Installing McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5i on a PC that also runs the Lotus Notes e-mail client can lock people out of their mailboxes, the two companies have confirmed. Lotus Notes is a commonly used e-mail application, particularly in larger organizations. McAfee, the world's second-largest antivirus company, released VirusScan Enterprise 8.5i late November.

"The upgrade locks people out and is causing Notes errors where we can not even restart Notes, but need to reinstall," said one IT administrator for a California company, who asked not to be identified. "This issue has created a higher-than-normal demand on our helpdesk; the cost to our company due to this issue is increasing every hour."

McAfee and IBM have both published support notices on the problem. The issue affects systems running Lotus Notes versions 6 and 7, according to the notices.

News.Com