defender beta 2

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Guest

I love it. Sadly as I am in the UK while I have downloaded the program onto
two laptops, and it seems to be doing everything right, I cannot at present
buy a licence to keep it running. Will it REALLY go belly up after 90 days?
Will a licence be available in Britain in due course?
 
Geoff,
Are you actually asking about Windows®Defender, as it's a free product
available to licensed Windows users through the Windows Genuine Advantage
validation program? (so paying, sad to say, isn't an option, though we
love the £)

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/about/faq.mspx
"Windows Defender (Beta 2), subsequent beta versions, and the final release
version will each be available at no additional charge for currently
licensed Windows customers. You will be required to verify that you are
using genuine Windows through a quick and easy online process called
validation."

Instead, perhaps your asking about subscription based Windows Live OneCare.
That shipping released product is available for trial but does expire after
a 90 day period (version 1.1 - subscribable by US based customers only), or
as a 180 day trial in the International Beta version (v1.5) which was
recently made available. 1.5 includes a subset of Defender within it's
interface rather than as a separate product, it supports Vista, and is
available from here:

http://ideas.live.com/
 
Yes it was the Live OneCare - though it produces an icon that says Defender,
and clearly the two run together. So what is the best thing to do, a systems
restore to go back to the position before I installed the trial OneCare and
then look at the international version?

Geoffrey
 
No, don't restore, "just" uninstall the version 1.1 and then re-install the
1.5. You should be aware that this sometimes involves more than just an
Add/Remove though. I just did a complete *careful* removal, starting with
Run "net stop winss" then ensuring the OneCare service is stopped, then
shutting down any running OneCare process via taskmgr, then using
Add/Remove, then used an uninstall utility provided by OneCare Support,
then manually deleted registry entries to effect a complete removal. Talk
about a kluged up uninstall. Somebody's been taking lessons from
Symantec's Norton. Embarrassing for a Ms product, IMO.

Here are some pointers to the first second and third steps, but since
you'll be re-installing WLOC you may be OK with just the first (Add/Remove)
and possibly the second steps without the need for regediting (like you
would, if you were to install another totally unrelated AV)

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=663803&SiteID=2
http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=824105&SiteID=2
see RichardRichard's regedit post for Panda install

Finally, Peer Support site for WLOC:
http://forums.microsoft.com/windowsonecare/default.aspx?siteid=2
 
Dave,

Remember that Geoffrey is simply needing to uninstall the OneCare 1.0/1.1
Trial version, really the current version of WLOC, not several previous Beta
revisions which is why all the special cleaning tools were originally
created. Most uninstalls at this point work just fine by simply using
Add/Remove programs.

Though the v1.5 is another Beta, it's so similar internally to the current
1.1 that it's also unlikely to create many real problems. There have been a
few issues with specific items like PPTP VPN on Vista, but installation
problems are generally issues with the PC itself which simply haven't been
detected with anything currently installed. If 1.1 was installed with little
trouble it's likely that v1.5 will too.

The only known exception is if OneCare 1.0 was installed before or while an
upgrade from Windows XP to Vista was performed and then an install of v1.5
Beta is attempted. This situation has created error messages in some cases,
so maybe some leftovers of the old installation were a problem in this case.
I've upgraded Vista from RC1 (clean install) to RC2 with OneCare v1.5 Beta
installed without issue though.

Bitman
 
I have now used the remove programs system for the trial OneCare, and then
installed the international 180 day trial of version 1.5. So far, so good,
and no problems. The New version bullied me into upgrading to IE 7 and I
have done so, although an earlier IE7 gave me grief as it was incompatabile
with some of the banking programs I use, Wells Fargo and Fidelity. But I
have not hit the skids yet. Perhaps because I am naive, and have always
backed up by either copying whole folders to an external hard drive, or used
a clone program to copy an entire hard disk, I find the backup in OneCare
odd, but that may be my fault. It is not, however, intuitive, and I think it
will baffle people less IT knowledgable than I am, - and I am in the top 10%
!.

thank you for all the help

Geoffrey
 
Hi OCB;

Yes, I agree Geoff will probably have few problems with his simple WLOC
upgrade by un-installing using only Add/Remove... but for the rest of the
world apparently the "Team" misses the point. An un-install utility should
do exactly that, a thorough un-install including all registry entries that
were placed there by virtue of the original install. It should not require
manual regedit contortions to remove every last littered trace of the
product so that life can go on. Surely it's recognize that not only are
people upgrading, but some are moving on to other vendors. When this
creates problems for users then something is missing in the developer's
mindset, and I believe it reflects poorly on the product in general...
witness Norton's current reputation as being extremely difficult to remove.

I carefully followed all the assorted removal steps that have been posted
in disparate places across multiple newsgroups both public and private and
still found my registry populated with OneCare references that required a
manual removal to clean out. Since I'm one of the group that will be
trialing other vendors, I want no leftovers on my plate to interfere with
additional security trials after OneCare became history. Why not just do
it the right way the first time?
 
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