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AVG Update Breaks iTunes
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)."
Bad music is a virus.
It spreads like wildfire and everyone has it.
I actually submitted this yesterday...updates in the Apple discussion thread make it sound like everything is back to normal.
It's a conspiracy! Or... maybe it's just that the definition for the virus in question was rushed out the door without adequate testing. How many new viruses are reported each week again? They probably don't "beta test" their definitions, and just do it in a lab. Oops. The lab machines didn't have iTunes.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
It does not appear to flag "every" file related to iTunes, it is just the iTunesMiniPlayer.dll.
The workaround is to disable the real-time scanner.
However their latest update had fixed it, and my real-time scanner is running again without problem.
I work at a AV vendor (not one of the big ones), and false positives are a big problem. Essentially there are two issues. First, how severe is the threat? You might skimp on your validation process in order to get something out sooner. Second (and much harder to resolve), there is effectively an infinite amount of software out there; on top of that, there may also be many different versions (iTunes 6, 7, 8, point releases, etc). You try to do the best you can, but shit happens because you can only test against so much software.
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
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
AVG does not have any information on this particular virus in their virus encyclopedia
That is the case for ~99% of the viruses in their "encyclopedia".
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
AVG turned to fucking donkey shit after 7.5. it blows my mind people still use it. the company treats their end users like idiots, their software behaves like the malware it claims to rid your system of, and eats up a shitton of resources to boot
yet it still seems to be one of the most popular free scanners, if not the most. I don't get it
it's hard to find a decent free antivirus that doesn't nag or suck these days. iirc Avira had nag screens, and a ridiculous amount of false positives. the least crap one I've used seems to be avast!. it seems to detect a decent amount of viruses, keeps out of the way, and and doesn't eat up a lot of resources
My antivirus is Avastly superior to AVG, but I don't use iTunes anyway. Sansa ftw.
I took it upon myself to drop them (AVG) a quick note telling them that I was hard pressed to pay/trust my welfare to a company that did not know what its own viruses were. And then I discovered that they really did not want to talk to or hear from me. It took me almost 10 minutes to find a form I could actually successfully type something into (Try it yourself!). And to do so I had to choose some very odd options from the dropdowns as they had NOTHING related to simply giving them feedback or "Other". It is a shame as I have been doing rather well with their free version.
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.
False positive from a DLL? That is nothing ...
How about TrendMicro giving a false positive on a valid PHP plain text file that is part of Drupal!
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
but you're asking it to be humorless.
Not only is the joke topical (in the sense it's related to another recent story) but it's made clear that it's a joke by keeping it in context (...MUAHAAAA!!).
You sir, FAIL.
Quack, quack.
I always knew that I liked AVG, but this is just the coolest! iTunes really is rather virus like.
Three Squirrels
Well, and your post is completely Troll. But it's okay, this is /. so we learn to live with that sort of thing.