SAN FRANCISCO - Stepping up its fight against computer threats at the risk of alienating security businesses, Microsoft Corp. announced Tuesday it will give away a program to combat privacy-stealing and PC-clogging spyware and other virtual pests.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (news - web sites) also unveiled plans to release antivirus tools for consumers and make a major security upgrade to its Internet Explorer Web browser. At the same time, he showed off new software for businesses to combat security threats.
The moves are part of a wide-ranging effort by the world's largest software maker to improve the security and reliability of its Windows operating system and other programs, which have become favorite targets of hackers, virus writers and other malware creators.
Speaking at the annual RSA Conference, a major gathering of computer security experts, Gates outlined successes over the past year but did not suggest total victory was imminent or even possible. Microsoft has distributed more than 170 million copies of a major security enhancement to Windows XP (news - web sites) since its release last year, but Gates said more work is needed.
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Feb 16, 2005, 07:08 AM
