The New York Attorney General’s office has slapped Symantec and McAfee with $375,000 in fines over charges they automatically renewed customer’s subscriptions without their consent.

Both companies also agreed to make clear disclosures of renewal fees when customers sign up. Automatic renewals are nothing new, and anti-virus software vendors like Symantec and McAfee say it was for their customer’s safety as auto-renewals prevent them from the risks associated with having out of date anti-virus software on their computers. However, they worked with the New York AG’s office for 2 years to improve their practices.

When running on Windows, it’s usually a bad idea to surf the Internet without some sort of virus protection. For most people, this means buying software from McAfee or Symantec, both of which make billions of dollars selling security suites that include virus protection. Microsoft looks to be taking them on (as well as free more »

The Redmont-based software giant is reported to have initiated 129 lawsuits in Europe and the Middle East in its effort to help law enforcement curb phishing. That’s very good of Microsoft, playing a very nobel role as a corporate citizen. For those who are not yet aware, Microsoft had launched a Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative more »