Kaspersky, Microsoft resolve antitrust issues

SAN FRANCISCO: Kaspersky Lab said on Wednesday it will withdraw antitrust complaints made against Microsoft after the United States technology giant agrees to change how it delivers security updates to Windows users.

Both companies simultaneously announced a resolution to nearly a year of disputes that included Kaspersky alleging that Microsoft had erected unfair obstacles for independent security vendors on its Windows 10 operating system.

Kaspersky Lab had accused Microsoft of abusing its dominance in the personal computer market to unfairly harm third-party antivirus providers in how it distributed its own Defender antivirus software on Windows 10.

Company founder Eugene Kaspersky said Microsoft had removed Kaspersky’s antivirus software when customers installed Windows 10 in order to make users adopt Defender, which he derided as an “inferior” product.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Microsoft said it would work more closely with antivirus vendors before software updates were launched to help mitigate compatibility issues.

The company said it would also allow antivirus providers to issue their own alerts and notifications to customers. Reuters