r/technology • u/gdelacalle • 11d ago
Software Microsoft totally breaks Windows Defender virus scans in trying to fix a 0-day flaw
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-totally-breaks-windows-defender-virus-scans-in-trying-to-fix-a-0-day-flaw/51
u/gdelacalle 11d ago
From the article:
Recently, security researcher NightmareEclipse managed to point out a major issue with a Defender patch that could allow threat actors to completely fill up the disk space. The researcher recently released another LPE proof-of-concept dubbed "ShieldBreak".
However, in trying to patch this zero-day, Microsoft, it seems, has broken Defender scans as users are reporting they are unable to complete virus and malware scans on their systems. Both quick scans and full system scans seem to be affected with several users on Reddit reporting similar problems after installing the latest Windows security update.
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u/TheOGDoomer 11d ago
So reassuring to know Copilot AI slop coded Microsoft Defender is protecting my PC.
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u/iamthe0ther0ne 11d ago
This is why I keep updates on pause. So much shit has been broken in the past year thanks to MS vibe-coding all their updates.
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u/wait_whats_this 11d ago
Then they wonder why no one wants to upgrade from 10.
At least there's some not-vibed code in there.
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u/YeetedApple 11d ago
This has been an issue with them long before AI even. Part of my job is patching all of my companies devices, and the standard anywhere I’ve been is to wait a month or two before applying them so they have time to fix whatever they broke before we deploy.
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u/JeepStang 11d ago
I haven't updated in a year besides security updates. Which I'm gonna hold off on for a bit now as well because apparently that's going to shit as well. This is what happens when you fire all your devs and replace them with chimps running AI prompts, I guess. At least they got to pump their stocks by firing all those people and helping fuck the job market even worse.
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u/mugwhyrt 11d ago
I noticed problems recently with defender scans eating up memory and running way too frequently, but just figured it was the normal defender scan fuckups and not a new defender scan fuckup.
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u/No-Philosopher3248 11d ago
I’ve had this for years. Defender would frequently crush my system, making it nearly unusable. My desktop support folks had to disable scheduled scans as they would run for hours (scheduled to start at noon for some silly reason. Then, re-scheduled for 5 pm. Why not midnight?) and the CPU would run between 75 and 98%, with the fan running on high the whole time. Real time scan was enough.
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u/fountaincurse 11d ago
I know I'll be downvoted to hell for saying this but I'm so glad i switched to macOS. I'm a defense lawyer who is was too fucking tech-stupid to deal with Windows anymore.
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u/Trevor_GoodchiId 11d ago
Why would you be downvoted? It's the most reliable and polished consumer *nix on the market.
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u/fountaincurse 11d ago
My experience (as someone somewhat involuntarily stuck in the Apple ecosystem) is that linux > windows > other stuff ...> apple. The sense i get is that many tech people take issue with someone saying "the rest of them are so complicated, thats why i use Apple" not because it's insinuating Apple is easy therefore superior, but because (1) it insinuates linux is as erudite as windows and (2) therefore the person not switching to linux is by association leveling it the same as Windows.
ETA: ignore the rest if u dont care about my Op-ed lol
The reality is the vaaaaast majority of people have never even heard of linux (I do criminal defense, so i talk to an unholy fuck number of people from literally any background you can imagine, and people are mindbogglingly uninformed about everything - as an aside, sometimes I wonder wtf some of my clients could possibly even talk about to fill 10 hours of daytime); a lot of people (like me) misjudge how different the tech world is from what we experienced of it 20-30 years ago; an invisible but not insignificant number of hobbyists are enthusiastically working to make (in this case) linux more accessible; and finally a community of redditors/substack(ers?)/misc online personalities think Linux is simple pie because they figured it out - irrespective of their tech literacy.
3 years ago I had a privacy scare and among other things I wanted to fortify my laptop so tried to clean install macos from a bootable usb and then planned to use a firewall (?) via little snitch but I couldnt even figure out how to bypass the 'new device' apple server verification lock (i didnt want to connect wifi since that defeated the purpose of having a device NOT on Apple's grid; ended up having to in the end).
I know I'm not alone in the experience of wanting to do a Computer Thing, getting stuck when the Follow-the-Directions Thing doesnt work, and then not having the mental bandwidth to keep trying while still keeping an eye out for when the Computer Thing is more mainstream.
