Antivirus Webroot Deletes Windows Files, Causes Serious Problems For Users (pcworld.com)

Users of Webroot's endpoint security product, consumers and businesses alike, had a nasty surprise Monday when the program started flagging Windows files as malicious. From a report: The reports quickly popped up on Twitter and continued on the Webroot community forum -- 14 pages and counting. The company came up with a manual fix to address the issue, but many users still had problems recovering their affected systems. The problem is what's known in the antivirus industry as a "false positive" -- a case where a clean file is flagged as malicious and is blocked or deleted. False positive incidents can range in impact from merely annoying -- for example, when a program cannot run anymore -- to crippling, where the OS itself is affected and no longer boots. The Webroot incident falls somewhere in the middle because it affected legitimate Windows files and sent them to quarantine. This is somewhat unusual because antivirus firms typically build whitelists of OS files specifically to prevent false positive detections.

Comments

Not exactly big news.

[richy freeway]

I'm sure all three users were massively upset though.

Is there a problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

> the program started flagging Windows files as malicious

I don't see the problem. Works well.

Flags Windows as malicious

[rmdingler]

Something /. users have been doing for years.

Well On The Bright Side

[Greyfox]

After it can't boot anymore, Windows is WAY more secure than it was. Really, you could say they're doing a GREAT job of keeping your system free of virusses!

Re:Reasons for not Microsoft

[michaelwigle]

Yup, that's why I install all of them at once! No virus is gonna get me (because my system won't boot)... :P

P.S. I agree. Diverse 3rd party products do help make the bad guys job harder.