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    I purchased Onecare when it first came out and installed it on my home PC, work laptop, and son's laptop.  I recently bought a new PC for home, along with the latest version of Onecare and installed it.  I was never asked (at least didn't see) to create an new ID.  I saw that I have a green light on all my computers and moved on.

    I am now getting a new laptop for work, and want to deactivate my old laptop.  However, when checking my account status, I noticed my new home PC is on the same subcription service time as my original 3.  (should be a more recent renewal date)  When I log in to my ID, it says nothing about 4 computers.   I don't have a "Circle" listed anywhere.

    My questions are, should I uninstall my newest PC and try to reinstall, creating another ID?  Which version should I use on my new laptop, my original onecare cd which I origianlly loaded onto the old laptop?  Or, should I still move merrily along and not worry about it.  Looks like a loophole in the system...

    Tuesday, December 4, 2007 11:25 PM

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    If the other 3 computers are still active and running OneCare, then you really ought to uninstall OneCare from one of the 4 PCs and reinstall from http://onecare.live.com and use a different LiveID and activate. To save yourself some money, I'd recommend looking for a sale at retail or you'll be paying 49.95 US$ for the second subscription.

    You'll see the Circle when your PCs are updated to version 2.0. It will offer to let you make one or more PCs a hub and you'll be able to see the other PCs in your subscription.

    Yes, you are correct - there is no technical reason to reinstall with a different subscription. The back end will not disallow the 4th install, but it is against the license terms and it may cause problems later if they do enforce the number of active PCs.

    I use Cloudmark Desktop for Spam protection and their system will detect if you install to another PC and one of your PCs will be deactivated after you get a message. I often wonder why Microsoft hasn't done this yet.

    -steve

    Wednesday, December 5, 2007 1:53 AM
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    If the other 3 computers are still active and running OneCare, then you really ought to uninstall OneCare from one of the 4 PCs and reinstall from http://onecare.live.com and use a different LiveID and activate. To save yourself some money, I'd recommend looking for a sale at retail or you'll be paying 49.95 US$ for the second subscription.

    You'll see the Circle when your PCs are updated to version 2.0. It will offer to let you make one or more PCs a hub and you'll be able to see the other PCs in your subscription.

    Yes, you are correct - there is no technical reason to reinstall with a different subscription. The back end will not disallow the 4th install, but it is against the license terms and it may cause problems later if they do enforce the number of active PCs.

    I use Cloudmark Desktop for Spam protection and their system will detect if you install to another PC and one of your PCs will be deactivated after you get a message. I often wonder why Microsoft hasn't done this yet.

    -steve

    Wednesday, December 5, 2007 1:53 AM
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    I failed to answer your other question - sorry.

    As for the new PC, number 5, I think - there is no de-activation. Simply uninstall from one of your other PCs (or 2 if you wish to remain licensed) and install and activate on the new PC with the current subscription LiveID. If you wish to keep 4, 5, or 6 PCs active, then my earlier advice stands - 3 maximum on one LiveID/Subscription, so you'll want to create another LiveID and subscribe with that for the 4th through 6th PCs.

    -steve

    Wednesday, December 5, 2007 1:57 AM
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    Thanks.  I did recently buy the other onecare cd (on sale), just to install on my new PC (#4).  Just curious that this issue never came up during installation.  I would think that if I left everything as is, some of my computers would not be covered anymore during subscription renewal time..

     

    By the way, when will my versions be updated to 2.0, and will this be part of a regular update?

     

    thanks again

     

    Wednesday, December 5, 2007 2:54 AM
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    You will get an update to 2.0 automatically. My wife's PC just got updated last night, so I know it is being deployed.

    -steve

    Wednesday, December 5, 2007 3:30 PM
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