Archive for category PC Health
OneCare Cleanup Utility and other OneCare tools
Posted by Mark Raborn in PC Health on 2008/04/25
OneCare is an all in one computer care product created by Microsoft. For the Administrator, there are some special tools relating to OneCare we should know about for our toolkits.
please read on for more information…
All in one computer care describes a bundle of products packaged together to protect, secure, oversee, backup, restore and advise users about their computer systems. OneCare is one of these suites. It is a *wonder* of modern computing and offered (in addtion to competitor’s suites) in a market where software suites are becoming able to heal and care for our computers.
OneCare is a very good product. Personally, I highly recommend it. I have been testing and using this product since before it’s 1.0 release and now (at the 2.0 release), it is a truly mature product.
As with any firewall, malware, spyware product, OneCare generally needs to be in sole command of PC secuirty. It does not easily share it’s real estate with other Security/Malware type programs. If there are competing products installed when you sit down to install *any* PC Security Suite, it is best to remove the previous one completely before installing the one of your choice.
The tricky part with OEM machines (i.e. machines built by manufacturers such as DELL, Hewlett Packard, Sony, Toshiba) is that some of the manufacturers install security and protection software that may not be seen by the user (or at least…. not obviously seen). Manufacturers can install their own PC security software prior to shipment. Although, this is an attempt by the manufacturer to simplify the user experience or help the user in some way (such as adding security features), it often does not turn out that way.
The short story is that with certain manufacturer software in place, the installation of a PC Security Suite (such as OneCare) can fail. If it does fail, sometimes an un-installation is necessary of the PC Security Suite you were trying to install. That is where the tools above come in very handy for OneCare. Here they are again:
ONE CARE DOWNLOADS
If you do run into an issue, and that issue is severe enough to prompt you to uninstall OneCare, the OneCare Cleanup Utility will help you do that.
The next step (given our example) would be to research your PC to discover just how the manufacturer’s software may be affecting the installation, turn off – disable - uninstall the features in the manufacturers software that are causing the OneCare installation to fail and then…. reinstall OneCare.
You can get help from us here at WIGITAL
You can also follow this blog post at the OneCare Live Space to contact OneCare support and learn more about the specifics of getting help with OneCare.
http://windowsonecare.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!C29701F38A601141!4866.entry
Will write more on PC Health soon.
Thank you for reading.
Contact us at WIGITAL if you have needs or questions about computing. We’re here to help.