McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#1

Post by andreyf » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 5:40 PM UTC

McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide
andreyf.tumblr.com

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#2

Post by andreyf » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 5:59 PM UTC

Err, might be a good idea for an admin to change the URL to a more credible source, like http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=8656

Or at least: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/21/mcafee-update--shutting-d...

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#3

Post by dsplittgerber » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:12 PM UTC

If I were a trader, I'd short McAfee right now. This probably means lots of settlements.

EDIT: This could actually be a profitable venture. Somewith with at least basic HN-type knowledge and a daytrading account could make serious money. Finance professionals most probably have no idea how important specific IT news are during the day. One should be able to trade ahead of consensus pretty easily.

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#4

Post by mrcharles » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:22 PM UTC

Just another nail in the coffin of the usefulness of AV systems. And good riddance.

My work computer actually has McAfee on it, which I've disabled through the registry. Don't like how slow it makes my computer.

Education, people! It's better than buying useless feel-good software.

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#5

Post by dfranke » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:22 PM UTC

So they've finally identified Windows as a virus? About damned time.

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#6

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:25 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#7

Post by jxcole » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:26 PM UTC

dsplittgerber wrote: post #3

If I were a trader, I'd short McAfee right now. This probably means lots of settlements. EDIT: This could actually be a profitable venture. Somewith with at least basic HN-type knowledge and a daytrading account could make serious money. Finance professionals most probably have no idea how important specific IT news are during the day. One should be able to trade ahead of consensus pretty easily.

I will be watching throughout the day to see what happens:

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:MFE

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#8

Post by jswinghammer » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:27 PM UTC

I don't understand why people install antivirus software on their machines. I read once that their catch rate is something like 20-30% which strikes me as no better than 0% for all the good it does most of their customers. It just seems to slow down computers a lot and yield little benefit other than protection for the IT staff when things go wrong.

I could make antivirus software that does nothing and probably make people happier by virtue of the fact that I'm not taking their system's resources.

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#9

Post by RevRal » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:29 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #6

[deleted]

>Why do IT depts recommend installing this program?

My suspicion is that they need something to spend a lot of money on. That old "more expensive perfume = better" thing, to appease the managers. I could be wrong.

Re: McAfee quarantines svchost.exe on millions of WinXP machines worldwide

#10

Post by GFischer » Wed, Apr 21, 2010, 6:32 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #6

[deleted]

A recent study linked here showed that frequent password changes were no good (can´t find the link right now).