Symantec, next to McAfee, has been the key voice in criticizing Microsoft's decision to lock down the Windows Vista system Kernel and provide less access to one of the core elements - which could result in incompatibilities of the operating system and some antivirus software packages. The attack was unsuccessful, but the company has managed to roll out a first version of antivirus software that is described to be compatible with Vista.

Symantec announced that public beta versions of Norton Internet Security 2007 and Norton Antivirus 2007 compatible with Windows Vista are available for download now and will be released as final versions as soon as the operating system launches.