Symantec Compensates Chinese Users for Faulty AV Update

Xinhua News Agency

June 25, 2007 9:12 AM PT

Symantec is compensating people in China who were issued a faulty update to its Norton antivirus software. The company will extend the period of validity for the individual users by 12 months. Symantec will also provide free data backup and restoration software. The flawed update had caused countless computers to collapse.

Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) , the world’s largest security software provider, announced on Monday a compensation package for Chinese users for a faulty update to its Norton antivirus software, which paralyzed many computers across China last month.

Individuals users who were affected will have the period of validity for the antivirus software extended by 12 months, plus free data backup and restoration software, according to a statement from Symantec.

Affected enterprise users will get permits to use Ghost Solution Suite, the statement said.

Demanding Compensation

The move came after angry Chinese users demanded compensation and even began legal proceedings against the company.

The updating of the Chinese version of the Norton software, which started on May 18, wrongly identified two critical files of the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) XP operating system as malicious codes and deleted them, causing computers to collapse.

However, Symantec said Monday about 50,000 users were badly affected, “which is different from media reports.”

It had been reported that millions of computers in China have been affected by the faulty update, while some users said they suffered great losses from computer collapses.

Thinking Twice

A Chinese lawyer named Liu Shihui is seeking 1,644 yuan (US$213) in compensation for losses caused when his computer was paralyzed due to the update.

Liu claimed he had to hire technicians to restore his computer system and save data on May 20 after Norton service agencies refused to help him.

A Beijing client also filed a lawsuit seeking compensation of 50,000 yuan ($6,562) for data lost from his laptop.

An online survey by www.sina.com.cn, a leading Chinese portal Web site, showed Monday that about 74 percent of respondents said they would think twice when buying the Norton antivirus software.