Nathan Davis21 September 2006, 4:30 AM
Symantec has launched a blistering attack on Microsoft, saying it isn't cooperating with third party Vista anti-virus developers. But some of its competitors already have their software working, casting doubts on the claims.
Symantec has launched a blistering attack on Microsoft's lack of support for third-party anti-virus updating their products for Vista.
David Sykes, Vice President Pacific for Symantec, said Microsoft is using bully tactics to make implementing third-party antivirus software more difficult.
"Microsoft is using its control over the operating system to force users to use only security solutions offered by Microsoft and to limit the ability of independent security vendors to develop compatible security solutions."
This will inevitably result in fewer anti-virus options available for Vista, Sykes said. "As a result, computers running Vista will become more vulnerable."
This is at odds with Microsoft's position that Vista will be its most secure operating system yet.
"Symantec will definitely offer Vista-compatible products to protect our customers from the vulnerabilities that might be associated with the Vista OS -- some of which have already been pointed out by our Response Team," said Sykes.
This won't be easy, however. "The unwillingness of MS to give timely technical information to security vendors and the implementation of PatchGuard has clearly made it difficult for outside vendors to deliver solutions for Vista."
Sykes said Norton AV would be available when "Microsoft provides the technical access that the security industry needs to develop compatible solutions, as has been the case with other past operating systems."
Ultimately, Symantec will only offer a 32-bit edition of its suite for Vista, according to Sykes.
Users of Vista 64-bit will not be able to use Symantec/Norton Antivirus.
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus
Grisoft's Larry Bridwell said "AVG was one of the first antivirus products to fully support Vista beta versions and we will keep supporting the newer builds as they arrive."
Grisoft AVG is available for both Vista 32 and 64 bit.
However, just as Symantec has discovered, this continued support comes at a price. "Microsoft made a reasonable effort to support independent developers, even so, at times it was a little complicated," he said.
These complications arise because Microsoft continues to change the way the backend of Vista functions even late in the development cycle. "... changes in the system layer — system entry points have changed between different Vista builds, causing driver crashes — and some rather late introductions or changes to some of the new features like Windows Filtering Platform, 64-bit support tools, etc."
Bridwell also said Vista's new networking stack was causing headaches for AV developers.
"The fact that IPv6 is the default networking platform complicates development and testing significantly because not many beta testers have access to this infrastructure.
"Generally, however, we did not encounter any significant problems, apart from the 'standard beta' issues," said Bridwell.
However, AVG customers can be assured that they will be supported when Vista is released.
Bridwell stated "The antivirus and antispyware protection of AVG will be fully available the very instant Vista arrives," adding that "AVG is also one of the first [antivirus] products that fully support[ed] NTFS transaction points in the driver from the very beginning."
(I have found AVG Anti-Virus Free to work right off the bat, without any fuss on Vista RC1. There are, however, reported incidents where AVG has failed.)
ALWIL Avast! Antivirus
Avast! from ALWIL Software has also had its share of problems with Vista development.
Vista's User Account Control (UAC) was one area in particular that was proving difficult to work with.
Ondrej Vlcek, Lead Program Manager for Avast! said, "some things make it easier (new file system filter model, improved documentation, etc.) but some make it a bit harder (most notably, the UAC)."
Microsoft, however, seems poised to help make solving these troubles easier. "...the level of support we're getting from Microsoft tends to be better than it used to be. For example, we're taking part in the 'Vista Readiness Lab' in Redmond which is a great opportunity to thoroughly test our software under Vista and solve any potential issues fast," says Vlcek.
Users are reporting that current official executables are breaking in Vista. In order to get a functional edition of Avast! under Vista, you will need to grab this beta release.
Among other things, the primary change in this version (4.7.881) is support for Vista. Later versions will no doubt also work in Vista when they officially go gold.
"We expect our software to be 100% Vista compatible by the time Vista ships," says Vlcek, adding that both 32-bit and 64-bit packages will be available on release.
McAfee AntiVirus
Our questions to McAfee fell on deaf ears at first, however a representative managed to get in a word literally minutes prior to article submission.
It wasn't entirely enlightening, however, merely a PR-groomed statement that "McAfee plans on supporting Vista but at this time, we have no details to provide beyond that." At least tight lips are better than deaf ears.
No doubt you can eventually expect to see something from McAfee, but in terms of current Vista support, McAfee hasn't released any such monstrosity.
In fact, its available versions seem to utterly fail on Vista with a blue screen of death.
If you're game enough, though, you could sign up as a McAfee beta tester and you might get the chance to live on the bleeding edge. If you enjoy that kind of thing!