Windows Live OneCare breaks touchscreen

I have been without antivirus protection on my UMPC since it was purchased, so today while at CompUSA picking up parts for my next project on my Nokia 770 blog, I saw Windows Live OneCare on sale. Typically it was $49 for a 3 computer license, but today it was $29 with an additional $10 mail-in rebate. Even if I never get the rebate (I have bad luck with those) I figure $10 each to protect my machines is good.

Installation:
I used the CD to install it but as soon as the installer wizard started, it loaded Internet Explorer (not my default web browser) and requested my Microsoft Passport login credentials. After logging in, it installed itself via an ActiveX plugin. Included therein was a SystemCheck to verify my machine is compatible. This machine is less than a month old - I would hope it is. You'll want to attach a keyboard for the Product Key request. Of course the license agreement is hard to read on the screen and I never liked the idea of shrink wrap license agreements, but it installed right after that. I gave it a reboot after it asked nicely twice.

Total installation time: under 15 minutes

First Impression:
It took a little longer to boot my machine after the OneCare installation, but then it loaded a pretty OneCare splash window then socked me with some firewall alerts. I tried to click them away but ... my bluetooth mouse and touchscreen were no longer working! Thankfully the TabletKiosk eo has that orange pointer stick. I'd have been lost otherwise.

I started my Bluetooth utility (BlueSoleil) manually and my bluetooth mouse worked again. I couldn't find any application for my touchscreen, so I went into my Device Manager to disable then enable it to no avail. That was followed by a reboot. Upon reboot, my bluetooth mouse worked again but still no touchscreen. I went back into my Device Manager to Human Interface Devices and removed my eGalax Resistive Touch Digitizer from the list, then allowed it to scan for hardware changes. It found the touchscreen hardware again, but pen movement was still not recognized.

It appears that Windows Live OneCare disabled a few items in my startup. Included were BlueSoleil and my Touchscreen application. Allowed, not surprisingly, were ALL Microsoft applications like Windows Messenger and DialKeys. Also automatically started were my OpenOffice tray icon and Gizmo Project.

Applications that gave warnings:

• SIPphone application (for Gizmo Project)
• Bonjour Service (for iTunes)
• Firefox

Applications that gave no warnings and were simply allowed:

• Windows Defender Interface (Microsoft)
• Windows Messenger (Microsoft)
• Internet Explorer (Microsoft)
  

The Tech Support Call:
I decided to uninstall Windows Live OneCare from my machine to make sure I didn't accidentally break my new UMPC. It took all of six seconds after I clicked the "uninstall" button to get the bubble "Your computer may be at risk" in the system tray. Upon removal and reboot, my touchscreen magically started working again.

I called Microsoft. It's a toll-free number and there was nearly no hold time. The only time I heard hold music was when my tech support rep went to talk to other support reps to see if they knew anything about this and if the call can be escalated. My tech support rep (Sherry) was very polite and paitent with me as I reinstalled OneCare, but only offered the advice to disable my firewall.

She then put me on hold for a bit to talk to other support staff there. When she returned, she mentioned that there are drivers that need to be updated to be compatible with Windows Live OneCare. I have since uninstalled the product and sent a link to this document to TabletKiosk and to Origami Project forums. Let's hope someone fixes it.

(Edit: jkOnTheRun is reporting that OneCare works fine on his Samsung Q1, so it may be a different digitizer.)