Users trying the Windows 7 beta who keep their computers safe with McAfee virus protection are in for a bit of disappointment -- and a loss of security. According to a Channel Web report, when you try to run McAfee Total Protection in the Windows 7 beta, an error message pops up. "The version of Windows installed on this machine is not supported. Please refer to the product documentation for a list of supported operating systems."
McAfee's antivirus tool isn't the only one affected by the Windows 7 beta. A thread on Norton's community forums mentions errors that occur when running Windows 7. The official response from Norton? "At this time, we do not support Windows 7. Once Windows 7 is released, we will provide solutions for the OS." In the past, prerelease copies or even early shipping versions of Windows updates were often flagged as "potential viruses" by antivirus programs (prompting lots of jokes about Windows being fingered as a virus).
One popular virus protection software that seems to be immediately compatible with Windows 7 beta is Spyware Doctor, which reports in its forums that the software is running smoothly.
Personally, I use Avast on my PC, although I haven't gotten around to checking out Windows 7 yet. It looks like Avast does have some issues, though for the most part it still runs in Windows 7.
The main problem seems to be that Windows 7 is still in beta, so no virus protection software has been optimized for the OS yet. As always when installing beta software, you do so at your own risk. Just know that this risk could impact your entire PC's security.
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8 comments:
good news for AVG Free Edition users. W7 beta runs fine with AVG.
Hi . passing by here . very informative post
You have a great blog. keep it up
Thanks for your contribution. But i have noticed that windows 7 beta is compitable with Antivirus Pro.
@ Antivirus Pro . . .thanks for the info, and users will have to understand the security risks of beta versions.
nothing to worry about, antiviruses will be W7 optimized just in time with the W7 Final release.
@ Nanaybelen and mat...thanks for dropping by.
that's true. Since this is still on testing, there are still a lot of bugs. Beta products are released so that developers and other invited users/testers can try the product and report to Microsoft if they find any issues. There is no support for the product since it is not officially released yet so it's an install at your own risk kind of thing
@prettyfirefly...yup...sort of feeling through for bugs, this is also a try for Microsoft to win over the large number of loyal XP users who have been dumping Vista. Microsoft has been keen on trying to kill XP.
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