McAfee messed up on Friday - anti-virus update flags hundreds of legitimate prog

Posted on Monday, March 13 2006 @ 21:26 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Last week McAfee messed up terribly. They launched a new virus definitions file for their anti-virus package on Friday but apparently something went wrong as the anti-virus scanner suddenly began to flag hundreds of legitimate third-part programs as hostile and prompting users to delete or quarantine them:
The files identified by McAfee as malicious included excel.exe (Microsoft Excel) and gtb2k1033.exe (Google Toolbar installer), as well as programs that run Macromedia Flash Player, Sun's Java application and Adobe update manager.

The erroneous flags even apply to updaterui.exe, McAfee's own update program. The full list of programs errantly marked as bad is here in PDF format, although McAfee only lists the ".exe" files affected, not the names of the software packages.
More info at Washington Post.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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