Microsoft Not Finished Buying Security Vendors
From the files of "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" (for fans of really old Saturday Night Live episodes),
here’s an article telling us that Microsoft will continue to buy security companies in its quest to build a well-rounded offering.
Goodness! Next thing you know, we’ll find out that Redmond has business interests outside of Windows and Office...
This does present a good opportunity, though, to pass on some revealing reader feedback about Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft’s competitor to Symantec’s Norton Antivirus. Apparently the two aren’t playing together well. Robbi writes:
"I have been an advocate of Symantec’s products for years and have never had it fail me. Recently I had to purchase a new computer and I, of course, put on my Norton SystemWorks software, including the Internet Security & Firewall package. I then went to install the new MSN Messenger off the Web page and with it was a free trial of Microsoft Live OneCare, so I thought I’d try it out. It worked fine for a couple of days until I put on another program and had to restart the computer; that is when things started going sour. Every time the computer restarted, I would get a blue screen with error messages about the Norton GoBack program failing. It would take me literally an hour to get it to boot fully, usually with several restores (GoBack) until I could get to a point that would work. It is a nightmare. So now I am extremely careful about how I put on new programs and restart my system. I would unload the Live OneCare, but I like the back-up program that came with it and Windows Defender for the anti-spyware.
"The back-up program in OneCare is much easier to work with than Norton’s. Both of them run great as long as you don’t do a manual live update on Norton SystemWorks because now I come up with errors on the system redirector files. When my subscription is up on Norton, it is going to be very difficult to decide whether I buy both or ditz one or the other of them."
Posted by Lee Pender on August 03, 2006