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McAfee anti-virus update crashes Windows XP

by Shaun Nichols

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21 Apr 2010

Comments: 6

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McAfee
McAfee was left red-faced after a recent update problem

McAfee is scrambling to update its anti-virus products after a recent update caused system crashes in some Windows XP SP3 systems.

The 5958 DAT update was released early on Wednesday and later removed following reports that it was causing 'blue screen of death' and DCOM errors.

The issue occurs after the update is applied and a security scan is initiated. This can record a false positive report, alerting the user of a non-existent infection from the W32/wecorl.a malware. The system then encounters an error and shuts down.

McAfee said in an urgent security alert that it has now fixed the damaged DAT file and removed the offending components. Systems updated after Wednesday morning US Pacific Time should not be subject to the error.

The firm has posted a new DAT file, and is advising users and administrators to start the damaged systems in Safe Mode, manually replace the offending DAT file and then restore any affected files from the quarantine folder.

Users can also remedy the issue by copying the svchost.exe application from an unaffected system and replacing it on the damaged system.

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