McAfee Declares Their Own App A Trojan

Botched definitions causing BSOD.

@zovadka

Published Jul 6, 2009 9:52 PM CDT
Updated Jul 27, 2022 4:36 AM CDT

30 seconds read time

McAfee seems to have goofed up bigtime with their latest update for virus definitions, causing VirusScan to quarantine many valid files.

So far the glitch seems to be when older scan engies install the 5664 DAT file. Once the update has been applied, all sorts of critical files are getting inadvertantly flagged as the PWS!hv.aq trojan.

Some users are getting the BSOD as McAfee quaranteens HP Compaq drivers and files related to Internet Explorer. Even McAfee's McScript.exe is getting marked as malicious.

McAfee hasn't said much on the issue and has since released a few more DAT updates. Most report that upgrading the VirusScan Engine seems to resolve the issue with false positives and nobody seemms to be complaining about the new DAT files either.

Zac O'Vadka

Zac provides professional IT support by day, but plays the role of enthusiast by night. He's been building high-end custom computer for the nearly fifteen years and writing PC hardware reviews for the better part of a decade. Aside from computers, he also dabbles in quite a bit of home A/V equipment. Throughout the years, Zac has picked up an extensive knowledge of power circuitry and leverages this to provide the PSU reviews. When not found testing or writing, you can often find him speeding through the winding countryside on his motorcycle.

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