A software update to Symantec's Endpoint Protection software has pushed many Windows XP machines into blue screen limbo.
Reuters reports that an update to Symantec's anti-virus software caused an undisclosed number of Windows PCs to crash, rendering them useless. The news arrives by way of customer complaints expressing their rage in a support forum on Symantec's website. The company has since acknowledged the problem and issued a fix.
A deeper investigation into the report reveals that a signature update to Symantec's Endpoint Protection software, a security package mainly used in the corporate environment, caused Windows XP computers to crash. More specifically, affected customers saw blue screens after applying Proactive Threat Protection definition version July 11, 2012 rev 11.
"This problem appears to occur only on Windows XP machines running SEP 12.1," Symantec reports. "Symantec has reproduced the problem and is now trying to identify the root cause. We have posted updated signatures which resolve the issue to the public LiveUpdate production servers."
To work around the blue screen issue, customers are urged to follow a list of steps on the impacted machine, located here.
According to the customers on Symantec's forums, it took the company "hours" to identify and fix the issue. They feel that Symantec should be responsible for fixing their blue-screened computers. "Phoning Symantec support this morning was the start of the hell we went through," one customer said. "The support is a joke, the quality control is a joke, and the software is not much better."
A Symantec spokeswoman told Reuters that the issue only affected "a subset" of customers, and would not confirm how many computers crashed due to the tainted update. However Ron van den Broek, a technology manager with Dutch company PSO Beheer BV, said the bug caused around 150 company computers to fail.
"It did have quite an impact on our business," he said. "My first impression is Symantec is downplaying the effects of this issue."
Another company, a Maryland-based insurance firm, told Reuters that it had to shut down the anti-virus software installed on all of its 150 computers to prevent the update, leaving the company without protection.
What's the story here? Now might be a good time to ditch the decrepit operating system if the funds are available.
Whilst I agree that it's time for companies to upgrade, you can't make out that's the reason this has happened. This is down to a lack of testing on Symantec's part and is ridiculous!
but no these so called engineers turn in to WOW players in seconds... you can hear them turning blue over the internet if you mention anything remotely negative about norton. the truth of the fact is they need retraining this aint the 80's no more but they are firmly stuck there. as for the companies using xp... come on they have likley upgraded there pc's but reinstalled xp for no real good reason. if you buy new hardware then the least you can do is upgrade the o.s. compatibility was never really an issue with win 7 so the change over would have cause a lot less disruption than this episode from norton did.
it turns out that maybe saving a few quid could end up costing them a few 100...
I have less fingers than the amount of times that a Symantec product has completely ruined my PC.. the amount of time's I've had to completely format my machine because a Symantec product as completely borked it is ridiculous!
Norton IS a virus... It's horrible to remove, shite at detection ratio, painful to operate AND SLOW like hell... It shouldn't exist in the first place. It never was good, and never will...
Nothing wrong with WindowsXP. It's still one of the best OS's they ever released. Windows 7 is good too, but if you want a lighter OS for low specs, then there's absolutely no issue with keeping WinXP. Suggesting an unneeded OS upgrade because of something that was caused by something entirely different, and could've quite as easily happened on Windows 7, is ridiculous. That's like telling people to buy a new car just because they got a flat tyre.