Kaspersky Lab demands antitrust action against Microsoft for unfair practices in AV market

Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab has asked antitrust regulators in the European Union as well as in Russia to take a look at the anti-virus market because the company claims Microsoft is abusing its power.

After a long absence in the anti-virus market, the free Microsoft Security Essentials saw its release in 2009 and later the software giant integrated its Windows Defender tool into Windows 8 and Windows 10. While we applaud this because it gives every PC a basic anti-virus solution, Kaspersky Lab argues the situation gives Microsoft an unfair advantage, especially because Windows Defender gets enabled by default when a user upgrades to Windows 10.

Furthermore, Kaspersky complains Microsoft didn't give antivirus companies enough time to make their software compatible with Windows 10, and that the software giant implemented several measures that made it harder to compete:

Another showcase of Microsoft’s way of making it harder to compete is that antivirus companies only received a week to make their antivirus software compatible with Windows 10. And even when the antivirus software was compatible, Windows Defender would be enabled nevertheless.

If Windows Defender was disabled (and other antivirus software was running) it would show a warning, asking the user to uninstall their antivirus software and to turn on Windows Defender. Kaspersky argues that many users would think, “well, it’s from Microsoft – the people who make the OS; must be good; no harm in turning it on for sure”.

Another complaint Kaspersky has is that Microsoft has limited the possibilities antivirus companies have to warn users that their license is about to expire. Microsoft only allows a warning in the Windows Security Center, which normally users hardly ever read. If the user doesn’t timely extend his license, the antivirus software is disabled and Windows Defender is activated.

Kaspersky Lab's full list of complaints can be read at MyCE.