Its not new for any Company to get accused for their products, and Microsoft has got some fresh virus scanning from the famous Russian anti-virus company Kaspersky. The company has accused Microsoft on many fronts when it comes to its operating system, specifically for Windows Defender.
Defender is an in-house security product from Microsoft, and with Windows 10 its baked into the OS along with option to scan it offline. Windows 10 also allows to install Third Party Antivirus along with it, and has option to disable and enable Defender when a user wants it.
Kaspersky accuses Microsoft that Microsoft is abusing its dominance for its product to promote Windows Defender which is a direct take on all the anti-virus company.
There are some instance where Microsoft has to temporarily disable any third party antivirus, but lets take a look at what Kaspersky has to say:
- Microsoft never gave time to the company to make their software compatible.
Well, Microsoft had been running Insiders Program months before it actually arrived. I don’t get it why would any software company, big or small, would not want to take some extra effort to get their software ready, and will only wait for an official email from Microsoft.
- When you upgrade to Windows 10 all third party services which are not compatible gets disabled, and since Defender is inbuilt, it is used to protect the system.
There are two reasons for this. First Kaspersky Lab wasn’t ready for Windows 10, and Second its a good intention to have a security feature inbuilt in case a third party service had an issue.
- Notification about expired licenses of any Anti Virus Software is buried by security notifications, and Defender is activated.
This something I would agree, and Microsoft might wan to tweak things a bit. Its just not limited to third party services but could be for any.
While defender may not be the best anti-virus out there because of the limited functionality, but along with Windows 10 it can serve as one stop solution. It offers cloud protection, automatic sample submission, real time protection and also protects agains ransomware.
Kaspersky Lab has take decision to take action against all this, and here is what they say:
We’ve taken the decision to address official bodies in various countries (including the EU and Russia) with a request to oblige Microsoft to cease its violation of anti-competition legislation and to remove the consequences of that violation.
Specifically:
To oblige Microsoft (i) to provide new versions and updates of Windows to independent developers in good time so they can maintain compatibility of their software to Windows; (ii) explicitly inform the user of the presence of incompatible software before upgrading Windows and recommend the user to install a compatible version of the software after the upgrade; (iii) always explicitly ask the user for his/her approval to enable Windows Defender.
What do you think ?