AVG anti-virus stopped Windows XP from booting

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UK users have breathed a sigh of relief that they were not affected by the same AVG anti-virus software glitch that crippled some of their European counterparts' systems.

A recent update to commercial and free versions of AVG 7.5 and 8.0 mistook a critical file for malware, causing the software to recommend deleting the crucial system file user32.dll, after mistakenly targeting it as a Trojan.

Without the file, users were unable to start up Windows XP as it would either not boot or rebooted endlessly.

Users would then be forced to run Windows Recovery Console and restore the missing file from the Windows XP installation CD.

Luckily for UK users, the problem only affected Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish language versions.

AVG said in a statement: “AVG sincerely regrets the inconvenience users have experienced. We are working to remedy the problem and ensure that any other potential vulnerabilities are identified and eliminated before they can impact users.”

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