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Bad BitDefender Update Clobbers Windows PCs

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-actually-dispatches-a-man-with-a-bat dept.

alphadogg writes "Users of the BitDefender antivirus software started flooding the company's support forums Saturday, apparently after a faulty antivirus update caused 64-bit Windows machines to stop working. The company acknowledged the issue in a note explaining the problem. 'Due to a recent update it is possible that BitDefender detects several Windows and BitDefender files as infected with Trojan.FakeAlert.5,' the company said. The acknowledgment came after BitDefender users had logged hundreds of posts on the topic. Some complained of being unable to reboot their systems."

5 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Come on guys.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I had this happen to me yesterday, I though I got hit with a real virus, so I reformatted. At first I could not log in with my password, so I retrieved that with barts PE, then my desktop showed no installed icons or anything. It was bizzarre. wtf

  2. This happened to me by ProfessorKaos64 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This actually happened to me, at first I couldn't log in with my password, had to use Bart's PE disc to reset that, then I couldn't get any icons on my desktop of use the start button, then just a black screen, I thought I had a virus for real, so I reformatted , this was yesterday, wish I could have seen this but I don't know how they would have reversed it anyway.

    1. Re:This happened to me by Threni · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I only run Windows software in a VM these days - all the stuff I want to be fast, stable, secure and safe I do under Ubuntu. Windows 7/xp both work fine under the free VM Player. None of this malware crap for me, thanks.

  3. Re:what incompetent boobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's not that simple in reality. Obviously you can test RTM, service packs, etc, but system files can also be updated in individual security patches. It's simply not feasible to test every single security patch for every single supported system and platform, at least not if you want timely definition updates. Perhaps in the future Microsoft could make all released binaries available for AV vendors to regression test against.

  4. Re:How many times does this happen? by Nadaka · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sure.
    It is called trusted computing.
    But who is the gatekeeper of trust?
    In order to only allow "KNOWN GOOD FILES" you need a white-list.
    That means that no mere user is going to be write his own software.
    That means that small software producers are going to have to go through an arduous and prohibitively expensive vetting process in order to be white-listed.
    In practice this means that only Microsoft and its partners will be able to produce software for your pc at a reasonable price.
    This could even mean that user generated data files are not trusted and therefor not allowed, making the pc a device for consuming content.
    Perhaps the user could produce content remotely through software as a service providers, who would either charge highly or claim ownership rights to your content.

    Sounds really nice to you?