Top 10: Most futile Windows features
In anticipation of Windows 8, we take a look at the features and mistakes that Microsoft needn't bother reprising
7. OneCare
Microsoft’s OneCare wasn’t a Windows component per se, and that’s exactly what was wrong with it. Although it was sold – for the better part of £30 a year – as a comprehensive anti-virus and system care package for windows, it lacked even a basic email scanner and performed remarkably poorly.
Our last review of OneCare generously credited it with a low price and excellent Windows integration but noted that it was let down by “slow loading speeds and awful performance in our malware prevention and removal tests” – the very things that you rely on your anti-virus software to do. Microsoft ceased selling it in June 2009, replacing it with Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free and has performed significantly better in our anti-virus tests.
6. Windows Genuine Advantage
No company wants to see its profits devastated by piracy, so it’s unsurprising that – after years of poorly secured releases – Microsoft decided to take steps to ensure that users would not only have to use original software but would be alerted if they did not, helping to curb the sales of counterfeit copies of the OS.
Unfortunately, Windows Genuine Advantage, the security authentication system introduced in Windows XP, had a distressing tendency to decide that a legitimate installation of the operating system was in fact bootlegged, leaving users stuck with limited product updates and nagging messages informing them that “you may be a victim of software counterfeiting”, a problem that was at one time particularly prevalent if you upgraded hardware components such as your motherboard.
Also controversial is WGA’s “spyware-like” behaviour of phoning home to Microsoft’s servers, initially on a daily basis, but current versions only check back every two weeks. WGA still exists in Windows 7, but years of development and complaints have smoothed its rough edges, making it a less annoying and controversial product all-round.
5. Rover
Otherwise known as “that stupid search dog from Windows XP”, Rover came to Windows from Microsoft’s even more annoying Bob. In XP’s original default settings, Rover would come trotting out on to the search panel every time you tried to search for anything using Windows Explorer. Not only was Rover annoying, patronising and hideously unprofessional looking, but we never quite managed to shake the irrational feeling that his very presence was somehow slowing our search times. Strangely enough, while researching this, we found a handful of posts from people who wanted to get Rover back on to their search pane. However, the rest of the world tends to agree that this is one puppy that should stay lost.
