NTL is giving all UK customers free antivirus protection, and plans to offer firewall, anti-spyware and parental control systems in the future.

The new service will be launched in the third quarter of this year, and will include a signature-based antivirus scanner that updates every three hours, a pop-up blocker, secure form filler application and a privacy manager.

"We can offer our internet subscribers a powerful suite of security capabilities with great protection and ease of use," said Bill Goodland, director of internet at NTL.

"We install all elements of the package on a customer's PC in one download, while only activating the individual services that customers are authorised to use. This enables us to easily roll out new security services like firewall and anti-spyware to our customers."

NTL and others came under fierce criticism last week over the lack of security provision by ISPs. Other vendors may now follow suit if NTL's services give it a competitive advantage.

"This to be applauded," said Neil Barrett, professor of computer science at Cranfield University.

"I feel that ISPs have a moral duty to protect electronic communications. I suspect we'll see a rush to offer similar services from other ISPs."

The NTL software will be available for download from NTL's portal as well as on installation disks.