We’ve talked about how anti-virus programs can have false positives. They can misidentify harmless or helpful programs as threats. Safe sites can be blocked as can perfectly legitimate downloads There was a perfect example of this last week involving Webroot security software.
After a security update was issued, Webroot users were blocked from going to sites like Facebook. Instead, they were greeted by warnings like this.
The program also began flagging Windows system files as malware, saying that they were a Trojan virus. Webroot put those files into quarantine, which kept Windows from operating properly. At that point, millions of users flooded the company with support tickets. Finally, the company was able to put out a repair utility to fix some of the havoc wreaked on businesses. Users needed to open a support ticket to gain access.
Home users were given the following instructions to rescue their files from quarantine.
- Open the Webroot application by double-clicking the W icon found in the system tray at the bottom of your screen.
- On the Webroot home screen select “Scan My Computer.”
- Once the scan completes and you’re back on the Webroot home screen, click on the cog icon found next to PC Security.
- Click the “Quarantine” tab.
- Note where the date and time of the files quarantined is shown on the right of the screen.
- Identify every file listed for Mon 2017-04-24 with a time stamp between 12PM – 3PM MTN
- Click the check box on the left hand side of the screen next to all the files you identified in step 6.
- Click the “Restore” button located in the bottom right of the screen to un-quarantine the file.
- When prompted “If you’re sure you want to roll back the selected entries…” choose “Yes”.
- Depending on how many files that are being restored this could take several minutes to complete the action.
- Return to the home screen and scan once more to make sure the issue is resolved.
So, if you’re a Webroot customer having some issues accessing sites or seeing some issues with Windows, you’ll want to contact the company and get a support ticket going.
~ Cynthia