Microsoft Now in Anti-Spyware Business

Microsoft has made the move into providing anti-spyware software, and we can get their first version of the software for free. This week, the world's largest software company announced it has completed the purchase of Giant Company Software Inc., the manufacturer of Giant Antispyware software.

As part of the announcement, Microsoft says it will start giving away its new product within the next 30 days. But, they also announced that they have not ruled out charging for the product in the future.

As we have written before, spyware is a category of irritating programs that secretly monitor the online activities of Internet users and can cause sluggish computer performance or popup ads. Microsoft's security efforts, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, are aimed at promoting consumer confidence in its flagship Windows products, which generated nearly $3 billion in revenues this year. They also help attract new customers worried about growing threats from viruses, hacker attacks, spam e-mails and spyware.

I applaud Microsoft's effort and will withhold any judgment until the first reviews of their new software are in. But, for now, I am sticking with "Spybot - Search and Destroy" (see web log dated 12/12/04).

You can stay in touch with Microsoft's new foray into spyware by going to:

http://www.microsoft.com/spyware