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AVG Virus Scanner Removes Critical Windows File
secmartin writes "The popular virus scanner AVG released an update yesterday that caused their software to mark user32.dll as a virus. Since this is a rather critical file, AVG's suggestion to remove it caused problems for users around the world who are now advised to restore the file through the Windows Recovery Console. AVG just posted an update about this (FAQ item 1574) in the support section of their site. Their forums are full of complaints."
Just doing it's job!
you get what you pay for?
It seems like AVG has gone massively downhill lately.
This is actually a patch that they tried to roll out to fix Ubuntu bug #1, a great stride forward too.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashdot.org Errors found while checking this document as HTML5!
Should have gone for the gold, marked Explorer.exe and iExplore...
Damn. This is what I was hoping would never happen to AVG. After reading all the times that McAfee, Norton, and others had removed Office documents, Windows DLLs, and Office DLLs, I always had a smug chuckle available.
But now. Ah, well. Four years, 300 workstations, a dozen or more managed installations and still not a single infection or major problem for me using AVG.
"Do not recommend Linux for it's "not there yet." I will give KDE a few more years."
It would appear that certain free AV software is also "not there yet". :)
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
That's going to be fun for the millions of PC users who did not get a Windows CD with their PC and did not bother to burn a re-install CD.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I've been using AVG at customers sites since version 6.. It has, over the years, deleted entire outlook pst's, repeatedly uninstalled VNC servers and radmin, and generally been grumpy for the slightest reason.
I am a sucker for punishment, because I still keep using it. It's just as good as the rest, it's half the price, and noticably faster than all the others I've tried.
I think that, however, the entire concept of antivirus is going to have to fail, and we'll need a whitelist, rather than a blacklist.
There has been quite a bit of discussion about this over the years, and it's going to come true.
Oh. And as an added bonus, Slashdot is screwing up my display. When I load the page, I get the comments page, and then it clears and I get a spammy IBM flash ad of some sort. Serves me right for not installing ABP after a reinstall.
--Rob
Schlock Mercenary.
If you haven't been hit yet, then you probably won't be either; your AVG quite likely already has the fixed definitions file.
If you -are- hit... guess what? it pops up a warning that it believes it found some sort of trojan in user32.dll . Laymen might just tell it to remove the thing, but I do hope -you- would know better and tell it to stfu and ignore, then fetch the latest update (it will warn you a few more times if you've got the resident shield runnning, as user32.dll gets accessed a lot).
If you -are- hit and it has already removed it... quickly restore it, carry on.
If you are hit, it has removed it, and your machine has already crashed... reboot to a command prompt (safe mode MAY work, but it didn't when I fixed a machine on sunday), restore user32.dll from a cache / restore point. If you can't get it from a cache, get it from the installation CD (if you have one), but keep in mind that it will be missing updates and windows update might not realize that (as everything else on the system tells it hotfixes N-M have been installed - maybe MS will make the update check the MD5 or something of user32.dll, after this problem, just in case).
This was extremely stupid on the end of AVG, but then I'm still baffled why such files can be removed at all; same with ntldr. If you accidentally wipe your root dir, you're all kinds of f'ed.
Windows really is a virus and not an operating system. The user32.dll file is the one that phones home to Microsoft and has that "NSA Backdoor" in it.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your operating systems and I realized that you're not actually cross platform. Every OS on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding community but you Windows users do not. You move to a hardware manufacturer and you multiply and multiply until every desktop is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another OEM. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Windows is a disease, a cancer of this planet.
You're a plague and AVG is the cure.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
No, Avast ye scurvy viruses, dammit! Not everything that looks vaguely latin should be pluralized with an i, and most certainly nothing should be pluralized by changing the word-final "us" to "ii"! You're just a dumbass trying to look educated, and failing miserably. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/virus
Right, because Pirates are known for proper spelling and pronunciation. Can you see a pirate trying to pronoun viruses? I didn't think so.
http://www.mhall119.com
OK, fine, most people won't have CMDOW.EXE on their system legitmately (ie they didn't put it there themselves) and so if they do have that file, something nefarious has happened at some stage. But for all devs that do use this file (and others like it), AVG is not a friend, not even in the slightest.
So, that leaves the non-devs, and there's enough of them around to build a business model based upon offering the program for free in order to get some paying customers. So, Sometimes, if building a PC for a complete noob and i wasn't going to have to maintain it afterwards, i would ignore my hatred of AVG and just install the latest free ed so at least the user would have a relatively trouble-free anti-virus solution.
