Today, quite a few households have wireless networks that are unsecure - wide open for anyone to connect to. This could be a huge problem especially if PC’s in that home are sharing important family files - like photos and documents - that shouldn’t be seen by strangers. In Windows Live OneCare 2.0, a new feature is coming that will let users of Windows Live OneCare secure an unsecure wireless network in their home. I decided to give this new feature a try and share my experience.

Once I connected to the unsecure wireless network, I launched Windows Live OneCare and was alerted by Windows Live OneCare that I was on an unsecure wireless network and that it can help me to secure it.  I clicked “Turn-on” and started the process. Here is a video demo of me going through the process of securing an unsecure wireless network:

Video: Demo: OneCare Wireless Security

I’d like to take a few moments to elaborate on a few things from the video. First off: the router I used to test this was *not* connected to the Internet. Most users who will use this feature to secure their router will have it connected to the Internet. Once going through the wizard to secure the router with Windows Live OneCare - the user and any other PC’s on the home network should be able to access the Internet just fine. There will be no issue securing a router connected to a WAN (WAN being your ISP for Internet access).

To secure your wireless network - you are required to connect via cable (Cat-5) - which is why I needed a Cat-5 cable in my video to proceed with the process of securing my router. This is important as this prevents anyone from connecting to your network wirelessly and using Windows Live OneCare to wipe your wireless networking settings with their own settings. This is what the OneCare Team calls the “proof of ownership” check.

In securing your router - it does not completely wipe out all your settings. The settings that Windows Live OneCare changes during the securing process are the SSID, enabling of WEP security, & setting of the WEP key. After Windows Live OneCare secures your router, you are given instructions on how to set up other PC’s on your home network with the new settings Windows Live OneCare enabled on your router.

This is looking to be a very useful and interesting feature for home users who are unfamiliar (and maybe uncomfortable) getting onto their router and configuring it for secure wireless capabilities.

There is a wiki setup over on Channel 9 with informaton on this feature of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 worth checking out as well.

Today, quite a few households have wireless networks that are unsecure - wide open for anyone to connect to. This could be a huge problem especially if PC’s in that home are sharing important family files - like photos and documents - that shouldn’t be Read More……(read more)

In my previous demo of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (beta) I was pretty general about its features. But I’d like to dive a little deeper into some of the enhancements and features coming with Windows Live OneCare’s next major release. Coming with Windows Live OneCare 2.0 will be a brand new way to backup your most important and precious digital photos called Online Photo Backup. With Online Photo Backup you get 10GB of online storage to store your digital photos. Take a look at this small demo I made showcasing Online Photo Backup:

Video: Online Photo Backup with Windows Live OneCare 2.0

Making sure your digital photos are backed up is a high priority for Microsoft and the Windows Live OneCare Team. A user could have many years worth of digital memories stored on their PC and if that PC crashes, those memories are lost. Of course you can back those photos up to another PC, or a DVD but those don’t come entirely risk-free. Backing up to another PC doesn’t mean that PC won’t fail and with backing up to a DVD, you run the risk of that DVD becoming damaged in some way and then unreadable to restore the data. With Online Photo Backup - you take those risks away.

I currently have over 5 years worth of digital photos on my PC with Windows Live OneCare 2.0 backing them up to my Online Photo Backup storage space. I have photos ranging from college experiences and events to WinHEC 2006 and 2007 to CES last year and the Windows Vista Launch in New York City. These are memories I would never want to lose.

With the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta - Online Photo Backup is an “add-on” to your OneCare Subscription and allows you to backup photos to any of your PC’s in your OneCare Circle. According to the Windows Live OneCare Team Blog - when Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is released, Online Photo Backup will be an added cost to your standard OneCare Subscription package.  

For updates on Windows Live OneCare - stay tuned to their official team blog.

Be sure to also check out my previous Windows Live OneCare 2.0 demo as well.

In my previous demo of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (beta) I was pretty general about its features. But I’d like to dive a little deeper into some of the enhancements and features coming with Windows Live OneCare’s next major release. Coming with Windows Read More……(read more)

Last week Nick announced that the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Program has begun. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is the next major release of Microsoft’s all-in-one PC protection program. Windows Live OneCare not only protects users from viruses and spyware, but also helps users make sure their important data is backed up and that their PC’s are updated with the latest updates from Windows Update.

Chris Overd over at LiveSide briefly touches upon features within Windows Live OneCare 2.0 such as Multi-PC support with your OneCare Circle, Centralized Backup, and the upcoming online photo backup service. However I took some time to record a little demo video showcasing some of Windows Live OneCare 2.0’s new features including the new PC startup management tool and the OneCare Circle.

Video: Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Demo

You will notice that in the demo, I didn’t touch upon Windows Live OneCare 2.0’s new Centralized Backup feature. That is because my PC’s on my home network have all their backups managed by Windows Home Server, which was released to manufacturing earlier this week. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 takes into account PC’s being backed up to a Windows Home Server. But more on Windows Home Server at a later date.

So just how does Windows Live OneCare 2.0 work with Windows Vista specifically? Windows Live OneCare 2.0 takes advantage of Windows Vista’s Network Locations (Private VS Public) and protection levels with its firewall settings. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 ensures protection for your PC depending on your Network Location. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 uses Windows Vista’s networking features to help protect the user’s PC.

This is just the beginning of the beta program for Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Program. Expect Windows Live OneCare 2.0 to evolve throughout the beta.

Expect this demo video to be the first of many demo videos to come on a variety of topics!