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Microsoft Anti-Spyware Removes Norton Anti-Virus

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-a-big-oops dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to a story over at Washingtonpost.com, the latest definitions file for Microsoft's Anti-Spyware beta flags Symantec's Norton Antivirus products as a password-stealing trojan and prompts users to delete portions of the program. Users who follow the instructions hose their installation of Norton, requiring delicate Windows registry edits and a complete removal/reinstall of Norton. Microsoft's support forum is quickly filling up with complaints about this problem, many from businesses that have been pretty hard hit. This should be a cautionary tale about deploying beta products in production environments."

4 of 496 comments (clear)

  1. What problem? by HillBilly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Probably the best thing any user can have happen. The removal or norton anti-virus.

    --
    "Go into the hall of mirrors and have a bloody hard look at yourself" - HG Nelson
  2. Norton? by DirePickle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wait... Is not spyware? It's definitely malware.

  3. Not a Beta Issue by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This isn't really a beta issue, because the definition file will be constantly updated - as with most anti-virus products. It's always beta. I'd imagine that each definition file gets some testing, but not the same amount as a new software product.

    This also brings up some interesting possibilities. Is it possible to craft a virus to deliberately have similar signatures to a commercial product? An anti-virus company that doesn't have quite all commercial applications on hand to test against could be caught by that. Maybe not, but I'm sure someone will try now.

    I'm glad I run Linux, and when things like this happen, I wish everyone did.

    Bruce

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  4. Do you work for Norton by any chance? by hedronist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Excuse me? NAV is a steaming heap of complete crap.

    AVG does the job better, faster, and with far less resource consumption. Every time I have been called on to disinfect a machine which was running NAV, I recommned the owners switch to AVG. Without exception, they comment on how much more responsive their system is. I have little trouble convincing them to support Grisoft by getting the not-for-free version.

    The machine I am on right now is running (probably unnecessarily) a full AVG install. It checks my email, it checks my downloads, it checks all of the crud running on the system, and it does this while burning some fraction of 1% of the CPU and a tiny bit of memory.

    If you are currently running NAV, disable it (if you can) and try running AVG for a couple of days. I think you'll notice the difference.