Windows Live One Care

 As everyone knows, Windows Live One Care has been discontinued. As of 07/07/2010 it stopeed and it crashes the Vista system making your computer unusable in anything but safe mode..... There is a fix and you do not need a new hard drive.  Easy Fix....

1. In Safe mode changed date to June 13 2010. (Press F8 on boot. Choose Safe Mode with Networking)

2. Restarted in Normal mode and then uninstalled windows live onecare. (Be sure to download and run the cleanup tool as explained in the link)

3. Restarted in Normal mode and then installed microsoft security essentials.

4. Restarted in Normal mode and then changed date back to today's date.

5. Restarted in Normal mode and then updated windows and updated microsoft security essentials. (open Microsoft Security Essentials and click the Update button)

6. Restarted in Normal mode.

Note: Microsoft Security Essentials is one possible solution and a good one, in my opinion. It does generally require that you download and run the OneCare Cleanup Tool before installing MSE. 

If you used OneCare for backups, you'll still be able to restore from old backups if you use the OneCare Restore tool - http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/onecarebackupandrestore/thread/e5d686c8-762b-4b22-bc08-bfb93f911e57, but you'll need to seek an alternative backup solution.