Vista security is child's play, says Allchin

Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin has suggested some Vista users will not need to run any third-party antivirus software.

Allchin made the comments in a telephone conference with reporters last week, according to betanews.com. He said that while there was no way of knowing security perfection had been achieved in Vista, he was confident enough in the operating system to let his seven-year-old use a locked down version without antivirus.

He said: "My son, seven years old, runs Windows Vista and, honestly, he doesn't have an antivirus system on his machine. His machine is locked down with parental controls, he can't download things unless it's to the places that I've said that he could do, and I'm feeling totally confident about that. That is quite a statement. I couldn't say that in Windows XP SP2."

Allchin said his confidence in Vista came from new security features, including parental controls and Address Space Layout Randomisation, which is a feature that randomises key data areas in the virtual computer space in an effort to foil hacks based on predictable data storage.

The Microsoft co-president's comments come at a time when Microsoft is battling security vendors over Vista. McAfee and Symantec have both claimed they have not been granted access to key parts of the operating system, specifically to the kernel of the 64-bit version of Vista, and claim this will hinder their abilities to produce fully functioning antivirus code.

Both antivirus companies have asserted they need access to PatchGuard, the part of the operating system designed to prevent malicious attacks, to be able to produce effective code.

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A Symantec spokeswoman said: "Microsoft has yet to provide the interface - filtering APIs - needed to address the issues created by PatchGuard. On the 64-bit version of Vista, our products will protect users as much as possible within the limitations that PatchGuard imposes on the entire security software industry."

Microsoft has also been the subject of an EC anti-competition investigation into PatchGuard but it claims to have addressed the EC's concerns through its work with companies, including McAfee and Symantec, to provide APIs.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK