14 DAY TRIAL // An update released by Microsoft for its own Security Essentials anti-virus and other anti-malware solutions caused a number of Windows XP computers to freeze after boot, with some reports pointing to thousands of machines that got affected by the issue.
Redmond has however shipped another update that comes to address all these problems, so consumers who were experiencing problems on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and other platforms after deploying anti-malware signature updates should get the new one as soon as possible.
Antimalware Engine 1.1.10502.0 was shipped to computers running Microsoft Security Essentials, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection, Windows Intune Endpoint Protection, and System Center Endpoint Protection customers and contains signature package 1.173.0.0 that fixes the aforementioned bug.
“This is due to an update that was shipped on April 15, 2014 that may have caused interrupted service for some customers using Microsoft security products. This was corrected via signature update, which automatically resolved the issue, and customers who have deployed the most recent signatures do not need to take any action,” Microsoft says.
The company also noted that while the problems were initially experienced on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, some other platforms might have been impacted as well. Customers who disabled Behavior Monitoring or applied other workarounds are recommended to revert the changes as soon as possible and deploy this new update.