Microsoft is slated to release to the Web in the next day or two a beta refresh of its Microsoft AntiSpyware product.

Some testers reported on Wednesday that they had downloaded a new beta version of Microsoft AntiSpyware (version number 1.0.613). They also reported that Microsoft had extended the beta-expiration date for the product from July 31, 2005, to December 31, 2005.

Microsoft officials confirmed that Microsoft had extended the beta period until the end of the year. Officials also acknowledged that the company has been testing on a selective basis the beta refresh number 1.0.613. (The current beta version number is 1.0.509.)

The pending refresh is not Beta 2, however, Microsoft executives said. Beta 2 will be released "some time later this year," they said.

"We are going through with a refresh of the (Microsoft AntiSpyware) beta," said Paul Bryan, director of product management with Microsoft's security technology and business unit. "We are testing this right now a bit, making sure that things are OK" before releasing to all testers.

Bryan said on Wednesday that Microsoft planned to make the refresh available to all testers "in the next day or so."

Microsoft officially announced its plans to field a Microsoft-branded anti-spyware product (code-named "Atlanta") in January, following its purchase of Giant Software in December, 2004. The beta supports Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft released a publicly available Beta 1, that was not much more than a repackaging of Giant's technology, on January 6. On February 16, Microsoft issued a beta refresh. Since then, the company has made available weekly "signature updates" of the product to interested testers.

This week's Microsoft AntiSpyware beta refresh will include a couple of new features, Bryan said.

The refresh is designed to alleviate "some issues" with Winsock/ISP removal. While Bryan said these were relatively low in number in the current beta, he admitted that they've played havoc with some testers' network connectivity when certain traffic-intercepting software is part of a network stack.

The beta refresh also will include support for longer descriptions of spyware from Microsoft, Bryan said.

Bryan denied that Microsoft's decision to extend the beta period from July to December meant that the AntiSpyware product was running behind schedule.

"We first came out with the product 21 days after (buying the technology from Giant Software)," Bryan said. "We knew at some point, we'd have more beta updates and would probably have to move the beta date."

Bryan said that Microsoft had not committed to a final ship date for Microsoft Spyware, and would only do so some time after it received Beta 2 feedback.

Since Microsoft AntiSpyware entered beta, feedback about the product has been largely positive, according to both Microsoft and testers. Since the first beta, Microsoft has "enhanced some of the real-time protection agents, added new threat categories, and improved stability and performance," according to a statement on the company's Web site.

But testers also said it's high time for Microsoft to update the existing beta.

"I was hoping by now to see a Beta 2 or maybe a release candidate," said Steven Bink, a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and head of the Bink.nu Web site. "Microsoft released Beta 1 quickly after it acquired Giant, because the spyware problem is globally huge. So Beta 1 is the Giant tool with Microsoft branding, but the executable itself still has Giant in it."

Beta 2, which some are expecting to debut as early as next month, might include more cookie-scanning/management, according to industry scuttlebutt Bink said. When asked whether that might be so, Microsoft's Bryan said that Microsoft will continue to investigate whether the "user experience around cookies needs refinement." But he added that users today can use Internet Explorer 6.0 controls to manage both Microsoft and third-party cookies, unbeknownst to most users.

Another tester echoed Bink's call for an update.

"Initially, I was thrilled with it (Microsoft AntiSpyware)," said Robert McLaws, president and chief software architect of Interscape Technologies. "It caught a bunch of spyware that other programs hadn't. But I've been extremely dissatisfied with updates, they haven't updated as often as they should with new spyware notices that come out. I had to clean out three computers just last week because Microsoft missed a whole bunch of spyware, and I had to use Spybot Search and Destroy to get it out.

But "I want this program to succeed," McLaws continued. "Everyone wants this program to succeed. It has to."