ZitZot: Microsoft to give away free antivirus
Microsoft is poised to start giving away security software. The company is reportedly trialling free anti-virus software internally and said the beta version would be released “soon”. Called Morro, the software will tackle viruses but lack the broader range of utilities, such as parental locks, found in paid-for security suites.
Morro will be Microsoft’s second venture in the highly competitive security market. Microsoft’s first attempt revolved around the Windows Live OneCare service that did not succeed in turning many customers away from rivals such as Symantec and McAfee. Microsoft plans to discontinue Live OneCare once the Morro software is ready. No specific date has been given for when Morro will be released, but in the past Microsoft has said it would be out by the end of 2009 at the latest.
Article continues at ZitZot.com
Comments(32)
no thx… i'll stick with my pwnage comodo internet security
micro$h!t ftl
Only joking with the first comment, had to be done lol.
This is great news, who better to protect your OS than the people that make, design and update your OS!
I think thats the issue they update too often. I for one will never ever trust MS with antivirus.
No thanks I'll stick with my Mac with Limited windows exposure.
What's with all the copy/pastes from the BBC website lately? You'd be as well sticking an rss import on the site.
In some ancient languages Morro=death/killer/Morbid
Weird name for an app that's supposta give you protection against deadly malwares. I think this will evetually turn into (another) M$ $pyware/ADware/Backdoor. SOmething like the Chinese pr0n filter app.
@5 – Johney, did you ever think that it could mean the death/killer or morbid demise of all viruses and spyware?
It doesn't take a genius to at least figure out that much…
Onecare has been pretty good for me, it catches the trojans right away on this site.
rapidshare links please
@ dave
Yeah, thats pretty much ZitZot… c&p everyone else's posts, place them on your website with adverts, profit. I personally hate it.
Night Of The Museum 2 Battle of the Smithsonian 2009 R5 XViD-NoiR *Fixed Audio, FULLY in sync*
l a t e s t s c e n e r e l e a s e . i n f o
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lmfao-this is news?? maybe it was 2 months ago when first reported-zitzot a tad slow?
Personally I prefer the leaner ZitZot pages. BBC site is too slow. Also I don’t see anything wrong with repeating aunty Beeb’s works. The mainstream media are always quoting and stealing from each other; there’s no harm in it. Plus, ZitZot quote their source so it's not like they are claiming articles as their own.
@6 Idiots: what a name you have aptly chosen for yourself!
Viruses/Malwares cannot be killed these days, they evolve automatically. At most they can be cleaned off from a few boxes but the threat is always out there waiting for it's next victim. And as technologies like cloud computing are going to become more popular, nxtgen botnets are also evolving so things will only become more interesting as more stupids like you will be ruthlessly pwned.
@5 and 13 Johney666
I have read many of your comments and some are common sense and some are just your opinion, however when you use words like "pwned" you just come across as another elitist script kiddie whose opinion is not worth listening to or reading.
That is all!
I want nothing from Microsoft! Not even for free!
F*** Microsoft!
yeah… f00k you micro$hit !
LOL at 15 & 16…
If it wasn't for Microsoft you wouldn't be typing this on rlslog! So give respect were it is deserved.
Despite what they have become, remember that Apple came from MS to start with.
Whats the poing in just going YEAH! SCREW YOU M$!!
Atleast give a point in why you hate them so much.
im down to try it but if it keeps thinking all my cracks,keygens, and patches are viruses i will stick to my nod32
Hm. They can't do the basics worth a damn and keep screwing up with their OS, office products & such… Then they have the bonus that they keep putting in their own spyware, it's a wonder that Microsoft is still considered useful for anything. Heck, microsoft reliability is the biggest reason so many people switch to either a form of Linux or to a Mac!
L
Here's an idea: how about rather than buying into the whole antivirus app that sits on top paradigm, how about designing the system to be bombproof in the first place?
Well offering a free AV solution isn't a bad idea. I put it in the same bracket as Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Paint, etc etc. It's a freebie with the OS. None of which are the best, and are typically the first things I replace on any new install. But having *something* there until then isn't a bad idea, especially for the types who don't really know better and just work with what's pre-installed software and don't know that there's better out there.
If you know what you're doing though, it goes into the anti-malware bloat trash pile along with all the others. Instead of loading up your system with tons of junk that slows you down to a crawl for a minor good feeling, a little bit of common sense works much much better. I've read comments on various forums about people who have so much of this security crap on their systems I'm amazed that they can even get anything done.. between the popups, slowdowns, memory hogging, etc etc.. no wonder people want to jump ship to a different OS.
