Google to launch antivirus software?

23 May 2007 9:03 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Could Google be about to launch an antivirus offering free of charge for consumers?

The search engine giant has launched a new blog that focuses on online security as it attempts to raise awareness of the problems that are besieging the internet.

Although virus software is already included in The Google Pack in the form of Norton's Security Scan and Spyware Doctor Starter Edition it wouldn't be hard for the company to buy into the market and take on the security firms in the same way it has with Microsoft and it's office applications.

Still in its infant stages, the blog aims to cover a number of security related topics and as started with the issue of Malware.

The search engine has released a map showing the locations of compromised websites - the majority of malicious activity is going on in China, the US, Germany and Russia.

Google suggests the enabling of automatic updates for your operating system as well your browsers, browser plugins and other applications you are using, as well as using anti-virus software.

For those keen to eradicate all possible infections, the company suggests: "you might even want to run your browser in a virtual machine, which you can revert to a clean snapshot after every browsing session".

We will keep you posted.

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