I think you may need to read the Help topics on Backup for OneCare to get a
better understanding of what Backup and Restore in OneCare does.
Unfortunately, the first problem you highlighted is that exe files are not
backed up. OneCare backup is by type and excludes program files such as exe,
dll, com, and similar. It also scans the entire drive for files to backup by
type, but does not check the \Program Files or \Windows branches.
The second thing that comes into play is restore. The choice you make when
beginning will provide the most recent backup or a list of backups to choose
from. The latter is only available with a custom backup.
I agree that the interface is pretty poor and the "wizards" need work. And,
clearly, the way Backup works needs to be explained up front in some way to help
set expectations since I wouldn't expect the average user to go to "Help" to
learn about backup.
A better report of what has been backed up would also be a great addition and
I'm hopeful that this is in the works. Thanks for the feedback.
-steve
"Turner Morgan" <tfmorgan@xxxxxx> wrote:
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>To anyone from Microsoft who may be reading these posts,
>
>You really need to do some work on the restore side of Live OneCare. I
>somehow (slip of the fingers on the keyboard, OOOOPS!, or just a general
>dummy) inadvertently deleted the Downloads subdirectory I had created to
>hold downloaded/trial software. No big deal. The software I had decided to
>pay for was immediately transferred to DVD, sometimes left on the HD or
>deleted.
>
>But, I decided this would be a good opportunity to test Live OneCare's
>restore function. I'm not pleased with it. The individual file restore
>function apparently can't search by subdirectory (I don't know what Windows
>Vista does to subdirectories ("flolders" for you semi-Mac users; I, having
>cut my teeth in DOS, refuse to call them "folders"!) but the restore
>function evidently cannot search on the "English" version of a subdirectory,
>having tried several variants). I had to search on *.*, i.e., show
>everything in the catalog going back to 1/6/2008 which turns out to be a
>lotta files!!
>
>I found a few *.ZIP files but a different search for *.exe, which required
>another agonizingly slow catalog creation (no, this is not a dog of a
>machine, ASUS Crosshair mainboard, AMD 64 X2 dual core, 4Gb RAM, WD Raptor X
>HDs, etc., etc.) showed up nothing. I *KNOW* some of those files were
>self-extracting executables but Live OneCare said there were no such files!
>I find this hard to believe!
>
>I have been doing backups with Live OneCare since 1/6/2008 every Sunday at
>11am. How come Live OneCare showed only the one catalog from 1/6/2008?
>Maybe it's the way I have OneCare set up which I don't remember the
>specifics.
>
>What I would like to see in a future incarnation of Live OneCare's restore
>function is a Windows Explorer display showing the files in their associated
>subdirectories with check boxes for you to select the file(s) you want
>restored. At the very least, the current dialog box that displays the
>search result should be made resizeable. Honestly, some of these
>subdirectory strings won't fit into that box! But, the box is not sizeable!
>Who dropped the candy on that one?!
>
>And, while your at it, why not create an html file for the user to examine
>the backup contents to see if it is even worthwhile to attempt a file
>restore? All the files in the backup subdirectory are binary and not
>human-readable.
>
>Anyway, there's my input for the next update for what it's worth.
>
> Turner
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--
Stephen Boots
MVP Windows Live
Windows Live OneCare Forum Moderator
sboots@xxxxxx