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AVG Update Breaks iTunes

Posted by kdawson on from the one-man's-virus-is-another-man's-music dept.

nate_in_ME writes "After getting a positive from the AVG virus detector while playing music on iTunes just a few minutes ago, I did a bit of research. It appears that AVG has recently pushed an update to the virus definitions that flags every iPod/iTunes related file as being infected with the 'Small.BOG' trojan. Interestingly enough, AVG does not have any information on this particular virus in their virus encyclopedia. Discussion on the Apple forum is up to 4 pages and climbing. One user there had an interesting thought: 'Maybe Palm has some shares in AVG...MUAHAAAA!!' (on page 3)."

7 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Haha, good by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    iTunes is about as useful as malware. If someone would only write a simple drag and drop app for the ipod touch that didn't require jailbreaking....

    Seriously does anyone else have issues with how convoluted it really is to add mp3 files to an ipod touch? Add a folder to your library, wait while itunes chugs and makes a COPY of each file before syncing. Hit sync a few times and agree to all your old settings being overwritten (when all it really does is update). A $10 mp3 player allows me to right click and say "Send to..." Fuck you apple.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    1. Re:Haha, good by kklein · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously does anyone else have issues with how convoluted it really is to add mp3 files to an ipod touch?

      Not me. Plug in to charge, unplug when you are leaving the house. Everything is already synced. That's convoluted?

      Add a folder to your library, wait while itunes chugs and makes a COPY of each file before syncing.

      As other posters have pointed out, you don't have to have it set up that way. If you want to have your music strewn all over your hard drive in random places that are hard to keep track of and hard to back up, Apple will oblidge.

      I'm sorry that you don't know how to use the software, but I'm glad that all my music is in one folder.

      Hit sync a few times and agree to all your old settings being overwritten (when all it really does is update).

      This is the one I can't figure out. The only time I hit "sync" is when I've told the program not to sync automatically, or if I've changed some playlists or something while it is plugged in and already synced. I don't think I've ever had to hit it "a few times," and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about with the "all your old settings will be overwritten" message. Are you sure you're not hitting "Restore?"

      Again... I would like to humbly suggest that you do not know how to use the software.

      A $10 mp3 player allows me to right click and say "Send to..."

      Okay, that's cool. I don't see how that helps with podcast subscriptions, playlists, and certain subsets of the library syncing to one device and others going to others, or how that helps you keep star ratings synced so that Party Shuffle preferentially selects songs you like better, or basically how that would be better than having a single, highly-customizable program handle all that for you, but if you want to do it that way, why didn't you just buy one of those FongTech "Super-Maxi CyberSong Glory" MP3 players that are all the rage these days, instead of the pokey little iPod Touch?

    2. Re:Haha, good by univalue · · Score: 1, Insightful

      but why does itunes need to be running in the background when not in use. I call that malware. There are three processes by default on system startup. Yes I know how to remove them and did. That why I do not use itunes.

  2. Why the heck is this news? by arcade · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously.

    Anti virus software has been breaking stuff for more than a decade. There will always be false positives, and there will always be stuff that hasn't been tested, thought about, and so forth.

    Of course, now, after this incident, they'll add a unittest to make sure that this exact thing doesn't happen again, and maybe add some for other music services. But hey - this is NOT something that should be thought of as wrong, foolish or whatever. These things *happen*.

    Anti-virus software has signatures, heuristics, and so forth. It'll be wrong from time to time. It's actually just business as usual.

    So, why is this news?

    --
    "Rune Kristian Viken" - http://www.nwo.no - arca
  3. Re:Had This Problem Myself by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The workaround is to disable the real-time scanner."

    Or switch to a better AV product. For a while I was satisfied with AVG, but gave up after other false positive problems with it. Avira does a better job (check out http://www.av-comparatives.org/) and still has a free version.

  4. McAffee/Norton Syndrome by Solr_Flare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's part of the natural life cycle of anti-virus software. Anti-virus software gets really good -> geeks and techies jump on the bandwagon -> they spread this to their non-techie friends -> AV software gets bloated/crappy over time -> geeks abandon it slowly over time -> regular consumers continue to use it forever until a geek comes along to force them to use the current hotness.

    --
    You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
  5. Re:Had This Problem Myself by unfunk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The workaround is to disable the real-time scanner."

    Or switch to a better AV product.

    Or a better media player. iTunes on Windows is superior only to Quicktime on Windows. Both are (in terms of usability) inferior to... well, pretty much everything else.