Symantec has released a public beta of its Norton Internet Security 2007 and Norton AntiVirus 2007 suites for Microsoft"s forthcoming Windows Vista operating system. While the software supports both 32 and 64-bit versions of the operating system, Symantec stressed that it still requires access to Microsoft"s Patchguard security technology that is built into the 64-bit version of the operating system.
"Elements of the security software will still work, but Patchguard will prevent all of them from functioning," a company spokesperson told vnunet.com. The Symantec betas, however, target consumers. Patchguard is a limited issue for the consumer segment because the vast majority of such users are expected to run the 32-bit version of the operating system.