Gates says Microsoft cutting virus combat time

Microsoft Corp. is cutting the time it takes to blitz viruses but needs personal computer users to turn on their auto-updating features to help it combat potentially dangerous attacks, Bill Gates said today.

[Via Computerworld Security News] Computer security experts said a virus designed to steal financial data and passwords from Web users rippled across the Internet on Friday, exploiting a vulnerability in servers using Microsoft's IIS software. Known as the "Scob" outbreak, the attack has been termed more dangerous than the recent "Sasser" and "Blaster" infections. "We will guarantee that the average time to fix will continue to come down," said Gates, the software giant's chairman, who was in Australia for a charity launch. "The thing we have to do is not only get these patches done very quickly ... we also have to convince people to turn on auto-update." The Microsoft Windows auto-update feature, which is not turned on by default, allows security and other software to be updated and installed automatically. Gates also said Microsoft would revamp its Internet search site in July with a new search engine, using its dominant industry position to take market share from Google Inc.