Centralized control Console?

[Dan]

I contacted Giant not long before it was aquired by
Microsoft. My question was: Are they going to have a
centralized control console like all the major Anti-virus
programs (e.g. Norton, Trend, CA, etc.) where the
software's configuration and behavior accross the entire
network could be controlled. Their answer was sometime in
2005 (which at the time was too late for us)

Now MS bought them, and I see nothing about this now. Is
there work being done, or plans for doing this?

 

[Parhez S.]

What's Microsoft's direction with this product? We are
seriously considering buying an Enterprise Anti-Spyware
solution and if Microsoft is going to continue what GIANT
started developing, in terms of an enterprise solution,
then we might wait for it to come out, if it happens
soon. If not, it will be nice to know whether MS will
release a desktop edition, what the licensing models will
be, how updates will be provided, etc.

 

[Mike]

Here's is what all of us corporate admins really want and
need:

http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/ms_antispyware_
preview_01.jpg

I really like Giant aka MS Antispyware, but it's of no
use to us without a management console for the enterprise.
Obviously Giant was on the verge of this and MS could
easily continue the work. The Giant code was also
licensed to Sunbelt and they have a console managed
version out now based on Giant.

 

[Guest]

I would also be very interested in a feature like this. It
seems that none of the spyware vendors offer a good product
that has this.

Brent

 

[Guest]

What about Spy Sweeper Enterprise:
http://www.webroot.com/products/spysweeper/enterprise/

That has central console control and reporting for client
installs.

I am still planning to buy and deploy Spy Sweeper
Enterprise. When MS Anti-Spyware becomes stable, it still
may help to have the second opinion from an outside
vendor. Many people used to run AdAware and SpyBot
together (before Spy Sweeper yeilded better results).

 

[Guest]

Exactly what I'm saying - I'm not rolling this out
without Central Control.

MS - What's the word?

 

[Guest]

Have you tried the trial of this? I did and it's pretty
clunky. Not the smooth operation I'd like to see in a
centrally controlled app.

 

[Paul K]

I agree. I have tested the Spy Sweeper enterprise edition
and clunky is a good description. I think Spy Sweeper is
effective for blocking/removing Spyware and the enterprise
edition does have solid reporting and deployment
features. But I fear many of the settings will prevent
our users from using IE to the extent that they need to.
At this point, it looks like it could be the best option
out there, but I'm not sure if it is worth throwing
thousands of dollars at in place of the MS/Giant solution.

Paul

 

[Adam Crain]

Yup, Central managment and deployment is going to be the
key!

Hello anyone at MS reading this??

Adam

 

[Raphael]

I think you guys are spot on. Without an enterprise
management solution it won't be worth much to anyone.
Like everyone said, companies have for some reason not
introducted any mature enterprise solution. Hopefull MS
can do the same thing it did with SUS on this one

 

[Carl R. Knecht]

Yup, Central managment and deployment is going to be the
key!

You forgot reporting and GPO templates...

 

[BigJohnson]

I heartly agree. MS NEED to implement a centralised
enterprise management console to facilitate agent
deployment and automated push updates - similar in
fashion to NAI Protection Pilot / EPO.

With this in place - I'd be on board!

 

[Guest]

i agree with mike, i manage over 30,000 PC's and pushing
out apps wich require regular maintenance is a huge task.
If Ms could do two things this software would most
certanialy be a sucess.
1. Package in a MSI, for deployment via GPO
2. inclued a centrally server end (such as symantec and
mcafee have for their antivirus servers) or at least
create some log files in xml.