According to the makers of the popular antivirus program Avast, their latest virus file update was a little too vague and started detecting malware in programs that did not actually contain malware. Fortunately the list was limited to "high-profile programs produced by Adobe, Realtek sound card drivers, various media players etc." So, no worries there.

Unless, of course, you're like me and immediately deleted the reported programs as soon as the little "Warning!" window popped up. Then you may have a problem.

I don't believe anything vital is gone – the two things that popped up didn't look familiar — but I anticipate something going hilariously wrong months down the road, so thanks for that, guys. Avast users may update their virus definitions manually to fix the last update. Check here for details.

If, unlike me, you did the sensible thing and merely opted to move suspicious files to the Virus Chest, you can probably put those back (here's how). Unless they actually are virused, of course, in which case you're on your own.

(Before I get comments on why this means I should switch to your favorite program; AVG had the same thing happen a few months ago when it decided iTunes was malware — OK, there might be some justification there — and Norton hangs my system worse than spooning molasses directly into the DVD drive.)