OneCare, for example, also includes an excellent backup tool and features that help keep your PC running at maximum performance, eliminating the all-to-real situation where Windows installs seem to degrade, from a performance perspective, over time. They also do more than just provide security. That is, they are less resource-intensive than traditional security suites, removing what is my primary complaint about these beasts.
As noted below, however, Microsoft really rethought what a security suite could be, and traditional security vendors followed suit, announcing products that were surprisingly OneCare-like. Indeed, even Microsoft is getting into the act: In 2006, the company shipped Windows LiveOne Care, its first desktop PC security suite. This, of course, hasn't stopped security vendors from trying. With these built-in utilities, a wide range of low-level security technologies, and a free anti-virus solution like AVG Anti-Virus Free, which I use and recommend, it seems like Vista has all it needs. The real question, of course, is whether Vista even needs a security suite. This new OS is dramatically more secure than its predecessors, with a wealth of low-level security features as well as end-user oriented security tools, like User Account Control (UAC), Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, and the like. And in some ways, the company has really raised the bar with Windows Vista ( see my review). The first place we might look to is, naturally, Microsoft. On the flipside, many new PCs come with time-limited security suites that bomb out after a short time, leaving PCs unprotected. Security suites from companies like McAfee and Symantec are innovative only in that they've invented a way for these companies to charge customers year after year for the same services, many of which the typical PC user never needs or even uses. Security vendors have milked a decade of bad press, real and imagined security vulnerabilities, and Microsoft's all-too-conscious decision to only include baseline security tools in Windows to create a booming market. The problem, of course, is that some Windows users do absolutely nothing about security, either from a technical standpoint or by exercising some simple common sense: Seriously, do you really think it's wise to open an email attachment from a person you've never even heard of? While the Mac community likes to paint the Windows world as an unsafe haven for spyware, spam, and other electronic attacks, the reality is that Windows users have to do very little to protect themselves.
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