Overall described by many as "disappointing" (InformationWeek),OneCare can have all his components subjected to harsh criticism:

• the antivirus system – has a bad history against other programs
• the anti-phishing filter is exclusively for IE (despite other Web browsers having anti-phishing protection);
• in what concerns the backup and restore functions, they are restricted to data and not bare-metal backup, something third-party programs have been getting us used to for a long time.

A single advantage can be, however, noticed – its 90-day trial version, as opposed to the only 15 or 30 days that other packages offer (yet, even so, the price of $50 a year – does not match the offer regardless the fact it protects three PCs).

OneCare's protection scored pretty poorly in the AV-comparatives test (being ranked as "standard" -intercepting 90.3% of 800,000+ pieces of malware).However, its detection system can have a plus for additional protective measures as it takes time for a fast check out of the entire system even when you only want to inspect a specified item.

"Performance Plus",(which is the system-optimization functions), runs in five stages:

• Removing unwanted files (such as those cluttering up in temp directories)
• Defragmenting the hard disk
• Initiating a virus scan
• Checking for files that need to be backed up
• Getting high-priority security updates from Microsoft.

The backup utility is pretty simple, similar to the one available in Windows Vista, but on a lower scale. The scanned files are included in the backup set by default, but you are given the possibility to indicate manually additional directories or files which are not selected by OneCare's preprogrammed backup criteria automatically.

You can write the backup repositories themselves to CD/DVD drives, an external or alternate hard drive, or a network share, but sadly enough, no provision is to be had within the OneCare product itself for remote network backup.

Just the same, the scope of the backup is restricted to personal data -the OS or the system state cannot be backed up and restored from bare metal. Just about every version of Windows has constantly lacked this feature. Running other browser than IE will reserve you the surprise of being left at the mercy of whatever anti-phishing technology they provide, if any.