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Microsoft Security Products Flag Google Chrome As a Virus

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-it-quacks-like-a-horse dept.

New submitter maeltor writes "Reports poured in this morning that Microsoft's security products, namely Microsoft Security Essentials and Forefront Client Security, were flagging Google Chrome as a virus (PWS:Win32/Zbot) and removing the browser if users chose to clean and reboot their machines. Users reported that the only way to mitigate the problem was to set MSE and Forefront to 'always allow' Zbot, which is generally considered to be a bad idea." A Google employee in the above support thread notes that Microsoft has now pushed another update to resolve the issue. "On September 30th, 2011, an incorrect detection for PWS:Win32/Zbot was identified. On September 30th, 2011, Microsoft released an update that addresses the issue. Signature versions 1.113.672.0 and higher include this update."

16 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. A joke... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft Security Products Flag Google Chrome As a Virus

    For once, Microsoft get's it right!

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    1. Re:A joke... by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I realise you were going for humour, but Google does a lot of very shady things involving auto-updates and integrating with unnecessary parts of a system. Why does my Firefox installation need a Google Update plug-in I never asked for, and why does it keep getting reactivated even though I've explicitly turned it off?

      The reaction might not have been deliberate on this occasion, but I am utterly lacking in sympathy if Google's shady code starts getting treated like malware. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's still a duck, even though sometimes it can taste good.

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  2. Microsoft to Google... by killmenow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Oh, Woops! How did that happen?! So sorry about that Google. Totally a mistake. Totally. Our bad, really."

    Meanwhile some clueless user just switched back to IE.

    1. Re:Microsoft to Google... by Chemicles · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right. If some bug had been discovered in some open source software and was corrected in 2 hours, the comments on the story would be a circlejerk praising the open source community.

      Microsoft realizes there's a bug, corrects it within 2 hours, and it's anti-competetive. Sheesh. They did a good job with a quick fix, can't we just acknowledge success when it happens?

  3. Whoops! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    It looks like they responded within 2 hours - not bad!
    Google support ticket with issue and resolution at the top: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=42d6ba02d7eed070&hl=en
    I wonder what Chrome did that smelled like Win32/Zbot.

    1. Re:Whoops! by killmenow · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wonder what Chrome did that smelled like Win32/Zbot.

      Made IE look stupid and fat.

    2. Re:Whoops! by Mashiki · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well Zbot has a lot of really broad things that you're looking for in terms of detection. So to have something legitimate being nailed wouldn't surprise me, it actually surprises me that other browsers haven't been nailed yet because they do the same things that, that includes IE, Opera and a variety of webkit based ones.

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  4. It is a virus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Chrome is a virus. You see, it has caused the marketing people at Mozilla to go crazy with the numbering scheme of FF and as a result, borked up my once good to use user interface into a complete mess of new design, misplaced buttons, screwy single menus and a whole host of unusable extensions. Chrome is a virus... that has killed Firefox.

  5. Re:Holy crap! by bloodhawk · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is as good as most of the competitors products, plus its free and doesn't bog down the system or constantly nag you with useless information.

  6. Re:Virus scanner flags something that is not a vir by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Right. Let's face it, Microsoft would have done this on purpose if they had thought of it and thought they could get away with it, but chances are, this was an honest mistake. Test by: the regular (but hopefully infrequent) false positives you get from any antivirus product. Also test by: the speed at which M$ corrected it. Probably nothing to see here.

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  7. Shoe's on the other foot by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 4, Funny

    After all the times AV products have flagged Windows system files!

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  8. Re:Holy crap! by spiffmastercow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, it works quite a bit better. And since it isn't an income source, it doesn't nag you constantly.

  9. Re:Holy crap! by grimmjeeper · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm betting you meant to suggest that the state of security software is pretty wretched these days rather than heap praise on MSSE. Am I right?

  10. Not really that bad. by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not as bad as McAfee's "Oh hey, that important system file, you're not using it right? *delete*"
    One of my friends was at work for nearly 2 weeks straight after that fiasco.

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  11. Re:MSE by Dunega · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Never had a single false positive with it. Odds are your's aren't. Beat it trollboy.

  12. Google's fix by countertrolling · · Score: 3, Funny

    Disguise it as an FBI key logger

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