Topic: Bad BitDefender Update Clobbers Windows PCs (Trojan.FakeAlert.5)

[Samker]

Users of the BitDefender antivirus software started flooding the company's support forums Saturday, apparently after a faulty antivirus update caused 64-bit Windows machines to stop working.

The company acknowledged the issue in a note explaining the problem, posted Saturday. "Due to a recent update it is possible that BitDefender detects several Windows and BitDefender files as infected with Trojan.FakeAlert.5," the company said: http://www.bitdefender.com/site/KnowledgeBase/consumer/#638

The acknowledgement came after BitDefender users had logged hundreds of posts on the topic. Some complained of being unable to reboot their systems.

"EVERY file that is trying to run is getting quarantined," one user, identified as lhmathys, reported. "Windows Explorer and even Bitdefender update itself is being quarantined. Someone really screwed this one up."

"We are in a really terrible position now," wrote another user, identified as ufitec. "We have 150 business clients and most of the pcs [on] which BitDefender thinks everything is virus does not boot any more!!!!": http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=18759&st=160&p=79186&#entry79186

In its note on the issue, posted around 4 pm Pacific Time, the company said it had issued a fix for the problem and offered instructions on how to repair the damage, saying that customers should remove files from quarantine and reboot.

Users who can't do that need to either use Windows' Last Known Good Configuration restore or System Restore options.

Earlier in the day, the company had advised users to disable the BitDefender antivirus module and wait for a new definition update, which is supposed to correct the problem: http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=18759&st=160&p=79171&#entry79171

BitDefender did not reply to several messages asking for comment.

(PCW)

[RalucaD]

On behalf of BitDefender, we are very sorry for the problems that our update may have caused.  We have already solved the problem for many of our users and we are definitely trying to do the same for all other affected users.
We  alsohave released a solution for this situation and you can access it here:

http://www.bitdefender.com/site/KnowledgeBase/consumer/#638

If there are any unexpected situations, we kindly ask you to contact our support team directly via email, chat, phone or forum at http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Main/contactEmail/

Thank you for your understanding.

[Samker]

On behalf of BitDefender, we are very sorry for the problems that our update may have caused.  We have already solved the problem for many of our users and we are definitely trying to do the same for all other affected users.
We  alsohave released a solution for this situation and you can access it here:

http://www.bitdefender.com/site/KnowledgeBase/consumer/#638

If there are any unexpected situations, we kindly ask you to contact our support team directly via email, chat, phone or forum at http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Main/contactEmail/

Thank you for your understanding.

Hi RalucaD and Welcome to SCF Community.  

I'm glad that BD resolve this problem very fast , thank you for providing latest information to SCF Community.  

Best Regards,

S.

[amko_sa]

How a serious company like bitdefender can allow themselves such a mistake
 ?
but I'm glad to hear that the mistake is corrected.