UPDATE: here is the official fix from McAfee: http://vil.nai.com/vil/5958_false.htm
McAfee corporate customers using Windows XP experienced massive problems today as an update to McAfee’s security suite deleted svhost.exe—a very common Windows process—causing XP machines to reboot continuously.
McAfee has confirmed the problem and removed the faulty virus definition file from the update. Only McAfee’s corporate users were affected.
to fix it try this tip:
boot to safe mode, rename mcshield.exe, reboot, run Virus Console, pick Tools -> Rollback DAT, name back to mcshield, reboot
Source: Lifehacker
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Russ. Russ said: McAfee Update causes continuous reboots on XP http://bit.ly/aFLP3M [...]
For Anyone that doesn’t know there is a NASTY virus going around with the latest round of McAfee updates. I heard that If you use the McAfee antivirus software and get prompted to update to the latest version PLEASE do not update, reports around the internet say that an Update to Dat 5958 is killing SVCHOST.exe. Many numerous reports are coming up, mainly across Twitter and Facebook with people saying that they are not able to access their computers after the update because of this problem, and others get Blue Screen Of Death’s as soon as the McAfee antivirus software has started running. Currently it seems to be only Windows XP SP3 systems that are affected by this problem with no reports of problems with Windows Vista and 7 users.