Microsoft have announced that they have purchased GIANT Company Software Inc, a move which they are hoping will allow them to move into the anti-spyware market. GIANT Company Software create a little known piece of software called GIANT Anti-Spyware, which Microsoft claim is a market leading piece of anti-spyware software, although we're not sure as to the accuracy of that claim.
Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the Security Business and Technology Unit at Microsoft, made the following comment about the purchase:
Spyware is a serious and growing problem for PC users, and customers have made it clear that they want Microsoft to deliver effective solutions to protect against the threat. Through this acquisition we're excited to be able to provide near-term relief to Windows customers by offering new technology to help keep spyware and other deceptive software off their PCs.
Microsoft are intending to release a beta version of an anti-spyware product to users within a month, which will be based on the GIANT AntiSpyware product. It will be available for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and will be able to both detect and remove existing spyware, as well as block spyware from being installed in the first place.
No financial information was available about the deal itself, although some of GIANT's employees will be moving across to Microsoft to help in their security efforts. This move into the spyware market by one of the industry's software giants goes to show how serious this problem is becoming, with an estimated 67% of all PC's infected with some form of spyware. Hopefully this will raise the awareness of spyware amongst end users, even if they choose to use some other form of spyware removal product.
If you can't wait the month for Microsoft to get around to releasing their anti-spyware tool, we'd recommend trying out either the excellent and free Spybot Search and Destroy, or the original Ad-Aware product from Lavasoft USA, available in both free and paid for versions.
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