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Symantec has released public betas of its forthcoming Norton Internet Security 2007 and Norton AntiVirus 2007 suites for Vista.

The software supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system. A Symantec spokesman told the media that the software still required access to Microsoft's Patchguard technology, which secures the kernel from hackers.

The spokesman said that some elements of the software will work, but Patchguard will 'prevent all of them from functioning'.

Patchguard is expected to be more of a problem for enterprises as the technology only works in the 64-bit version of the operating system.

'As we near the consumer Vista release scheduled for January 2007, we want to reassure our more than 50 million active users that our leading PC security products will be available from day one to protect their PCs from today's evolving online threats,' said Rowan Trollope, VP, Consumer Engineering, Symantec.

The betas are available here.

Sophos also announced Vista compatibility for its security software suites last Thursday. It has maintained that the Patchguard issue has never hampered its efforts to protect the Vista platform.

'While other security vendors aren't happy with how Vista has implemented its increased security, Sophos has been working closely with Microsoft and fully supports new functionality, such as Kernel Patch Protection (also known as PatchGuard),' said Richard Jacobs, CTO at Sophos.

Sophos will update its Anti-Virus 6.0 customers to version 6.5 automatically.