01:13 AM CDT on Thursday, June 1, 2006

By WALT ZWIRKO / WFAA-TV

Do you feel safe when you connect to the Internet?

It's not surprising if you get little queasy every time you boot up your PC, given the potential worms, viruses and nogoodniks floating around the Web.

If you haven't had a problem yourself, you probably know someone who has.

That's the motivation behind Microsoft's latest product: Windows Live OneCare. It's not something you buy in a box at the store; this is an "all-in-one protection and maintenance service" for PCs that run the Windows XP operating system.

Sign up, and Microsoft will outfit your PC with special software to protect it against viruses and spyware. Other features include regular defragmentation and backups of your hard disk drive, and "instant support" (it's computer-based, so your PC has to be working well enough to make the connection).

The OneCare service costs $50 a year; that amount covers up to three computers per household.

Isn't something wrong here?

Microsoft creates the Windows operating system and sells it to you.

Then it sells a plan to "protect" you against things that the operating system should be smart enough to deal with in the first place!

Think about it: Someone at Microsoft is now making business decisions about what protective measures to leave out of Windows so they can be offered as OneCare "features."

This could usher in a new—and more expensive—era for Windows users.

Protective software patches and updates that Microsoft has regularly offered for free could now become the exclusive domain of OneCare subscribers, leaving the rest of us with no choice but to sign up.

CinemaNow.com has started selling some Disney movies for computer download.

While the films—like Chicken Little—can only be played back on a PC right now, CinemaNow says sometime in June users will be able to transfer movies to portable devices running Windows Media Player software.

Sorry, iPods are not included.

CinemaNow users also can't burn a downloaded film to a DVD. The only way to watch a movie file is on a PC (although CinemaNow does explain how to hook up a notebook computer to your big screen TV).

Sure, computer video action games get all the attention. They're flashy, splashy and fun.

But let's slow down for a sec and take a look at a video game that makes you think—and that's a good thing.

It's Scrabble Complete. Yes, the classic board game (and its 100 letter tiles) are all here.

You can choose to view the playing surface at an angle or look at it head-on. Customize the background, if you wish; then select your opponent. You can play against yourself, someone sitting next to you, the computer, or even online with Scrabble fans around the world.

But the game is the same. Players get seven letters at a time and try spell words on a 15-by-15 grid.

Play action is just like the real thing. Click your virtual "rack" to rearrange the Scrabble tiles while brainstorming; then just drag the letters into place on the familiar game board.

Hats off to programmers at Atari Interactive for keeping it real. They remained true to the game—and no one can bump this one and spill your tiles all over the floor.

Look for Scrabble Complete at places like CompUSA, MicroCenter and Wal-Mart.

You might be surprised to learn that it's priced under $10. That's because the software was originally published about five years ago.

A lot of games are re-released without extravagant packaging as "jewel box" software at cut-rate prices.

Because Scrabble Complete is not an action game demanding state-of-the-art graphics, it's an ideal candidate for this kind of digital resurrection.

As a bonus, it should work quite well on older PCs that don't have the firepower for the latest sports simulations and action games.

Watch Computer Corner every Wednesday on News 8 Midday at noon, or online any time.

E-mail askwalt@wfaa.com