AVG Update Cripples Users' Windows 7, Vista Computers

From DailyTech: here's an old saying that if something sounds too good to be true, then maybe it is. Now, that's not always true. Take Microsoft's free antivirus/anti-malware protection Microsoft Security Essentials works well and is free to Windows users. However, that old adage might hold a bit more true in the case of AVG, a top free antivirus software maker.

AVG, which claims to have 110 million customers in 170 countries, on Wednesday rolled out a badly botched update.

The update rendered both Windows 7 and Windows Vista inoperable. When booting users are greeted by the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" (BSoD), and the system reboots in an endless cycle of bad computer karma. The mess is apparently caused by an AVG .sys file that is loaded at boot time -- \Windows\System 32\DRIVERS\AVGIDSEH.SYS.

Booting into Safe Mode does not work, as this driver is still loaded, under AVG's default setup.

Users are infuriated. One writes on the companies support forums:

"You are not alone!!! This happened to my computer also. I was able to restore it to a restore point, but I will not update. I always supported AVG and recommended it highly. Not any more. It's the same as installing a virus instead of removing one!!! Removing it now - there are other free anti-virus software out there - they just won my support!!!"

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