Kaspersky has taken a bite out of the core of Windows Vista and Windows XP. Following the release and implementation of faulty signature updates, several versions of the security solutions from the Russian antivirus maker have taken a swing at the heart of Microsoft's Windows client and have managed to take out Windows Explorer. A Kaspersky Lab Certified Personal Security Professional confirmed the issue and the validity of end user reports.

According to the Moscow-based security outfit, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0, Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0, Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 have all been affected by the erroneous signature update. As a direct consequence, Kaspersky started emitting false positives and labeling Windows Explorer in both Windows Vista and Windows XP as infected with Worm.Win32.Huhk.c. In this context, the antivirus either quarantined or completely deleted the Explorer core component of the Windows operating system.

Shvetsov Dmitry, Virus analyst, Kaspersky Lab, promised that the issue would be dealt with. Kaspersky addressed the problem immediately and issued an update design to resolve the problem, acknowledging at the same time that the matter was indeed caused by false positives and that the "explorer.exe" file was not compromised or corrupt in any way. The Worm.Win32.Huhk.c infections were generated by the faulty signatures updates. "Update now, the detection has been fixed. Restore it from the kaspersky 'backup' tab. Its a false positive. Roll back the databases until it is fixed", advised a Kaspersky representative. Kaspersky also provided a workaround for bringing back Windows Explorer, if it were quarantined.

"If you have no icons/taskbar/menus/etc, you can try to restore explorer as follows: Open task manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) click on file- New task (run). In the box that pops up, type in the path to your Kaspersky installation and avp.exe. So for example, mine is located at C:Program FilesKaspersky LabKaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0avp.exe. Replace the Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 with whatever version you are running, so for example, it could be Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0; Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0; Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0. Click OK (you will have to repeat this process once more if you have disabled Kaspersky from starting up with Windows, to bring up the Kaspersky interface). Kaspersky main window should pop open. Now, restore from the Kaspersky 'backup' which can be accessed via 'reports and data files' tab – backup", the Kaspersky representative added.