Access to Windows Vista's kernel is at stake. McAfee's criticism was generated by Microsoft's provision of security information related to Windows Vista. The Redmond Company cataloged McAfee's comments as being "inaccurate and inflammatory."

As Kernel Patch Protection, or Patch guard indiscriminately blocks access to Vista's core both to malicious and to legitimate applications, the security community has criticized Microsoft for killing behavior-blocking technologies.

Microsoft has promised, through the voice of its CEO, Steve Ballmer that the security industry will be provided with a set of APIs permitting them access to Vista's kernel and tweaking Windows Security Center to allow for the introduction of additional dashboards. In Brussels, lawyers representing McAfee commented upon how Microsoft didn't rise up to it "hollow assurances."

"It's unfortunate that McAfee's lawyers are making these kinds of inaccurate and inflammatory statements," said Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of Microsoft's security technology unit.