My setup consists of *one* resident app, a two-way firewall. No antispyware, no antivirus, none of that junk. I do have on-demand scanners, plus I make use of VirusTotal from time to time, but nothing resident. What works is a sandbox or virtual environment, for me it's Sandboxie. Anything unknown, random downloads, keygens, etc etc, they all run through this. Zero exceptions. It just takes a little common sense; my system has been using this type of setup going on four years now, and I've never ever had a crapware problem. I've had a few programs try of course, it happens to everyone. But cleanup is a matter of sending the sandbox to the trash. Buh-bye crapware. Common sense will outperform bloated hand-holding software every time.
Granted that's not for everyone; if you're the type that blindly double-clicks anything they find, this obviously isn't for you.
all microsoft cares about is money. I also do not think they are actually being nice to people by giving them a free anti-virus…there is something fishy about it, and I do not trust it. There are already enough other good free anti-virus softwares available through the internet. If Microsoft decided to be nice to its customers they should have done that a long time ago. I can buy a diamond for the same price as Vista Proffesional.
@20 – I would love to see that sort of thing happen, but it's an impossibility. No operating system is foolproof.
XP's biggest problem was setting up user accounts to be administrators by default, granting full system access to anything and everything. Vista and 7 corrected that by setting users up as a regular account, allowing elevations with UAC. In theory, that's a good idea because as a user account the worst you can do is damage your own stuff, not the OS itself. Only problem there being it tends to annoy the hell out of people, and they just turn it off going right back to the original problem.
This isn't unique to Windows though. By default Linux for example sets users up as limited accounts as well, and instead of UAC you use sudo/su or one of its GUI variants. Same potential problem; a user gets annoyed, runs as root instead, hello big security hole. I've zero experience with Mac's but being based on BSD I would think it's a similar setup. Someone correct me otherwise.
Then there's the security holes in the OS itself, again this isn't specific to Windows. Linux has its fair share too, either through bugs in the code or just poor administration. Linux web servers get hacked all the time for example; good example of not setting it up right. Debian/Ubuntu/etc had a fun security hole with their SSH servers too, for a time it was pretty easy to hack the keys and get into a system.
One more thing…people that buy a new laptop are mostly "rewarded" with a 6 month free trial of their Norton Antivirus….well unless you are a nerd and actually know things about anti-virus programs you have no problem, but what about the other 90% of the population? After the 6 months are over they are forced to buy this program since everything on their laptop will start being blocked off…for example they cannot get on the internet anymore. So they buy the software, which is as much as a vacation trip to a far destination. If Microsoft wants to be nice and user-friendly then why in the F*&K do they complicate it so much. I mean I understand that Microsoft employees are nerds and what they know they obviously think everyone in the world knows these things. The least they could do is give a straight forward instruction sheet and extra information about antiviruses so that people become more aware of what to do. So lets see if they will offer their free anti-virus program instead of that crap Norton. Then atleast those nerds are starting to think a little. They need to get those computer chips out of their asses and memory cards out of their nostrils and start becoming a little more serious and user friendly.
Alot of people will use this because it is FREE. But unlike linux, FREE is not better. I remember long ago when M$ put out IBM Antivirus so this is not there first attempt at antivirus. And it will not be their first failure either.
the current microsoft antivirus product on sale is quite good.its rated among the best retail av products with eset, kaspersky, avira etc.
lets hope this free one is just as effective.
some peoples posts are plain ignorant
Mmmmm let me think….
No F***in way!
@ Heckle – in the case of firewalls, the best one is Comodo and that is free.
@ Logan – yep you stick with your Mac with limited windows exposure and limited program choices. Still keen on reading through and posting on all the stuff that relates to windows i see.
Windows live one care is a system hogging piece of crap. It was worse than having a virus. Microsoft is run like a bunch of idiots and quite frankly I don't think they give a damn about all of the problems people have with their products. Every attempt they make to improve only creates another problem. Someone from Google needs to teach them how to run a multibillion dollar company.
@14 D
I thank you a lot for your insightful feedback that REALLY helped me a lot in the ongoing discussion of this thread. Also your innovative way of judging a person just by pointing out the usage of 1 word should be considered as a revolutionary breakthrough among pseudo-shrink r3tard community to which you belong.
BTW what is the opposite of being elitist? Someone who has his sight fixed on worthless insignificant and mundane things? I would rather bee an elitist then.
Now FOAD you stupid moran!
Johney666
Jog on you f*cking troll.
Same to you F A G.