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McAfee Kills SVCHost.exe, Sets Off Reboot Loops For Win XP, Win 2000

Posted by timothy on from the hope-you-were-using-antiantivirus-too dept.

Kohenkatz writes "A McAfee Update today (DAT 5958) incorrectly identifies svchost.exe, a critical Windows executable, as a virus and tries to remove it, causing endless reboot loops." Reader jswackh adds this terse description: "So far the fixes are sneakernet only. An IT person will have to touch all affected PCs. Reports say that it quarantines SVCHOST. [Affected computers] have no network access, and missing are taskbar/icons/etc. Basically non-functioning. Windows 7 seems to be unaffected." Updated 20100421 20:08 GMT by timothy: An anonymous reader points out this easy-to-follow fix for the McAfee flub.

8 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. For a program so hard to turn off by ZeroSerenity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems to be very willing to take the whole machine down. Speaking of which, did anyone at McAfee even bother to test this dat on a Windows XP machine?

    --
    For those who seek perfection there can be no rest on this side of the grave.
    1. Re:For a program so hard to turn off by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A decent antivirus would have every critical Windows whitelisted just to avoid this sort of problem.

      This isn't some user-installed application, it's svchost.exe.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:For a program so hard to turn off by clone53421 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Whitelist them by checksum, not filename.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    3. Re:For a program so hard to turn off by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, you can't trust anything once a machine's compromised, which to my mind is a huge problem with modern Windows systems, but I'm not even going to go there....

      Guess where the "root" in "rootkit" comes from?

      Hint: it ain't Windows.

  2. Re:antivirus... poison for cure by timster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, with McAfee, the cure has been worse than the disease for over a decade now. But the cure is easier to explain to management.

    --
    I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
  3. Re:Black Wednesday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or you can go back to pencil and paper. Much more cost effective than Linux.

  4. Re:Guess what I've been doing all morning? by JamesP · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Funny that one of the 'false reasons' against Open Source is liability

    So are you going to sue the bastards for lost time and productivity?? You should.

    --
    how long until /. fixes commenting on Chrome?
  5. Re:Black Wednesday by onkelonkel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    By God, you're right!

    Your wise advice has galvanized me to action!

    I am switching the entire company over to Linux this very instant.

    Just as soon as I find the AutoCAD for Linux install CDs.

    --
    None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.