Caution to all Avast! Antivirus users!
An update released today (December 2, 2009) by Alwil Software, makers of Avast! Antivirus, has been causing a mass panic due to apparent virus infections spreading throughout users’ systems. In actuality, many of these cases are false positives.
Many Avast users are reporting that many applications written in the Delphi programming language, including SpyBot Search & Destroy, a well-known free anti-spyware scanner, are being incorrectly flagged as being infected with the Win32:Delf-MZG virus. Due to a glitch in the most recent iAVS update, programs will be halted and blocked — or worse, deleted if the user chooses — which may potentially disable Windows components or cause data loss.
For the time being, it is recommended that Avast users disable the program’s real-time scanner, but check frequently for program updates as it is never wise to leave your machine without active anti-virus protection. You could leave the scanner active, and choose to ignore the false detection — but note that Avast will likely prevent you from running any of the affected applications, or cause some instability. As an alternative, one might choose to (at least temporarily) install another scanner such as AVG, McAfee, Norton, etc. But in my own personal preference, despite this apparent hiccup, Avast has long been at the top of the free protection list.
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’tis why I use an anti-virus program that doesn’t yell at me.