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Bad BitDefender Update Clobbers Windows PCs
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."
Valid files detected as "FakeAlert"? Wow, irony DOES go a long way.
PWN.
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
They could have claimed it was all a part of a mock cyber-attack! Oh joy!
Its a new security paradigm. The newly locked down computer will not run anything, and therefore no virii, malware, bots, or solitaire, will run. Truly they've created the "most secure antivirus ever".
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
It is too bad that Microsoft has learned what we have all known for years. It's software is a virus, infecting our lives and bank accounts for years. I wish there was a way to filter updates. The addition of Hide Update was a major improvement but now if we could just Block any Service Pack, BitDefender, and patch less than 2 months old from updating that would be wonderful. It is not like microsoft reacts in a timely manner to its vulnerabilities anyway, what is another 2-6 months of being unprotected? I think the people in QA need a pay bump. The only reason I can come up with is they are payed so low that after they are done milking Microsoft and get fired they can always find a better paying job in the food industry.
FTA: "Some complained of being unable to reboot their systems."
Or maybe they should have put up a payment screen on their site, "We're sorry, your antivirus subscription has expired. To prevent your computer from being exposed to malware and virii, we have taken the proactive step of disabling your computer until you have made payment. For the low renewal fee plus a small reactivation fee of $199, we will be happy to walk you through the re-enablement process. Have a nice secure day!"
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.
you would think they would at least test updates on a few different systems (including the 64 bit systems) before releasing it to customers
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Quick, someone send Microsoft a 64 bit version of Vista and Windows 7.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Anticlobber software. To protect your computer against misbehaving antivirus software.
I remember a few years ago that an update to the compulsory antivirus software on some of our PCs at work went ahead and deleted some important Windows system files if you had it configured to auto-scan the disk; mine wasn't so I was able to disable it before losing the files, but anyone who let it run overnight came into work to find a dead PC waiting for them.
This happened to me, too... bitdefender would flag nearly any file, and it first flagged a file that I had just updated, so I was genuinely concerned. The next file is flagged, however, was usbstor.sys, so I knew the AV was probably wrong.
Some people were running virus scans... tens of thousands of false detection, and all of the files were quarantined or deleted... it was a really bad situation for many. I'm not sure how non-technical users fared.
I use bitdefender on my computer only - I like the aggressive detection capabilities and reporting options. However, no one else in my house wants to know what their AV is doing - they just want it to work - and bitdefender is probably the worst option for them.
well not poor, they paid the $250+ for Windows 64 bit, lamers...
I use Linux so this naturally does not effect me! Linux is the only security I need, unlike that Mick€y$£oth garbage you lamers insist on using.
Another Antivirus software package (COMODO) has caused problems of this nature for me at work - it updated, asked to reboot and on rebooting we were just presented with a black screen, the desktop wouldn't load. Fortunately we were able to reboot into safe mode and just uninstall it until there was an update issued, but it was still part of a morning lost... While it's impossible to test every configuration ever, I'd have thought that something that would affect EVERY system in an office using this software should have been picked up during testing... Well you learn from your mistakes. If it happens again, there will be hell to pay, I'm sure.
And why hasn't the "security industry" started to validate hashes and signatures and checksums on KNOWN GOOD FILES yet?
Seriously. Identifying the safe files is easier than identifying the infected ones.
I had BitDefender Quick Scanner (Firefox extension) and two days ago it was updated. After that no flash was displayed on any website. Only an "install missing plug-in..." message. I reinstalled the plug-in but the message remained. I went to their website to notice them but you must have a product key or something like that, and Quick Scanner was not even in the products list (it's a free add-on). At that point I gave up...
A bad Bitdefender update prevented all Windows binaries from running a few months ago. It would start popping up errors saying all my services were failing and wouldn't launch any applications. I actually formatted and reinstalled my laptop because I thought the whole thing was infected with a virus. What a pain in the ass.
I have a virus with the same heuristics as kernel32.dll. I think
it will run ok. (32 bit only)
I've been rebooting my machine every 5 minutes since
Windows 3.0. It works fine.
It never ceases to amaze me how much Windows users will endure.. Perhaps they are masochists and enjoy the pain of having their system occasionally rendered useless.. Living a life full of worry that their machine is an accidental click away from hours of removing crap from their system, followed by weeks of wondering whether or not they got all the cancer out.. Perhaps they enjoy the challenge of constantly defending themselves.. Proving that the are SMARTER than the other masochists that get burned.. Keeping your system safe has become just another game, and maybe that is fun.. I don't know.. And then they are paying some company that is supposed to put them in "God Mode" in the game they are playing.. but this protection costs them in money, and slows their protected system down.. often blocking legitimate things that they want to do, so they get an extra level of fun trying to figure out how to get their protection to allow them to use their PC.. And then even with all of this, they still occasionally get burned.. laugh it all off (after the anger and frustration has subsided), reinstall and reboot the game, and beg form more.. "Thank you sir may I have another ?"
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
One of the things that precipitated my move to Linux was the way Kaspersky -- at the time, the top-rated security suite -- was shutting down my LAN. There were lots of posts on the official forums complaining about the problem, a handful of useless responses from users guessing at which part of the suite might be the source of the problem, and about which of the undocumented menu options might disable that part of the suite, and one short, incomprehensible message from one of the developers, suggesting they were looking into the problem, from several months before.
My experience with security software for Windows is that they bog down the operating system, disable basic features of the operating system without warning, and cause frequent crashes -- the very problems that they warn malicious software may cause. Simply put, malicious software *may* cause problems for Windows, but most third-party security software *will*.
To Microsoft's credit, they finally sealed some of the fundamental security holes with Vista and Windows 7, and they offer a decent security suite for free, so there's really no longer any reason to buy one of these wretched third-party security suites.
On the whole, though, you'll still get better security by switching to Linux, or at least Mac OS X.
Linux is only free if your time is worthless.
Windows users will surely be compensated for this, since paying 499.99 for Windows entitles them to some form of premium support or compensation...Right?
Wait, I *don't* get any compensation for this?
I don't get any support?
Wow, 499.99 just bought me a useless brick.
Windows, only worth 499.99 if your time is so worthless, you have to pay other people to listen to you.
Allows you to boot into Time Machine if Windows is so hosed that you cannot get to System Restore? Sounds like GoBack.
Windows IS the virus.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.