Microsoft Forces Windows Defender on Users, Disables Third-Party Security Apps: Kaspersky

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has reportedly opened an investigation into Microsoft on receiving a complaint from Internet security company, Kaspersky Lab. Microsoft is alleged to force its own Windows Defender on Windows 10 users while disabling third-party security software.

According to the security company, Microsoft is using its dominating position in the market of operating systems to give an upper hand to its own products over others. "The company is foisting its Defender on the user, which isn't beneficial from the point of view of protection of a computer against cyber-attacks. The company is also creating obstacles for companies to access the market, and infringes upon the interests of independent developers of security products," wrote Eugene Kaspersky in a blog post.

ZDNet points out that Microsoft is said to violating Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" which states, "the actions (omission to act) of an economic unit occupying a dominant position which result or can result in barring, restricting or eliminating competition and (or) infringe upon the interests of other persons shall be prohibited."

Microsoft has been also alleged to "automatically and without any warning deactivate" the already installed security software on the system. "When you upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft automatically and without any warning deactivates all 'incompatible' security software and in its place installs... you guessed it - its own Defender antivirus," added Kaspersky in his post.

Further adding, the blog post gave several examples how Microsoft is pushing its users to use Windows Defender instead of third-party software.

Kaspersky adds that Microsoft has limited the possibility of "independent developers" to warn users about their licenses expiring in the first three days after expiration. "Actually, a warning is there, but it's buried in a Windows Security Center notification, which hardly ever gets read," notes the blog. Unfortunately, Microsoft is yet to respond to the claims made by Kaspersky.

In a statement, Deputy Head of FAS Anatoly Golomolzin (via SoftPedia) said, "Since Microsoft itself develops antivirus software - Windows Defender that switches on automatically if third-party software fails to adapt to Windows 10 in due time, such actions lead to unreasonable advantages for Microsoft on the software market. Our task is to ensure equal conditions for all participants on this market."