Microsoft mistakenly claimed Gmail contained virus
Nov 15th, 2006 | By Staff Writers | Category: Internet applications, Technology news, Tips and advice, Windows, Windows VistaIn a bit of an oopsie daisie, Microsoft’s OneCare anti-virus and Internet Security service claimed that Google’s Gmail contained a virus. It’s yet another false positive by protective software - will we ever be rid of the false positive syndrome?
As reported around the Web, Microsoft’s OneCare anti-virus service dubbed the Gmail website as being infected by a virus called BAT/BWG-A.
This affected quite a large number of users who complained in the OneCare and Gmail forums, so with the speed of a bat out of hell, Microsoft apologised publicly for the error, claiming a fault in the anti-virus signature updates and revised their AV signatures, promising that it wouldn’t happen again and revising procedures in an effort to ensure their promises can be kept.
Apparently the problem arose mainly for OneCare users who decided to update to Microsoft’s shiny new browser, IE7, but in typical pass-the-buck style, Microsoft hinted that it was really Google’s fault by claiming that they just misunderstood changes that Google mail to its Gmail service.
Of course, it isn’t the first time that false positives have plagued computer software. It happens all the time with our spam filters, while McAfee and Microsoft have had their security software make similar false positive claims in the recent past.
For example, McAfee’s software claimed, last March, that MS Office was a “low risk virus”, which is a verdict that Open Office users and some regulatory agencies would probably agree with, while Microsoft’s Windows Defender anti-spyware software said in February that Symantec’s Internet Security software was a Trojan.
The funny thing is, quite a few people would have agreed with that one, too.
And as for Gmail being a virus? Well, Google keeps on growing and growing, but as long as Google tries as hard as possible to stick to its ‘don’t be evil’ mantra and gives us data portability as promised at a recent Web 2.0 conference in the US, I’ll continue thinking of Google as mostly being the good guys.
For now, anyway.
Related:
I am a proud Gmail user. Never worrying about email size, incredibly fast reply (powered by AJAX, a technology often used by Google), Web Clips,
automatic forwarding, one button - click search, advanced filters, labels and not folders, message preview, automatic refresh, auto-save messages,as-good-as-yahoomail spam filters, not one executable to be sent or received, feeling of having a different technology? A definite recommendation for
anyone that reads more than one email per day.
Have you tried Gmail? If yes, what's your taste on it? Why do you love it/hate it?