More e-mail problems with Virex 7.5b1, earlier versions

Yesterday we reported a problem where Virex 7.5 Beta 1 detects a virus in the Eudora trash mailbox and incorrectly deletes the entire mailbox without warning. We've since received a number of notes confirming this issue, as well as a case where the actual Eudora application itself was deleted - by the previous, non-beta version 7.2 release of Virex.

MacFixIt reader Helen Keaton writes "I am using Virex 7.2 [...] About 3 weeks ago I installed Virex and checked to 'clean all infected files.' I later discovered it deleted the Eudora application. [...] I reinstalled Eudora, but it refused to accept my backup Eudora address file or my 'old' settings file. [...]

Meanwhile, Erik Brondum reports that a similar issue occurred in Apple's Mail.app : "This also happened for me, and with Apple Mail. Virex delete my entire inbox. Luckily I could restore it from a backup. I have now deleted the beta version of Virex, and reinstalled Virex 7.2.1. After that all problems have gone."

Microsoft's Entourage is apparently affected too, though in a less serious fashion. One reader writes "I had a not, so similar problem with Entourage. The Virex shield ( when defaulted to clean ) would delete detected messages (all Windows Viruses ), as they were downloaded and this caused Entourage to freeze. I found, that changing the default to notify; fixed the freeze; but the move to trash button, does not seem remove the detected mail, from the inbox."

Virex 7.5b1 also causes problems with Palm HotSyncing, as previously reported.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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