Security provider Trend Micro yesterday announced a brace of Microsoft-based strategies, rolling out improvements for its combo offering on Vista and proclaiming that it will handle antivirus for Hotmail/Live webmail services for a further year.

Users running Trend Micro Internet Security on Vista platforms get two enhancements, Trend Micro Firewall Booster and Trend Micro Pre-Startup Scan. Trend says that Firewall Booster takes advantage of Vista Firewall capabilities, requiring "no customer interaction." Pre-Startup Scan "finds and eliminates rootkits before Windows starts," though it also creates a restore point in case of any snags.

Meanwhile, the 280 million active users of Live Hotmail can rest assured in the knowledge that Trend will continue providing "real-time antivirus scanning and cleaning protection," which will help to "ensure a security-enhanced Internet experience."

Microsoft will pay Trend for minding Hotmail Live, of course. As for Firewall Booster and Pre-Startup Scan, the huge swarms of tech-savvy, security-aware users upgrading to Vista are bound to snap those up.®

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