There have been many reports coming out since the release on 7/3 (Yesterday) of the latest .dat update that machines that are updated stop working.  What appears to be happening is that if you have an older “engine” (version of the program) of the Mcafee AV and you use the latest update, that the update does not load properly and starts causing false positives listing files like Internet Explorer files, drivers for Compaq computers, and even the McAfee-associated McScript.exe were being identified as a trojan called PWS!hv.aq.

     There doesn’t seem to be any formal information posted by Mcafee but you can see some info at

(UK)The register – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/03/mcafee_false_positive_glitch/ (http://www NULL.theregister NULL.co NULL.uk/2009/07/03/mcafee_false_positive_glitch/)

Mcafee support forum postings – http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/showthread.php?p=569669 and http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/showthread.php?t=231904

Soap Box Time:

For Corporate users, they should not roll out an update (no matter how big or small the company) without having at least 1 pc set up to test any update or change 1st.  Updates even when they work properly can sometimes affect other programs (especially programs that are written specifically for a company).  So those in a corporate environment should know better. That should be the case no matter who the update is for, that part of “Best Practices”.