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Windows AntiSpyware will be free

Robert Lemos and Dawn Kawamoto CNET News.com

Published: 16 Feb 2005 09:10 GMT

Microsoft has recently been making buys to bolster its security lineup. After closing its aquisition of Giant, the software giant last week said it plans to buy enterprise security software maker Sybari Software, a business-focused move.

During his speech, Gates also said Microsoft will release a new version of its Internet Explorer browser, which will launch separately and in advance of the next version of Windows, Longhorn.

IE 7.0 will use security features available in Microsoft's most recent security update to its operating system, Windows XP Service Pack 2, he said.

The company also plans to bring together its various update services and offer a single place to get security updates for each class of customer. The software giant will centralise Windows, Office and application updates through a consumer service called Microsoft Update, Gates said. Microsoft Update is similar to Windows Update and includes the Automatic Updates feature, plus access to updates for Office and other Microsoft applications that run on Windows, a Microsoft representative said after Gates' speech.

Small and midsize businesses that have many PCs to manage and that want some control will be offered another service, dubbed Windows Update, he added. Large companies can exercise more control using Systems Management Server, also known as SMS.

Customers last got a major security upgrade from Microsoft in August, when the company launched Windows XP Service Pack 2, aimed at locking down computers. The operating-system revamp took more than nine months to complete and added a central security interface, a better firewall and several under-the-hood improvements to lock down Windows PCs.

Microsoft is spending fully one-third of its $6bn research and development budget on security technology, Gates said Tuesday.

Separately, Gates said a planned Windows Server 2003 update, expected later this year, would ship "next year". A Microsoft representative said Gates was referring to the software maker's next fiscal year and that the update, code-named R2, is still on track to ship this calendar year.

CNET News.com's Ina Fried contributed to this report.