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Antivirus Firms Release Windows 7 Software Previews to Combat Microsoft's Free Offering

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Back in November, Microsoft announced plans to discontinue its fee-based Live OneCare subscription service by June 30, 2009 and replace it with free security software the company claims "will provide comprehensive protection from malware including virusus, spyware, rootkits, and trojans." Microsoft's plans could spell bad news for security vendors who sell comprehensive security suites, but at least three companies are already looking forward.

Kaspersky, AVG, and Symantec -- each of which was featured in our recent antivirus roundup --have released public previews of their next-gen security suites intended for Windows 7 in order to entice potential customers. These include Symantec's Norton 360 Beta 3.0, Kaspersky's technical preview of its Anti-Virus for Windows 7, and AVG's Internet Security.

It remains to be seen how Microsoft's Morro will compete will full fledged third-party applications, but according to Windows communications manager Brandon LeBlanc, competition won't stand in the way of ensuring everyone's security apps work with Windows 7.

"Microsoft has been actively working with security partners to help them get their applications ready for Windows 7," LeBlanc said. "Three security developers have taken the build we released to developers in October and have developed solutions available today that work with Windows 7 Beta."

Hit the jump and tell us what effect you think Morro will have third party security software.

COMMENTS
avatarAntivirus software

A
variety of strategies are typically employed. Signature-based detection
involves searching for known malicious patterns in executable code. However,
it is possible for a user to be infected with new malware in which no
signature exists yet. To counter such so called zero-day threats, heuristics
can be used. One type of heuristic approach, generic signatures, can identify
new viruses or variants of existing viruses for looking for known malicious
code (or slight variations of such code) in files. Some antivirus software
can also predict what a file will do if opened/run by emulating it in a
sandbox and analyzing what it does to see if it performs any malicious
actions. If it does, this could mean the file is malicious.

http://www.antivirusnerd.com/

 

 

 

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avatar Recommend it to anyone.

Search-and-destroy Antispyware is the best scan that I have used to keep my PC clean and working like new. It’s a great scanner that finds all the same bugs that other scans such as Norton can find. What’s even better is that it cost less than many of the other options. I found the antispyware solution from Search-and-destroy at http://www.Search-and-destroy.com and decided to give it a try. That was one of the best decisions I ever made. I’m very happy with this scanner and would recommend it to anyone that wants to protect and care for their PC so it will last as long as possible.

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avatarI'm using avast on my

I'm using avast on my windows 7 install, and it's worked fine so far.  It was nice that the options MS suggested included norton and avg solutions (and not just their product).

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avatarYou remember back in the day

You remember back in the day when Windows 3.X came with Microsoft Antivirus? And you also remember how terribly it sucked? How MS didn't really put too much effort into AV. Well I get the feeling that the same thing is happened with the current iteration of MS AV. I still don't think that the AV companies have much to worry about.

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avatarWell, I have to admit that a

Well, I have to admit that a fully fledged anti-virus solution program from the same people who are developing Windows 7 does sound great because they know the inner and outter workings of their OS. However, can their security suite really compare to a fully dedicated team of anti-virus programmers, like Bit Defender or AVG?

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avatarMicrosoft has fought many

Microsoft has fought many legal battles centered around including Internet Explorer in their OS package. They don't want another anti-trust fight on their hands over antivirus software and believe me, Micrososft would lose that one quickly. Plus, I don't want MS putting a damned thing more in to their OS than what is absolutely needed to run the thing. Their tack of making components a download vs. included in the main install is one of the better decisions they've made recently. Now if we could just get them to offer two or three flavors of Windows 7 and not do the Vista BS, I'd feel like MS were actually listening to us.

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avatarto bad the free Microsoft

to bad the free Microsoft app is available only as a seperate download

it should come pre installed on each new Windows 7 PC

PC have the bad rap on rampart infections and a pre installed antivirus app could solve the issue

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avatarAnti-virus

Well, the problem with that would be accusations of trying to keep other vendors from Win 7. They faced the same problem with IE and Win 95 (and look what having a free, pre-installed browser did to the then-dominant Netscape (which cost money and had to be downloaded), and I don't think they want another anti-trust court battle. Even though you're right in it probably would be better if there was anti-virus protection out of the box, you don't want a monopoly, also out of the box.

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