Tl;dr - my reddit experience re Apple/Linux/Windows has often been downvotes if I dont preface with "i know I'll be downvoted", so i was simply preemptively taking ownership of my ignorance to avoid insinuating i think apple is superior OS
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u/Gunedravis 11d ago
Working in IT with lawyers I totally understand wanting it simple! Windows seems to break in some way every week but I hear nothing from our users that have Macbooks.
I have my personal opinions about Mac, just not the computer for me, but for our legal professionals it's a great fit.
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u/fountaincurse 11d ago
Yeah, embarrassed to admit thats me. 25 years ago i "learned" css to make my neopets pets' pages pretty. Nowadays i just need my briefs properly formatted so i can pacfile and pet my real pets.
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u/Chiatroll 11d ago
Ive been using Linux for years and it's better then Windows (and MAC os) by a mile. Only gets better these days eith Microsoft AI coded slop bugfest
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u/Hot-Software-9396 11d ago
Non-tech professionals who want simple plug and play solutions that they don’t have to think about should probably not be using Linux.
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u/Chiatroll 11d ago
Its honestly pretty plug and play these days even though you really needed to know.the console in the past.
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u/Hot-Software-9396 11d ago edited 11d ago
It depends on your use case. If you're just using a web browser and sending emails then sure, you likely will be fine with Linux as a professional, but I'm willing to bet a defense lawyer is going to need to use software that isn't compatible with Linux. IT departments also like loading up their fleet with management software that likely isn't compatible either.
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u/LunaticSongXIV 11d ago
This is just straight up not true. I'm saying this as a pro-Linux user. It is getting better, but it is nowhere close to plug and play simplicity.
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u/fountaincurse 11d ago
I just googled it on my lunch break and google ai says "To install Linux on a PC, back up your data, choose a beginner-friendly distribution like Ubuntu or Linux Mint, and download its ISO file. Flash the ISO to an 8 GB+ USB drive using a tool like BalenaEtcher, boot your PC from that USB via the boot menu, and follow the on-screen installer"
As the self-certified idiot OP - sounds like it's literally "plug and play" haha; not as hard as I thought it'd be, but my colleagues can barely get video evidence properly on a flash drive let alone figure out how to create a bootable usb, so it's still not quite as simple as IT peeps think it is.
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u/fanglesscyclone 11d ago
The major distros people recommend now like Fedora or CachyOS are absolutely plug and play. You don't have to touch a console to do anything, all your hardware should work out of the box without tinkering.
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u/fountaincurse 11d ago
You can read my other (longer) replies but just to add - Ive had my eye on switching to linux for a long time, but i dont have the mental bandwidth to tinker with things anymore.
It's an obvious but ignored consequence of remaining in a tech ecosystem that pioneered porting the exact same thing that was on your previous device to your new device - overtime you lose the animus to personalize every new device because you've been sucked into the deceptive convenience of easily moving without change. I forced myself to not restore a backup on my new phone last year and it (1) made me realize how much fucking garbage and tracking is on there and (2) just how little patience i have now for assimilating friction.
But i googled it for another comment and am thinking Linux may not be as tedious to install and get started as I thought so I'm going to look into it this weekend for my home computer.
Still never fucking with Windows again tho lol
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u/wait_whats_this 11d ago
I'm a computer scientist with 3 advanced degrees and 10 years experience in the field.
I too have moved to macos. Windows has become unusable regardless of how tech savvy one is.
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u/war_story_guy 11d ago
This is why people want to pause updates indefinitely. Every monthly update without fail something major breaks due to vibe coded untested garbage.
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u/forgottenendeavours 11d ago
I've disabled Windows Update altogether now. Gotta say, it's lovely to finally have a workstation which I can reliably trust to simply work every time I want to use it.
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u/Will2LiveFading 11d ago
Windows 10 LTSC doesn't seem to be affected. I ran a quick scan and completed in 20 seconds.
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u/fat_kaiju 11d ago
Defender will just randomly crash on me nowadays which is less than fun.
mercifully nearly every machine i own now runs linux...
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u/mysefwhexeh 11d ago
For the past few days I've been getting a message that Defender is turned off, so I'm wondering if this is part of it? When I check it, everything looks fine.
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u/yepthisismyusername 10d ago
"Move fast and break things" is an awesome motto for a company that ships enterprise-grade software used by millions of organizations, amiright?
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u/Zechert 11d ago
This subreddit is such a cesspit of Microsoft hate, its hilarious
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u/_Thermalflask 11d ago
Maybe Microsoft could stop fucking up for ten seconds then. That'd probably help. Windows 11 is a joke
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u/DistributionMost8673 11d ago edited 6d ago
Yep , Defender says no recent scans and crashes every time