McAfee’s “DAT” file version 5958 is causing widespread problems with Windows XP SP3.The routine anti-virus update confused a valid Windows file with a virus, disrupting millions of computers around the world.Universities,hospitals and businesses were among those reporting problems after the update misidentified a valid Windows system file as malicious code and caused computers to continually reboot.The affected systems will enter a reboot loop and lose all network access.The bad DAT file may infect individual workstations as well as workstations connected to a domain.
The use of “ePolicyOrchestrator”, which is used to update virus definitions across a network, appears to have led to a faster spread of the bad DAT file.The ePolicyOrchestrator is used to update “DAT” files throughout enterprises.It can not be used to undo this bad signature because affected system will lose network connectivity.
The problem is a false positive which identifies a regular Windows binary, “svchost.exe”, as “W32/Wecorl.a”, a virus.
In Australia the bad update knocks out 10% of Supre store Coles cash registers,The registers that were affected couldn't be operated and there were a number of stores that actually had to be closed because there were too many registers down in those stores for the store to be able to trade.
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