Antivirus Solutions Available For Windows 7 Beta

Microsoft's Windows 7 Beta already has a few vendors' workable antivirus solutions on hand for the eventual release of the new operating system, Microsoft says.

In anticipation of the Windows 7 Beta release, Microsoft maintains it has been collaboratively working with several security vendors in an effort to start ramping up antivirus solutions, blogger Brandon LeBlanc said in a post. Among the solutions available for Windows 7 Beta, which became available for download earlier this month, are Symantec's Norton 360 3.0 Beta, AVG Internet Security, AVG Anti-Virus and Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Windows 7 -- all of which are available on the Windows Security Provider page.

However, while antivirus solutions that work well with Windows 7 Beta might be available now, partners aren't knocking themselves out to push them onto their customers. For one, partners who have tested Microsoft's new operating system say that Windows 7 Beta seems to have similar security issues to Vista -- which Microsoft once touted as its most secure operating system -- and partners don't expect subsequent antivirus solutions to be radically different.

"It's really going to be a similar situation to Vista. It's a pretty similar technology," said Nathan Ware, CTO of Rain Networks, based in Bothell, Wash. "The software packages that were successful in running on Vista, I would expect those same ones to run on Windows 7."

And Windows 7 Beta is just that -- a beta. By its very definition, it could change significantly between now and its final release later this year. It will be used and tested by users but ultimately replaced by a final version, potentially rendering antivirus software less than effective, if not obsolete.

Ware said he probably would start to promote antivirus products for Microsoft's new operating system closer to the time of its final release, which will likely be in July, around the time of Windows 7 Beta's expiration date of Aug. 1. Until then, he said that "nobody's rushing out to buy (antivirus)."

"Windows 7 is a long ways from being done," Ware said. "What you see now might not be what you see in three months."

Source : crn.com