Microsoft Security Essentials Removes Google Chrome!

Oops! M$ may have had a Freudian slip of sorts! It seems that a Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus update identifies good ol’ Google Chrome as a virus and removes it!

Faulty Microsoft AV update nukes Chrome browser

Summary: Microsoft has confirmed that its security tools erroneously removed the Google Chrome browser from Windows machines, marking it as a variant of the notorious Zeus (Zbot) malware family.

UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed that this was caused by a faulty anti-virus definition update that affected about 3,000 Windows users.

Here’s Microsoft’s statement:

‘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 9:57 am PDT — but approximately 3,000 customers were impacted.’

A Microsoft spokesperson says affected users should manually update Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) with the latest signatures.

‘To do this, simply launch MSE, go to the update tab and click the Update button, and then reinstall Google Chrome. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused our customers,’ the spokesperson said.

Yeah, right!