In a statement posted to its website overnight, US antivirus software company McAfee said it was “committed to reimbursing reasonable expenses” for those hit by its duff online update last week.The update caused some customers' computers to c
In a statement posted to its website overnight, US antivirus software company McAfee said it was “committed to reimbursing reasonable expenses” for those hit by its duff online update last week.
The update caused some customers’ computers to crash, or fall into a cycle of endless re-starts.
But don’t start typing your angry note just get. The company added a vague timetable for its commitment: “Steps to process your reimbursement request will be posted in the next few days. Please check back here in a few days.”
Another catch: the offer to reimburse expenses applies only to home and home-office customers.
McAfee is still figuring out how what kind of offer it will make to business customers.
Here, those included TVNZ and the NZ Herald, whose IT staff spent most of the day painstakingly restoring hundreds of computers.
But there is some immediate good news for all McAfee home users: “If your PC was rendered inoperable or severely impaired as a result of the faulty file released you are eligible for a two year extension of your existing McAfee subscription free of charge,” the company said in its online statement.
McBorked
The update inadvertently paralysed thousands of PCs, who needed tech support to get up and running again.
Like its arch rival Symantec, and other security software companies, McAfee constantly pushes out updates to its customers over the internet, the better to keep up with the latest threats.
An update sent out last Tuesday (NZ time) went horribly wrong, rendering PCs running Microsoft Windows XP inoperable.
PCs running the newer Windows Vista or Windows 7 were not affected.
The older Windows XP is much more prevalent in large organisations, while consumers are more likely to be on Vista or 7.
