OneCare purchase | The Coffeehouse

Another_Darren
... than you can shake a stick at

So I've been beta testing OneCare and found it to be really usefully and non-obtrusive like so security packages.

I went to buy it as I got a discount offer but I can only subscribe!

Other AV vendors offer subscriptions or purchases, what about MS? If the only option is to subscribe then I'll look for something else.

ScanIAm
On a scale of 1 to 10, people are stupid.

You are subscribing to the updates for 1 year (for 3 machines, I might add). It makes no sense to buy an AV product as is with no chance of updates since things change over time.

If it makes you feel better, you are buying the software outright, and you get 1 year of updates for free Smiley

eagle

You can't buy beer, you can only rent it.

Massif
aim stupidly high, expect to fail often.

I think he's more annoyed that the subsription is automatically charged again at the end of the year, and he has to cancel it. Whereas with a purchase you don't have to remember to unsubscribe if you uninstall.

Another_Darren
... than you can shake a stick at

Massif wrote:
I think he's more annoyed that the subsription is automatically charged again at the end of the year, and he has to cancel it. Whereas with a purchase you don't have to remember to unsubscribe if you uninstall.

Correct. Why can I not buy a one year subscription as in buy. Say I wanted to purchase a years subscription for my Dad as a gift? I can't. I can go the shops and buy McAffee, Norton, etc with a years subscription to updates. (not that I would buy that crap)

amotif
No Silver Bullet

Another_Darren wrote:
Say I wanted to purchase a years subscription for my Dad as a gift? I can't.

Can't you go to Amazon or some other retailer and buy it in "box" form? Would that not work?

eagle

I've seen the boxes of OneCare at BestBuy, but I don't know what's inside.

The subscription model works for ISP's, Cable TV, moble phone, so why not OneCare?

Just note on your calendar the day you need to cancel before your credit card is charged and if you got it for your Dad you would have needed to use your credit card.

irascian
Irascible Ian

Another_Darren wrote:
Why can I not buy a one year subscription as in buy. Say I wanted to purchase a years subscription for my Dad as a gift? I can't. I can go the shops and buy McAffee, Norton, etc with a years subscription to updates. (not that I would buy that crap)

You can do the same with OneCare. I just ordered a "boxed copy" from dabs

cescotto

Another_Darren wrote:
So I've been beta testing OneCare and found it to be really usefully and non-obtrusive like so security packages.

I went to buy it as I got a discount offer but I can only subscribe!

Other AV vendors offer subscriptions or purchases, what about MS? If the only option is to subscribe then I'll look for something else.

I shouldn't say this on a MS forum but you should choose the AVs by comparing detection, not the interface. KAV6 has the best detection (you can get a free version if you download AOL Active Virus Shield that is a rebranded KAV (it's clean, it doesn't come with crapware)), NOD32 has the best heuristics. KAV6 (pro or home, I don't remember) that can rely on additional NTFS streams to store file checksums to avoid scanning the files again if they haven't changed has usually the best detection speed and since it uses rootkit technology viruses usually have an hard time trying to hide or disable it.

You can find the detection tests here: http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=82&mnu=82

AndyC

cescotto wrote:

KAV6 (pro or home, I don't remember) that can rely on additional NTFS streams to store file checksums to avoid scanning the files

Is it just me or does that "feature" scream out to be exploited by viruses?

cescotto

AndyC wrote:

cescotto wrote:

KAV6 (pro or home, I don't remember) that can rely on additional NTFS streams to store file checksums to avoid scanning the files

Is it just me or does that "feature" scream out to be exploited by viruses?

I doubt so, KAV monitors the changes to those streams (as I said it relies on rootkit technology to prevent viruses messing with it).