McAfee update causes XP crash

The computer security firm, McAfee, has been saying sorry to thousands of its customers following a security update that caused users’ computers to repeatedly reboot or completely crash.

The recent security update identified a file, SVCHHOST.EXE, as being a threat and removed it.

For Windows XP users this could cause the problems as above.

The update is DAT update 5958. Windows XP users should not install it but if they already have done so, then there is a procedure that should rectify it.

The solution could be a rollback, which can be performed by going to Tools->Rollback DAT.

Alternatively there is a way to prevent the infinite restart loop, simply enter shutdown –a in the Run command box.

There are no official figures as to how many computers have been affected, although thousands is a good starting figure.