McAfee software causes havoc
 

McAfee's virus-scanning products wreaked havoc on corporate and consumer systems on Friday, after a buggy virus definition file triggered the quarantine or deletion of a long list of executable files - including Microsoft Excel.

The problem began when virus definition file, or DAT file, number 4715 was released on Friday morning, US Pacific Time (about 6:30 pm GMT), as part of a standard daily updating routine. The file was designed to refine McAfee products' ability to catch the W95/CTX virus, McAfee said.