Microsoft blasted for free AV offer

Two security software makers are complaining about Microsoft using its update service to deliver its free anti-virus software to Windows users who don't have such protection on their computers, says CNet News.

Microsoft began making its Security Essentials software available to customers through its Microsoft Update service as an optional download on 1 November for US customers and 19 October for UK customers.

It offers the download only to customers who do not have an anti-virus solution that is detectable by Microsoft's Action Centre.

Nokia has taken back control of the Symbian operating system, 18 months after it set up a non-profit foundation to oversee its development, reports the BBC.

Nokia will control the future direction of the world's most popular smartphone software from April 2011.

Analysts said the move was inevitable as firms abandoned Symbian for rival software such as Google's Android. The Symbian Foundation, a consortium of firms that oversees the software, will become a licensing body.

The Royal Navy's Web site has been hacked by a suspected Romanian hacker known as TinKode, reveals the BBC.

The hacker gained access to the Web site on 5 November, using a common attack method known as SQL injection.

TinKode published details of the information he recovered, which included user names and passwords of the site's administrators.

According to a New York Post report, Symantec could face calls from unhappy shareholders for a break-up of the company, states Computing.co.uk.

The paper said one particular activist shareholder has been buying up stock, and may put pressure on the board to split the company, while others have been actively talking to potential suitors.

The heart of the problem appears to be that the unhappy shareholders believe Symantec is undervalued, owing to its inability to integrate acquisitions such as Veritas, which it bought for $13.5 billion six years ago.