Review by J. Young

Finally, a security product geared towards the standard home user. It is not as user friendly as it should be for the home user, but pretty darn close. I am an independent developer and have been using the Beta and now the Live version on 4 different machines. So I have been able to see how well this performs. I have purposefully inflicted myself with various viruses and worms and it blocked them all with the exception of one. It was a newer one so that was exepcted. Norton did not block it either.

The first thing you have to compliment Microsoft on is the pricing model. The fact that this price covers up to 3 PC’s in your household is perfect. All you need is a Microsoft Passport which millions of people already have. If not, it is easy to setup and you can use any email address to set one up unlike what another viewer said.

The other next to perfect feature is the functionality that forces you, the user, to update your PC with the latest and greatest Microsoft security updates. If you do not do it, Window OneCare will do it for you. This can be a huge annoyance having your PC reboot without you wanting it to, but if you really think about it, what better way can there be to ensure you are always up to date. This goes hand in hand with the maintenance tools that run periodically to keep your PC running as well as it can.

As my subject says, this is perfect for the home user. The standard John and Jane Doe who know they should have something but have no clue what they need nor how to get it. They do not need hundreds of windows to open ports and block this and open that. They usually do not want to go on the Internet and download freeware/crapware for their virus solution.

Knowing Microsoft, this product will get better over time. And at this price for 3 PC’s, you really cannot go wrong to give it a shot. It can be a pain in the behind uninstalling other software first (Norton can be a big pain to remove), but in the long run, it is worth it.