Microsoft Sleeping With The Enemy?

Good grief. Via eWeek.com

"Microsoft's Windows AntiSpyware application is no longer flagging adware products from Claria Corp. as a threat to PC users.

Less than a week after published reports of acquisition talks between Microsoft Corp. and the Redwood City, Calif.-based distributor of the controversial Gator ad-serving software, security researchers have discovered that Microsoft has quietly downgraded its Claria detections.

According to the results published by Howes, four different builds of the Windows AntiSpyware beta detected the Claria products, but the default recommendation was "ignore." Prior to the recent tests, Microsoft's AntiSpyware tool detected Claria's products and presented users with a recommended action of "Quarantine."

I blogged about this last week, and to say the least, I'm concerned about Microsoft's apparent disregard for this little place I like to call the Real World, where companies that install malignant spyware and adware onto my computer are, well, bad. This would be like the PR people behind Strawberry Shortcake deciding it would be a really good, no, berry good idea to team up with surefire brand-booster Osama Bin Laden. Just a match made in heaven, don't ya think?

Related: Regardless of the apparent Crazy McCrazyStein decisions going on at Microsoft right now, they actually do have some good stuff. Learn more about MSN Search, Microsoft and RSS, or organize your IE favorites with a step by step pictorial tutorial.