Customers testing the newly released Windows XP Professional x64 Edition have been getting startling error messages that anti-virus protection from at least two vendors—Symantec and McAfee—is not yet available.

According to early adopters looking to exploit the power of the latest 64-bit operating system, the Norton Internet Security 2005 error message is rather blunt: “Symantec currently does not sell any consumer products that are certified to be compatible with 64-bit processors and operating systems.”

In a statement released to Ziff Davis Internet News, Symantec said it would be “monitoring the adoption of x64 very closely” but confirmed that virus protection on x64 was not yet available.

Over at Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee Inc., the message was essentially the same: The market for 64-bit computing is not mature enough to justify a full anti-virus rollout.

Source: eWeek