Microsoft Security Essentials deletes Google Chrome browser

Microsoft and Google have no love lost between them, but the latest hijinks by the Redmond-based company could prove to be an embarrassment – as a bug in the anti-malware product known as Security Essentials deleted the Google Chrome browser program, affecting around 3,000 users in the process. The problem was attributed to Security Essentials’ virus definition update.

At least Microsoft came clean with it and corrected the issue in just minutes, and those who have Microsoft Security Essentials running on their machines and want to avoid the same thing happening have been cajoled to install the latest anti-virus update. Read what Microsoft had to say about the issue below.

“On September 30th, 2011, an incorrect detection for PWS: Win32/Zbot was identified and, as a result, Google Chrome was inadvertently blocked and in some cases removed from customers PCs. We have already fixed the issue — we released an updated signature (1.113.672.0) at 9:57am PDT — but approximately 3000 customers were impacted.”

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Chrome, Google, google chrome, Microsoft