AVG Virus Scanner Deletes Critical Windows File

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If you are a user of AVG’s virus scanning program running Windows XP, make sure you read this. The program is flagging an essential Windows system file as a virus and telling people to delete it. Once deleted, your system will go into a continuous reboot cycle or no longer boot.

An update for the AVG virus scanner released yesterday contained an incorrect virus signature, which led it to think user32.dll contained the Trojan Horses PSW.Banker4.APSA or Generic9TBN. AVG then recommended deleting this file; this causes the affected systems to either stop booting or go into a continuous reboot cycle. So far, the problem only appears to affect Windows XP, but there is no guarantee that other versions of Windows don’t have the same issue.
 
That's classic
BILL-GATES-bsod.jpg
 
It doesn't affect Vista Business x64 :)

I wonder who lost their job over that little incident? :rolleyes:
 
AVG sucks balls and is probably the most widely used antivirus program. There's a lesson in there somewhere.
 
I don't like to recommend AVG, at least for XP systems. I know it's popular, but it generates a lot of false positives (especially for gamers), and then this.
 
I use AVG 7.5 & 8.0 and almost all of my computers. Haven't had a problem yet.

Well, it did delete something that I used once. I think Ares, which I just told it to ignore.

Other than that its been great.
 
I used AVG before but got a free 1-year license for Avira AntiVir recently.

Both put out false positives like there's no tomorrow.. I've disabled background scanning and monitoring because it's so annoying. Now I just right click and scan any file I've download etc. before running it.
 
I guess that explains why my comp blue screened and then wouldn't boot yesterday. Did a windows repair and it's all better now but one thing is gone... AVG. For some reason it was the only thing that somehow lost it's serial number and I don't remember what I did with my serial number.
 
Holy crap batman. This can't be good. Good thing I just upgraded to Vista Ultimate x64
 
I've used AVG, and it never really gave me any problems. I use Avast now, as it's a bit "quieter", if you will.

But yeah, the deletion of an important Windows file kind of sucks...lol
 
This would explain why the forum's been quiet this week.
 
Yeah, that happened to my computer last Sunday. I can't believe I was so stupid to allow AVG to remove the user32.dll file. That is the last time I trust a virusscanner.

My computer got stuck in an endless rebooting loop. I'm not really good with computers so this event quite scared me. I had to download instructions from the computer at the company were I work in order to try to solve the problem.


Luckily I managed to copy the deleted file back into Windows via the XP installation disk and with help of the Recovery Console. After that, I restarted my computer and to my relief it worked as I'm now typing this from my computer.


I'm only not sure if the user32.dll file on the installation disk is too old (Cd-rom is around 3,5 years) and if it may have consequences but at least I'm happy it's working again. I think I might need to get a new virusscanner. Last month AVG somehow prevented me to go on the internet.
 
AVG sucks balls and is probably the most widely used antivirus program. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Not had a problem with it, at least it can find stuff before it causes a problem unlike Norton, that can't even see spyware/adware, and my system found some extra speed to boot twice as fast as it did with Norton.

Unless you can recommend something that is neither Norton or Mcafee?
 
Not had a problem with it, at least it can find stuff before it causes a problem unlike Norton, that can't even see spyware/adware, and my system found some extra speed to boot twice as fast as it did with Norton.

Unless you can recommend something that is neither Norton or Mcafee?

Nod32
 
I have XP and AVG, no problemo on my end...but perhaps the free edition may be different from the regular program....I'm not paying for a virus scanner for my gaming PC...it's hardware changes too often and reinstalls are too common to throw down any pay software onto it.

My laptop on the other hand has one more year of a Kaspersky subscription
 
I switched from AVG to Avast! when AVG upgraded to their latest version which clunkified the hell out of my PC, reminiscent of my Norton days. Avast is lightweight and does the job. Will keep Nod32 in mind in case Avast! goes down the crapper.
 
Lol, you can practically get Norton or Trendmicro stuff for free after rebates, I don't see why anyone would even use AVG.
 
Kaspersky Internet Security FTW!

0-day pwnage!

On a side note...this sucks for certain business users I know of who for some reason think this AV is a good solution, and paid for a whole whack of licenses.

Had to do a whack of recovery CD work today. :|
 
From which country does that slang term come? :D


I have AVG Free on my girlfriend's laptop and so far it's been a good experience.
 
Great.. I guess business will be busy this week :)
I work at a computer shop and we recommend AVG free to all of our customers. It is a good program, just sucks they made a mistake. I'd still take it over Norton any day though. This is why I don't even run any anti-virus software on any of my computers.. it's pretty useless if you know to and what not to screw with. I do need to find a simple free antivirus program that i can use to manually scan my downloads only. You can disable the resident shield on AVG but it still has a few services running in the background and if you disable them then you can't do manual scans.. hmm..
- Mike
 
AVG is banned from work. As in "absolutely not permitted." Why? Extremely high false positive rate, and the pay version is what was in use the last time an old worm got loose in the network. AVG completely ignored it on a half dozen systems.
 
Even though I didnt get hit with this problem with AVG (was probably asleep when it all hit the fan), it has convinced me to switch anti-virus app. Now using Avira and I like it so far :)
 
MS really wants people to switch, don't they.

Yes...because its their fault right? :rolleyes:

Use Avast. Stays out of your way, free updates for 18 months, and is a damn good program. Anything else = no.
 
Switched to Comodo Internet Security which has their great firewall program combined with their now-free antivirus program about two weeks ago. It hasn't given me any problems since and no false positives so far.

I was using AVG before then and thank goodness I switched. I just reinstalled Windows XP three weeks prior. I don't want to reinstall again.
 
AVG is not the only AV scanner that has removed system files and put people's PC's into an endless reboot before. About 2 months ago another AV prog did the same thing but can't remember which company it was now. The lesson here is do not set AV scanner to automatically heal an infected file. 9 times out of 10 it is a false positive and needs to be investigated further before allowing any AV prog to quarantine the file.
 
AVG is not the only AV scanner that has removed system files and put people's PC's into an endless reboot before. About 2 months ago another AV prog did the same thing but can't remember which company it was now. The lesson here is do not set AV scanner to automatically heal an infected file. 9 times out of 10 it is a false positive and needs to be investigated further before allowing any AV prog to quarantine the file.

9/10 times? where did you come up with that number?
 
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