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Gregg Kreizer at InformationWeek:
Windows Defender, Microsoft’s free anti-spyware program that’s been in beta for more than a year, will shift into its second round of testing in the next two months, developers for the Redmond, Wash. company said recently in an online chat.
Defender is the new brand name for what Microsoft still calls Windows AntiSpyware, the add-on that’s been in Beta 1 since it debuted more than a year ago. Beta 1 only works in Windows XP.
Windows Defender Beta 2, on the other hand, will be available for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista, with additional editions for earlier Windows posted at some undisclosed future date. It will be included with both the client and server versions of Vista, Microsoft’s next operating system, which is to unveil late in 2006.
More on new features by following the link, but the prolonged beta is apparently due to the time required to integrate the original product that was acquired with GIANT Company Software in 2004 and made available as Beta 1. Also there are no plans to change Defender’s free status.
February 12th, 2006 at 9:37 AM
[...] Ouch! Brian Krebs at the Washington Post reports that the latest update to Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (soon to be named Windows Defender) is throwing false positives for one of the files in Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus. Users who follow the Defender prompt to delete what they are told is the PWS.Bancos.A Trojan horse program, end up disabling NAV and have a messy task ahead setting things straight. Microsoft said it is shipping updates that fix this problem, but judging from the growing number of other threads on this in that forum, this is shaping up to be a pretty big issue for companies that have deployed Microsoft’s free anti-spyware product inside their networks. It’s a good idea to keep in mind that Microsoft’s Anti-Spyware product is in beta mode: The company’s product page explicitly says that Microsoft Anti-Spyware should not be deployed in production systems. I’m not apologizing for Redmond in any way; it just seems like too many people ignore warnings about beta products. [...]
February 14th, 2006 at 9:15 AM
[...] As had been anticipated, Beta 2 of Microsoft’s free Windows Defender antispyware offering for Windows XP was released late yesterday. Aside from replacing the previous name of Windows Antispyware there are these new features: - A redesigned and simplified user interface - Improved detection and removal - Protection for all users on a computer - Support for 64-bit platforms, accessibility and localization [...]