Microsoft Virus

My mate updated his computer yesterday with in update feature in Win 98
start menu and after he downloaded the up-dates and installed them he said
Norton found a virus in one of the compressed files. I know Microsoft
wouldn't do that intentionally, or he's mistaken and it didn't come from
that site.

 

I cannot say it's impossible, but I kind of doubt it. It is recommended
that sometimes the AV should be disabled during an install process.
Sometimes the AV can produce a *false positive* hit during the process.

You can certainly verify this if you like by doing a full AV scan after
the download and install process to see it the AV detects anything, since
it detected something during the download process.

Duane

 

Did he happen to open an attachment in an email supposedly from
Microsoft with a "Windows update" in it?

Stuart

 

I think he said the virus is in quarantine, I'll ask him the name of it. He
probably had it from another site though, or if it is a genuine virus from
Microsoft pretty soon he'll be buying a Bently. LOL

LJ

 

Nope, he said he used the update button in the strat menu.

LJ

 

Antivirus programs should always be turned off whenever any program is
being installed as it can corrupt the installation by blocking access to
system files. This may be the problem he has encountered, so do as Duane
suggested and try it again with the AV turned off. If he has it
quarantined then get him to look at the virus name and then do a search
on the internet for more information about it.

Stuart

 

If you turn your anti virus off when you install every thing what happens if
you get a virus. You'll be bugerd.

LJ

 

He should submit a copy of the suspect file to Norton then, so they can
verify whether it truly has a virus, or if it is a false positive. False
positives are known to occur. I remember one time that the beta of Acrobat
Reader 4.0 installer once caused a false positive in Mcafee Virusscan, and I
notified Mcafee of the issue, and they confirmed that it was a false
positive, and released an interim definition update to fix the problem.


...

 

Manually scan the downloaded setup file PRIOR to running the setup program.
If it scans clean, then it's reasonable to assume that it is safe to disable
the antivirus program during the installation, as long as the program being
installed comes from a trustworthy place, and not the seedier corners of the
Internet.


...

 

Yeah, but the thing is when you download a update you cant scan it before it
installs. I really can't see the Microsoft site having a virus but any
thing is possible.

LJ

 

Try the different suggestions and then come back and tell us.

Stuart

 

You can if you download it from the corporate update site that allows you to
save the updates to the drive and install them when you want. Nevertheless,
I would not worry or suspect a MS update in the first place. It is so highly
unlikely that it would be infected.


...

 

If he clicked on an email from "MS" to install updates and/or the latest
"MS" email spoofs he got a nasty. Fools lots of people. MS doesnt send
emails. Paypal didn't used to either, but now paypal is actually sending
out real emails to update your account. You can get a spoofed paypal
message and a real paypal message the same day. Funny thing, the spoofed
fake paypal emails say the same thing, more or less.

 

Another thing that happens is that sometimes when you run a new program,
your anti-virus may kick in and find a bug that's been on your PC all
along.

 

I agree. For example, McAfee reports false positives when some folks try
to make the old dos bootdisk images I have. Silly McAfee reports several
old dos utilities as viruses. Makes you thing that nobody at McAffee has
ever used dos.

 

AVG always reports a virus in an old DOS program I wrote over twentyone
years ago! It's still a useful program, else I'd have trashed it long
ago. I just ignore the warning.;-)

Virg Wall

 

All apps tell you to turn in off in advance of installing. You're
suppossed to scan _before_ you install.

 

Sure you can. Most updates can be downloading individually rather then
doing a "live" update.

 

I'd have a better chance of getting aids from my 5 finger sex partner
then MS having a nasty in their download.