BigPond software cripples home PCs

Dan Warne
07 March 2010, 8:07 PM


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Something went wrong -- very wrong -- with BigPond's software on Friday, preventing PCs from booting.


BigPond has admitted that the security software it provides to customers as a $10 monthly service (or $99.95 per year) has corrupted a large number of its customers' PCs, due to a faulty anti-virus signature update.

The ISP giant says the faulty patch was removed half an hour after being set live on Friday, after BigPond noticed a spike in customer tech support calls.

"A patch has been created and the vendor of the software has provided trouble-shooting steps to assist customers who downloaded the corrupt definition file," said Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton.

"The patch takes around 30 minutes to remove corrupt files, then allows users to restart their computer in normal mode."

"BigPond FAQs online are in the process of being updated to include trouble-shooting information for any customers impacted by this issue."

An APC reader who first reported the problem said his computer would not boot, and he was unable to get through to BigPond tech support, with wait times of three hours. He said he'd tried calling numerous times, and twice, the BigPond IVR system had disconnected him after keeping him on hold for hours.

He complained that BigPond was "keeping quiet" about the issue, and that there were no reported outages on the BigPond website. BigPond blocks customers of other ISPs from checking its service status page, so unless a customer has access to a secondary BigPond connection elsewhere, they cannot access service status at all.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused to customers and longer than usual telephone assistance waiting times while we assist people affected," said Telstra's Middleton.


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Macka007 (New user):

"... the corrupt definition file" I doubt it was corrupt, more likely someone made a mistake with the signature and flagged a legitimate file.

07 March 2010, 9:17 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Well the software is complete rubbish in the first place, so I'm not surprised. Authentium couldn't detect a virus even if it was in a big box labelled "Viruses - Don't touch".

Bigpond aren't the only ones keeping quiet either by the looks. Authentium's website, blogs, etc make no mention of the problem either.

07 March 2010, 10:02 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

rogue316 (Advanced member):

Hahahaha! Well that's what you get for using a substandard anti virus. This is NOT a shot at Bigpond itself(I like Bigpond)it's just a shot at their Internet security. Hahahaha!

08 March 2010, 6:52 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

TM (New user):

What are you basing that registry comment on - someone else's incorrect opinion about the program? What exactly does the program do to the registry besides make entries for the product itself?

16 March 2010, 2:53 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Macka007 (New user):

Quoting TM:
What are you basing that registry comment on - someone else's incorrect opinion about the program? What exactly does the program do to the registry besides make entries for the product itself?


Which program are you talking about?
I for one, know that their software (provided with their internet services) badges every thing it can. Try installing a bigpond modem (wireless or otherwise) using the Telstra CD. Next open internet Explorer to find the title now says something along the lines of "Bigpond Internet Explorer". That's not the only changes it makes, but it has been years since I personally have installed that garbage on any of my PC's so I can't remember all of the changes it makes.I have however installed it recently for someone else and it did go through and rebadge things.

16 March 2010, 8:55 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

TM (New user):

BigPond Security itself doesn't brand anything and makes very few registry entries. As far as the connection itself, you don't even need the cd. Just plug your ocmputer into the modem or router. The cd is for non technical people who need to see some kind of branding to feel like they are online and have their bigpond internet working.

25 March 2010, 2:01 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Quoting TM:
The cd is for non technical people who need to see some kind of branding to feel like they are online and have their bigpond internet working.


The cd is for non technical people who follow the instructions of a company that hasn't yet worked out how other companies do it... They can see the blinking lights on the modem just as good as technical people.

25 March 2010, 8:57 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Macka007 (New user):

As far as I can tell, there is no way to use the wireless adapters without installing the software. Plug in the adpater, it pretends to be a USB drive, installs a driver for a virtual CD drive. Next it pretends to be a CD drive and loads up a disk with their software, which must be installed otherwise it can't be used.

For any other equipment the CD is unnecessary.

25 March 2010, 1:30 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

It is technically possible to use it without the additional software. But it's not pretty. Of course other vendors have far simpler software that just works.

25 March 2010, 2:07 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Raindog (User):

Crippling a few PC's that's peanuts, Bigpond's owner Telstra has crippled an entire nations communications for several decades.

But back on topic I'm amazed at why anyone would even think of putting a Bigpond branded disk in their PC. Bigpond assume it's OK for any software of theirs to charge through the registry and every other facet of a user system badging everything and depositing yet more bloat.

08 March 2010, 8:31 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Macka007 (New user):

Yeah, I got a rude shock a few years a go when we tried a wireless dongle. suddenly everything on the system was Telstra Bigpond this and Telstra Bigpond that.

I found a better use for their disks, they make good coasters.

08 March 2010, 10:10 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

CCCMikey (New user):

Hmm. I think I have an affected customer but haven't seen the computer yet. Found details at http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1399084

Edit: Yep, that was it.

08 March 2010, 1:05 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

I think we had one this morning too. But with zero details from both Helstra and Authentium, I don't even know if the problem I saw is related.
The one I saw was saying it couldn't check the activation status, so refused to log in. The guy was going to call BigCrap and see if it was it, and drop back in if it wasn't their fault... He hasn't come back yet, which could mean it was the BigPong problem.

08 March 2010, 2:56 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

hardwire (New user):

I was affected by this problem. Luckily tech support got back to me fairly quickly and fixed it. You need to run a file in safe mode. I bookmarked the site where they got it: http://bit.ly/patchav

09 March 2010, 4:47 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

hardwire (New user):

I was affected by this problem. Luckily tech support got back to me fairly quickly and fixed it. You need to run a file in safe mode. I bookmarked the site where they got it: http://bit.ly/patchav

09 March 2010, 4:51 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

hardwire (New user):

I was affected by this problem. Luckily tech support got back to me fairly quickly and fixed it. You need to run a file in safe mode. I bookmarked the site where they got it: http://bit.ly/patchav

09 March 2010, 4:51 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

And the issue looks like? Seriously... How the heck are people supposed to know if this is the issue they are trying to solve? Bigpond, Authentium, and now the affected customers are all just saying "Run this" - that's not what sane security people say.

09 March 2010, 6:04 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Macka007 (New user):

The patch appears to do the following:
1) Extract some files from a Winzip SEA
2) Runs a batch file that does the following:
a) copy antivir.def (extracted from the SEA) to the Authentium directory.
b) Merges a registry key.
c) Restarts the computer.

The registry key that is merged are:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Authentium\Curtains\v1.5\"remotemenuaction"="HelpUpdates"

The def file appears to be encrypted, but I don't think the dat in it would give us much of a clue anyway.


My guess is they are detecting a system file, attempt to terminate it [the process], causing Windows to crash. By booting in to safe mode I'm guessing the AV isn't active, allowing the def file to be swapped with a "clean" one, hence stopping the problem.

Just speculation though.

09 March 2010, 6:22 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

MyMind (New user):

For me MelodyCan is the best software for different players. It can remove drm and convert files to different formats. You can try it_))



31 July 2010, 4:07 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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