Posted on 04/21/2010 1:29:45 PM PDT by Battle Hymn of the Republic
A flawed McAfee antivirus update sent enterprise administrators scrambling today as the new signatures quarantined a crucial Windows system file, crippling an unknown number of Windows XP computers, according to messages on the company's support forum.
The forum has since gone offline.
(Excerpt) Read more at networkworld.com ...
I was waiting for an answer like that....thanks! Can I get it free somewhere?
There was no bashing of MS users in that post.
...and he didn’t call anyone an idiot.
We switch from McAfee last year.
Yep that is correct.
Thanks for that. I had a mystery case come in late this afternoon, and this pretty much describes it. I’ll fix it when I get in tomorrow AM.
I also found a new .dat file available from Macafee that you might want to apply. Because it is possible for Macafee to re-delete svchost.exe after you do the fix. I've seen that happen today several times.
Here is the link to it:
http://www.mcafee.com/apps/downloads/security_updates/dat.asp?region=us&segment=enterprise
Try running it with /F switch and also re-doing the "expand" command fix for C:\winnt\system32\svchost.exe.
here is some additional info I just received:
It appears that a threat called w32/wecorl.a has bound itself to svchost.exe and McAfee update 5958 finds the threat but also deletes svchost.exe.
Some known symptoms or infection and/or having lost svchost.exe:
The definition update at the link is for Macafee update 5959.
Just like I didn’t call anyone an idiot either.
Yep. Kept shutting my system down. Had to restore.
Flawed McAfee update paralyzes corporate PCs
Macs unaffected, of course... but you already knew that.
Good grief, You are offended by that?! That is neither insulting nor offensive to any user or to Microsoft or Windows. It just happens to be true. . . But you are offended??? Grow up. That is no where close to the offensive vile posts attacking Mac users and even individuals Windows users post in Apple and Mac threads.
Where did I say I was offended. I'm just pointing out that Apple people do muddy up the windows threads. not sure who said it never happens. May have been zeagut (or whatever his screen name is).
How did an antivirus company release a new version that was untested? "Sorry Sir, that bullet that you bought from us had a defective primer." "We at, name the ammo company, had NO idea that you wanted to shoot it from a gun made in 1950!" I do not expect any ammo company would use that excuse.
You call that "muddy up" in a Windows thread?
The claim has been "insulting offensive" behavior of "Applebots" toward Windows users on "every Windows thread." The observation that Macs are not impacted by this event is a fair comment in a discussion of malware. The poster did not insult anyone by posting it, but you equated him and all Apple users with idiots, an insulting ad hominem attack.
Now the computer won't even boot up in safe mode...it awaits a trip to the recycle bin.
Just thought you'd like to see what the gist of your post looks like to most of us reading here.
The forum has since gone offline."
Their computers must have been running McAfee...
LOL! That’s funny when you omit the guts. Read post 15 again. The point was the box worked better with the malware before the McAfee.
The other point was after 20 years of using computers and never getting a virus/spyware/malware all WITHOUT ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE my dingbat 10 year old daughter managed to do it on a box she’s had since she was two. I figure I’m way ahead of the game as far as anti-virus software brain damage goes...
I’ll try the Ubuntu 10.04 on it when it comes out. Yes I see that it is free :-)
Well, I've been having unprotected sex for umpteen years, and have never gotten an STD, but that's because I'm in a monogamous relationship. I can't imagine how restricted your browsing is, if your computer has never gotten infected in that time.
Monogamous computing?
Every PC I’ve had that came with McAfee was slow and had frequent crashes. Deleting McAfee invariably fixed it.
Between the free versions of Avast, AdAware and Spybot, I’ve had few issues with viruses and adware. It also helps to avoid web sites that push adware and to have sense enough not to click on unknown links and attachments.
I dl’ed Avira. I saw the pop up, but for free I thought ‘big deal’. Just clicked ‘ok’ and it went away. Have both AVG and Avira now.
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