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security

Virus Protection that Works

April 21, 2010 16:24:15.396

I'm guessing that McAfee needed to do a bit more testing on their latest virus scan update:

McAfee's "DAT" file version 5958 is causing widespread problems with Windows XP SP3. The affected systems will enter a reboot loop and loose all network access.

Apparently, it thinks svchost.exe is bad, and blows it away. Oops. On a positive note, a machine that endlessly reboots is pretty safe from viruses :)

Update: This is about as bad as it could get - since affected machines won't boot up with network support, they have to be fixed by hand (i.e., no automated fix from McAfee is possible):

Amrit Williams, CTO of security management system company Big Fix, told USA Today that there's no way to automate the process of fixing affected computers. Every machine will need to be repaired individually, he said, noting the process could take days or weeks.

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posted by James Robertson

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