Microsoft denies being soft on Claria

Microsoft finally broke silence and gave its justification on downgrading the threat level of claria software from ’remove’ to ’ignore’ in its antispyware software earlier this month.

"We decided that adjustments should be made to the classification of Claria software in order to be fair and consistent with how Windows AntiSpyware handles similar software from other vendors," Microsoft said.

The beta version of Microsoft AntiSpyware previously recommended that users quarantine several products from Claria, but this changed last week.

According to a statement published by Microsoft, the downgrade in threat level merely represents an effort to be "fair and consistent with how Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) handles similar software from other vendors."

The news comes at a sensitive time, as Microsoft is reportedly in acquisition talks with Claria.

"We take software analysis for Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) very seriously and handle all vendor requests in the same manner. All software is reviewed under the same objective criteria, detection policies, and analysis process," Microsoft said. "Absolutely no exceptions were made for Claria. Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) continues to notify our users when Claria software is found on a computer, and it offers our users the option to remove the software if they desire."

In a letter to customers, Microsoft writes that Windows AntiSpyware continues to detect Claria spyware. "We take software analysis for Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) very seriously," the letter reads. "All software is reviewed under the same objective criteria, detection policies, and analysis process. Absolutely no exceptions were made for Claria. Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) continues to notify our users when Claria software is found on a computer, and it offers our users the option to remove the software if they desire ... We firmly believe that people should have complete control over what runs on their computers."