McAfee to compensate for crashed PCs
Security software company McAfee is offering compensation tocomputer users affected by the recent glitch in one of its software updateswhich caused widespread problems for Windows XP users.
The update delivered a false report of a virus infection,causing computers using McAfee and running XP Service Pack 3 to crash.Computers worldwide were affected, including some in this country. Computersoperated by businesses and government agencies, as well as personal users, werecompromised.
“First off, I want to apologise on behalf of McAfee and saythat we’re extremely sorry for any impact the faulty signature update file mayhave caused you and your organisations,” said Barry McPherson, McAfee'sexecutive vice president of support and customer service, in a blog posting.
McPherson said a fault in the testing process led to thefaulty update making its way out of the testing environment and into customersystems. McAfee quickly issued a fix for the problem and its staff worked withcustomers to resolve outstanding issues.
McAfee has now promised to reimburse customers for lossessuffered as a result of the problem.
“For impacted home or home office customers who haveincurred costs to repair PCs as a result of the security update issue, McAfeewill reimburse reasonable expenses, such as a visit to a local tech supportspecialist,” a company blog posting said. “Details of this program, includingsteps to submit a reimbursement request, will be posted on the McAfee websitewithin a few days, so please check back. Additionally, because we value ourloyal customers, home or home office users whose PCs were rendered inoperableor severely impaired as a result of the security update will receive a freetwo-year extension of their current McAfee subscription product at no charge.This extension will appear in the ‘My Account’ section of the McAfee websitewithin the next 30 days.”
McAfee believes only “a small percentage” of its customers’PCs were rendered inoperable or severely impaired.
Affected users in this country who are still having problemscan get help from McAfee by calling 0800 880 094.
