Thanks to Tim Bolton for making me aware of this. It appears that MuckAfee (aka McAfee) distributed a bad AV update that breaks PC’s. The malware definition file quarantined a critical XP system file. They admit that “The problem occurs with the 5958 virus definition file (DAT) that was released on April 21 at 2:00 P.M. GMT+1 (6:00 A.M. Pacific).”
You know what? I really don’t get why people still use MuckAfee or Sin-Mantec software. Both have had these issues in the past. This sort of failure makes me wonder about a complete lack of quality control in the release process. People have been burned and they continue to hand over money for this trash. Would you really go to a doctor who amputates your leg instead of extracting your appendix and then return to him again with an ingrown toe nail? Seriously? Get real and buy some decent software.
You do have options! Trend Micro’s up front cost may seem expensive but it is per user based. AVG’s business product is fine – and very cheap. Microsoft’s corporate and home solutions are easy to manage and lightweight on the machine.
But I guess I’m wasting wear and tear on my keyboard. Those same people who’ve just seen their XP PC’s die will renew their support contracts because they just don’t want to know better. So be it.
McAfee’s ePolicy Orchestrator management console makes the hassle worth it. What kind of centralized management/reporting console do you get with Trend Micro or AVG business products? And Microsoft?? Yea, they’ve never, ever released a WSUS patch for their very own products that BSOD’s the machine and makes it completely unrecoverable, even after testing said patch for days. And you want me to trust their/your AV product day in/day out? I don’t think so. I received a warning email from McAfee at 10AM, three hours before my ePO server would have downloaded the DAT. The only time I’ve received such a warning from MS has been AFTER my machines are dorked up. And yes, my company is a Microsoft EA customer, because we want to be.
Marc,
When was the last time a Microsoft update caused a BSOD on your machines – and it wasn’t because of a 3rd party product using bad coding practices?
When was the last time Trend Micro or Microsoft malware definition files broke machines or caused data to be deleted?
3 hours notification – nice – Users have only been out of action for 2+ hours by then. Patches updates should be tested before being deployed – no matter what the vendor says. Most networks will always be more complex than any lab a QA team in any software company might have. AV definitions should be automatically pushed out through the network. You shouldn’t have to test them. You should be able to take it for granted that a definition file won’t mark a known sytem file or XLS document as a threat.
TM and AVG BUsiness Network both have centralised management, alerting and reporting.
I have no personal investment in any of the solutions. I don’t care which solution anyone uses. But I am tired of people moaning about stuff that breaks and they continue to subscribe to the services. And how dare one criticise the product they purchased. If a person buys crap then they need to be less sensitive and admit the mistake instead of trying to be defensive about it.
Aidan.