Microsoft executives are convinced that their new Vista operating system is so safe that users will not need to buy a third party antivirus package.
The claims by Jim Allchin the outgoing co-President of the Platform Products and Services Group at Microsoft will upset Companies like Symantec and Trend Micro who sell Ant Virus solutions.
During the past six weeks SmartHouse has been running Vista without Anti Virus or Spy Doctor type software and over that period we have not had one single security or virus problem. Neither have we encountered any problems with pop ups. The same cannot be said for a Windows XP OS that we have been running on a notebook configured exactly to the same configuration to the Vista OS.
The Allchin claim which is sure to please antivirus vendors worldwide, was made as part of a telephone conversation with reporters to discuss the merits of the new operating system’s security measures.
Citing such features as Patchguard and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomisation, which loads the system kernel differently on each Vista machine) he said, “My son, seven years old, runs Windows Vista, and, honestly, he doesn’t have an antivirus system on his machine.
“His machine is locked down with parental controls, he can’t download things unless it’s to the places that I’ve said that he could do, and I’m feeling totally confident about that,”
He added: “Vista is something that will have issues in security, because the bar is being raised over time. But in my opinion, it is the most secure system that’s available”.
He neglected to mention if he was referring to the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Vista.
