Microsoft has recently been making buys to bolster its security lineup. After closing its aquisition of Giant, the software giant last week said it plans to buy enterprise security software maker Sybari Software, a business-focused move.
During his speech, Gates also said Microsoft will release a new version of its Internet Explorer browser, which will launch separately and in advance of the next version of Windows, Longhorn.
IE 7.0 will use security features available in Microsoft's most recent security update to its operating system, Windows XP Service Pack 2, he said.
The company also plans to bring together its various update services and offer a single place to get security updates for each class of customer. The software giant will centralise Windows, Office and application updates through a consumer service called Microsoft Update, Gates said. Microsoft Update is similar to Windows Update and includes the Automatic Updates feature, plus access to updates for Office and other Microsoft applications that run on Windows, a Microsoft representative said after Gates' speech.
Small and midsize businesses that have many PCs to manage and that want some control will be offered another service, dubbed Windows Update, he added. Large companies can exercise more control using Systems Management Server, also known as SMS.
Customers last got a major security upgrade from Microsoft in August, when the company launched Windows XP Service Pack 2, aimed at locking down computers. The operating-system revamp took more than nine months to complete and added a central security interface, a better firewall and several under-the-hood improvements to lock down Windows PCs.
Microsoft is spending fully one-third of its $6bn research and development budget on security technology, Gates said Tuesday.
Separately, Gates said a planned Windows Server 2003 update, expected later this year, would ship "next year". A Microsoft representative said Gates was referring to the software maker's next fiscal year and that the update, code-named R2, is still on track to ship this calendar year.
CNET News.com's Ina Fried contributed to this report.
Talkback
Theres no such thing as a free lunch. What will be the real cost, will it be charging for new definitions and updates or will it only be compatible with Internet browsers made by MS like IE and MSN Explorer?
It should work to encompass Firefox, Netscape, Opera and the others, and really work well with no conflicts to other installed scanning software, this means deeproot plugins that avoid confliction.
Also no advertising, like Messenger has - because don't kid yourself MS I don't need your software like I need Messenger.
Usual Microsoft tactic.
Free for now but once the market is cornered they'll make up for their losses in various creative ways.
yeah so it should be free.! since windows is full of security loop holes and so on. ITS the least our BILL GATES could do.
The antyspyware is good
Well, I've seen this Microsoft AntiSpyware in action.
First of all, I have my doubts about the License Agreement that comes with this product but then I'm not a laywer.
Also, on a perfectly clean machine (checked by pro's) it claimed to have found XferPro based on nothing but registry keys (no executable found) that have nothing do with XferPro.
That's not hopefull but then this is still beta software. But that might be a reason why Microsoft AntiSpyware finds things that others do not.
Other then that this Microsoft AntiSpyware seems no better then the more proven solutions already available out there. With the exception that Microsoft AntiSpyware falls into the category of nagware as far as I'm concerned because it keeps on popping up questions for as long as the user doesn't comply with what the program thinks is best. As such I wouldn't recommend putting beta software into production. Certainly when there are more experienced and proven solutions out there that don't nag as much.
I am using the anti spyware programme and think it is usefull as a guide to what is on your computer as spyware for a quick fix.Also using mc afee security centre both are simmilar in the spyware search and seem to work well for me as for the nags once set up have not had any on my computer,just runs in the background.
Have not used this product but used the one from the company they got it from and if it's at all like that, then it should be pretty darn good.
Everyone... Get real. Buy Macs instead!!!
I stumbled on it while surfing, and I added it to my stable of Anti Spyware tools, such as
Spysweeper,Ad Aware Professional, and A2
(A Squared). It is a pretty powerful program, as it always finds spyware the others miss.
I am VERY pleased with the programs performance.
My ISP Roadrunner, provides CA Associates Security Suite for free, with unlimited updates.
While we are never 100%safe, I feel pretty secure
I do like free software, but I agree that it will stall investment in the software security arena. Also as the spyware and virus writers apear to target Microsoft it may make user with only Microsoft software more vunerable to attack.
Fixed a load of stuff Spybot and Adaware failed to fix
Users of this tool are the real cattle. You are giving Microsoft the reign over your PC. What is 'good' software and what is 'bad'.
Suppose Microsoft would classify Linux as spyware ? Of course it's a totally weird example, but i would like to keep these things separated.