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Kaspersky: Microsoft "Killing Off" Security Competition!

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Kaspersky Labs CEO Eugene Kaspersky insists Microsoft is "killing off" all security competition-- Windows 10 "automatically and without warning" replaces all security software with the company's Defender alternative.

Eugene Kaspersky"Microsoft is gradually squeezing independent developers out of the Windows ecosystem if it has its own application for this or that purpose," a blog post by the CEO reads. "In doing so, Microsoft is acting against the interests of users since a lot of its products are of inferior quality."

Kaspersky says Microsoft gave independent developers all of a week to make their software compatible with Windows 10-- an attempt in unfairly beating the competition, he says-- and even violates the Windows 10 rule where only one anti-virus should be active on a system, since Defender occasionally switches on automatically even in the presence of an independent alternative. According to Kaspersky this "demonstrates the results of [Microsoft's] blustery activity, again egging the user on to ditch the other AV and stick with Defender."

Another Microsoft move pointed out by the CEO is the "alarming window" the OS uses to prompting users to activate Defender instead of any 3rd party security product installed on the system.

Kaspersky softwareA final blow comes from the fact that, at least according to Kaspersky, Defender is not even a very good AV software. An independent test by MRG Effitas describes Defender as below average and lacking a number of arguably important features. These include parental control, built-in VPN, webcam protection, password manager, backups, exploit protection, protection for online banking and online shopping and proactive protection against future threats, among others.

What will Kaspersky Labs do in the face of such a situation? Describing his company as nothing less than a David-- the visage of Michelangelo's famous statue adorns the box of Kaspersky AntiViral Toolkit Pro for a reason-- the CEO is taking official bodies in the EU and Russia to the anti-competition task. He also insists Microsoft should give 3rd parties more time to make their software compatible with Windows 10 updates, "explicitly inform" users their software is incompatible before updating Windows and ask for user approval before enabling Defender.

"I hope that we can work together with Microsoft not only for the benefit of the independent development community, but also-- and more importantly-- for those who trust us to protect them in the evolving threat landscape," Kaspersky concludes. "Our companies need to be fighting cybercriminals together instead of fighting each other, and I have hope that this is still possible."

Go That's It. I've Had Enough