Security firm McAfee has a great deal of egg on its face after it inadvertently released a new set of virus signature files that falsely identified dozens of ordinary programs as malware. The company now has to face complaints from angry users who may have deleted their files.

The problem started last Friday when the company released the 4715 DATs which contained an incorrect identification for the W95/CTX virus. As a result, a long list of ordinary files, including Microsoft's Excel, the Google Toolbar installer, Java and the Macromedia Flash Player, were marked as hostile and users were prompted to either quarantine or delete them.

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[CLB: This is a great example of how friendly intervention software can go astray. There are arguments that we should release friendly counter-virii onto the net to protect, prevent, and repair. But even with good intention and design, mistakes can occur, as the above illustrates.]