BOSTON, July 13 (Reuters) – A bug in an update of Symantec
Corp’s anti-virus software caused some Windows PCs to
crash, making machines inoperable until they were serviced in an
embarrassing episode that angered some customers.

The company disclosed the problem on its website, saying
that an update to its widely used Symantec Endpoint Protection
12.1 anti-virus software for businesses caused some PCs running
Windows XP software to crash repeatedly, showing what is known
as the “blue screen of death.”

BOSTON (Reuters) – An update to Symantec Corp’s (SYMC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) anti-virus software caused Windows PCs to crash, making machines inoperable until the machines were serviced, according to several customers.

A company spokeswoman said in an e-mail that “a subset” of customers reported that their Windows XP personal computers had crashed after Symantec sent out an update to its anti-virus software on Wednesday.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc reported the theft of some 400,000 user names and passwords to access websites including its own, saying that hackers had taken advantage of a security vulnerability in its computer systems.

The security firm Rapid7 said a data file published on the Web contained logins and cleartext passwords for Yahoo as well as several other Internet services, including Google Inc’s Gmail and AOL as well as Microsoft Corp’s Hotmail, MSN and Live sites.

By Jim Finkle

(Reuters) – Hopes are evaporating that leading technology companies will offer a safe harbor this year from the economic storms swirling across Europe, Asia and the United States.

Investors should brace for some of the biggest names in U.S. software and hardware — from Microsoft Corp and IBM to Intel Corp — to disappoint when Big Tech begins reporting quarterly earnings next week, analysts said.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Hopes are evaporating that top technology companies will offer a safe harbor this year from the economic storms swirling across Europe, Asia and the United States.

Investors should brace for some of the biggest names in software and hardware — from Microsoft Corp and IBM to Intel Corp — to disappoint when Big Tech begins reporting numbers next week, analysts said.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Fears that a computer virus might cut Internet access around the world appeared to be overblown on Monday after U.S. authorities removed a safety net that had protected infected machines for months.

Shortly after midnight EDT, the authorities cut off computer servers in New York City that had been put in place to direct traffic for infected computers, which would have been unable to access the Internet without their help.

BOSTON (Reuters) – About a quarter-million computer users around the world are at risk of losing Internet access on Monday because of malicious software at the heart of a hacking scam that U.S. authorities shut down last November.

Some blogs and news reports hyped the risk of an outage, warning of a potential “blackout” and describing the Alureon malware as the “Internet Doomsday” virus.

BOSTON, July 5 (Reuters) – About a quarter-million computer
users around the world are at risk of losing Internet access on
Monday because of malicious software at the heart of a hacking
scam that U.S. authorities shut down last November.

Some blogs and news reports hyped the risk of an outage,
warning of a potential “blackout” and describing the Alureon
malware as the “Internet Doomsday” virus.