capability is a good idea, the ability to support backup media is limited.Finally, antispyware tools are not yet available.Because this is only the first beta version of OneCare, there are many limitations, hopefully the next official version or beta will make significant progress.You can download and try OneCare (beta) for free atwww.windowsonecare.com

Minh Phuc