A number of BitDefender users, whose 64-bit Windows systems stopped working or were unable to be rebooted after updating their security programs, vented their frustration by flooding the antivirus (AV) vendor’s forum pages over the weekend.
According to an IDG report, users on forum boards started signaling the problem on Saturday evening. The complainants said several Windows files, and the security vendor’s own program files, were identified as “Trojan.FakeAlert.5″ malware after they performed an update for their BitDefender AV programs.
In an e-mail update Monday to ZDNet Asia, Vitor Souza, BitDefender’s global communications director, explained that “multiple” BitDefender and Windows files which comprise .exe, .dll and other binary files, were incorrectly detected as malware and “moved to quarantine”.
The faulty updates were applied to the company’s home user product line as well as BitDefender Business Client and BitDefender Security for File Servers.
Those using BitDefender’s products from 2008 to 2010, on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 platforms, were affected.
Intersetingly, back in In 2005, changes to BitDefender technology were blamed for the accidental deletion of thousands of GFI customers’ e-mail messages. Last year, CA also incurred the wrath of customers after its AV technology wrongly identified a Windows XP systems file as a virus, and quarantined the associated files.
