Re: Microsoft confirms OneCare zaps Outlook, Outlook Express e-mail

[qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

pctech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>    1. Re: Microsoft confirms OneCare zaps Outlook,  Outlook Express
>       e-mail (Tom Jedrzejewicz)
>
> The comment was made asking (essentially) how could I send to a list
> of software folks statements that shoddy testing is OK.  I never said
> that; you all are assuming that because a bug appeared that testing is
> shoddy.  I counter that how can we, as software guys, not have some
> understanding of the challenges and issues confronting the folks at
> Microsoft?

Tom:

I don't know enough about OneCare nor the specific bug to make clear 
judgment. Can you clarify about a part that seems odd to me?

The 'fix' is reported to be:

----------
"In the meantime, Microsoft said, users can recover a quarantined 
data file by following these instructions:

    * Close Outlook or Outlook Express.
    * Click "Change OneCare Settings" in the OneCare main screen.
    * Click on the "Viruses & Spyware" tab.
    * Click on the "Quarantine" button and then select the .pst or 
.dbx file.
    * Click "Restore."

To prevent OneCare from quarantining the data file between now and 
next week, Microsoft recommends that users exclude the .pst or .dbx 
files from scanning.

    * Click "Change OneCare Setting" in the main OneCare screen.
    * Click the "Viruses & Spyware" tab.
    * Click on the "Exclusions" button.
    * Click on the "Add folder" button.
    * Navigate to the folder containing the .pst or .dbx to be 
excluded, then click "OK.""
----------

And part of the description says "the antimalware engine for OneCare 
is erroneously quarantining Outlook .pst files or Outlook Express 
.dbx files, when the .pst file or .dbx file contains an infected 
attachment".

So, the bug is basically that the entire file is quarantined when 
just a single e-mail item contains an infection. And the fix is to 
pull the entire file back out of quarantine -- and then to exclude 
it from further quarantines.

So...

What happens to the infected item? What happens when a new infected 
e-mail comes two minutes later?

Tom Liotta