Five weeks after an errant virus update crippled thousands of Chinese PCs, Symantec Corporation is compensating users by giving them free backup software (Norton Save & Restore 2.0) and extending their subscription to Norton Antivirus (the same software that knocked out their computers) by 12 months. Enterprise users will be offered a free license of Symantec Ghost Solution Suite, an image-based backup and restore program. "Symantec regrets any inconvenience caused to customers by the recent false positive incident affecting simplified Chinese versions of Windows XP and is pleased to offer affected customers a gesture of our goodwill."
Symantec's China syndrome started around 1 a.m. Beijing time on May 18, when it delivered a virus-signature update that Chinese state-controlled media reported as having paralyzed thousands or even millions of PCs running the Simplified Chinese edition of Windows XP Service Pack 2. Symantec, however, estimated "that a maximum of 50,000 PCs were impacted." The company hinted it might compensate users about the same time reports circulated that some enterprise users were demanding up to $130,000 for their troubles. By July 8, users must run a validation process before qualifying for compensation, said Symantec, and urged users to register at the site specially set up to handle the requests.
News source: ComputerWorld
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