Now, AVG has no doubt ruined many a noobs week because their computer doesn't work and they have no idea how to fix it. Great one AVG!
I now have a delete-on-sight-with-a-scorched-earth-attitude policy with regard to AVG (was previously only an ignore-at-all-costs-except-when-really-lazy policy). Can all members of the technical elite follow suit? Thanks.
It's by no means low cost, but I do have to say that I love NOD32. It's worth the extra money to not have to worry.
Earn a % of cash back from Newegg, Tiger Direct, Walmart.com, and more: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=458505
Over the last few years I have installed AVG Free on hundreds of my customers computers. On the whole it has been a good stable program. While I havent seen this current problem yet, this would be the third time this year that I know of where AVG have stuffed up and caused major problems. The last one was where they disabled Zonealarm and customers lost their connection to the Internet. For your average home user, it is beyond them to know why something goes wrong, it just does. AVG on the other hand seem to be slipping in the way they approach the care they should be taking when releasing updates. Be interesting to know if something has changed this year in their process of developing and releasing updates?
I administer a network of a about 200 windows systems, and we use almost exclusively AVG Free. Oy vey, am I gonna have a long day on Wednesday, maybe I should just unplug the phone now.
i thought the AVG free license was for personal non-commercial use.
That should be Pirii, not Pirates.
No, it's Pirates, dammit! Now I'm going to lecture you about the proper pluralization of latin sounding words because I think you're a dumbass trying to look educated, there is no way you would make a common mistake for comedic value. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humor
http://www.mhall119.com
No, but it's fun.
I suppose next you're going to object to "VAXen" and "boxen"?
Get off my damn lawn.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Use of "boxen" is actually really annoying to many people, including myself; and honestly, at least for me, when I see that it lowers my opinion of whoever wrote it. The impression it gives me is that the author is trying to sound cool to people who are computer geeks, but the kind of geek that mods their computer so it looks cool and runs the latest game quickly, not the kind that's actually interested in the inner workings of the system.
So that's my problem with it - I know other people say "boxen" as well, but it seems like the kind of thing that is most often used in the group described above. That this is a negative connotation for me I guess would imply that I'm an elitist of sorts, but that's not it; I'm just not into the same kind of thing. That's just not the kind of geek I am and I sometimes regret being found guilty by association with that group by people who don't know me well but can tell I'm a geek.
Of course, I'm also the kind of person who gets annoyed at most all improper grammar usage. The "Its/It's" problem so many people have is one of the worst.
On the other hand, I don't mind "virii" that much; I know it's incorrect but it's not so much of a stretch as "boxen". I agree, it's fun, when used in the right context. A story about popular anti-virus software running amok definitely counts as the right context.
Also, while I do use them quite frequently myself, I don't get too concerned about proper comma and semicolon usage, so please no comments about that if I've done something wrong in that regard :)
Well, better than my slip up. I was working at an office with a secretary. She was showing me around the place, where the machines were etc. We had finished and needed to get back to her station to fix her system. Guess what I said without even thinking?
"Well I guess we should go now and take a look at your box." She laughed pretty hard.
I couldn't believe that I said that.
I'm not anti-social, I'm anti-idiot.
i do not think that a "small private school" running TWO HUNDRED copies (not that either item alone would be any different.. it wouldn't) fits within the limitations for using avg free:
from http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition#tba2
No, Avast ye scurvy viruses, dammit!
There's no such thing as "viruses", just there's no "mouses". "Virus" is the plural for "virua".
Other commonly confused words include "bus", the plural of "bue", "adress" for "adreso" (tricky one!). Not many people know or use those words correct hence the mess we're in.
But some words are catching up faster than others, such as the popular "yes", which is the plural of "yea".
It's always good to have a second opinion - see e.g.portable clamwin
Andy
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You obviously never learned Latin, or you would know the correct declension of the noun "bus", as given here
You and people like you are precisely why the abusive monopolies exist. Your persistent drug-addiction-like dependence on gaming has placed all profiting parties so high on their thrones that they will continue to rule you and all the people like you. Put some principles before your pleasure once in a while and you might develop what some call "character."
The game developers will not write to Linux or even Mac OS while they already have your short-n-curlies. They have no motivation to change while you remain staunchly loyal to their current model.