Widcomm Uninstalltion wipes out the computer. New Virus or Windows Voulnerability.

Anonymous

VERY SERIOUS BUG/VULNERABILITY WIDCOMM BLUETOOTH SOFTWARE

Uninstalling Widcomm bluetooth software from control panel wipes out all data, programs and the boot sector on the computer.

I have tried to report this to microsoft but can't find out how. Please report this to the appropirate department.

I have windows 7 home premium. I tried to update my widcomm bluetooth software by downloading and installing the upgrade. The installation fails giving error 1935. After that the existing widcomm software becomes nonoperational. I tried to uninstall the widcomm bluetooth software from control panel the message "please wait while windows configures Bluetooth software". As it works all files from the hard drive are deleted, the desktop becomes empty, all open programs are deleted, all app data is deleted, the start menu becomes empty and finally it asks to reboot. After reboot the computer gives boot error message and does not boot up.

I had to install windows again to get the computer working. All data was lost. The anti virus was up to date and recent scans were all good. Windows was up to date. It appears that the error is from windows uninstaller some how going haywire when trying to remove widcomm bluetooth software. After restoring my computer I installed widcomm bluetooth software, copied the hard drive and tried to uninstall widcomm again. Results were exactly the same and I got screen shots from the beginning to the end. I have tried it on multiple computers with the same results (cloned the disk before)

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Anonymous

Hi widcommbug,

yes, things are getting wild here...I don´t know why.

Maybe I can help you, here is what I did- and it worked:

I´ve deinstalled all versions of widcomm bluetooth software with the windows program deinstallation in the system tools.
I´ve restarted the PC
I´ve cleaned up the registry with a tool (I do not rely on any, I´ve used registry mechanic, which is the same as Norton Utillities 14- but it works more or less)
I´ve downloaded the latest version of widcomm bluethooth software here:

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f237/widcomm-bluetooth-driver-6-4-0-670-a-1197332/

click on "deposit files", and you´ll get version 6.3.0.7000 of Lenovo widcomm bluetooth software which is the same

as original widcomm bluetooth.

Download it.
Extract it to a folder
Only use the file Broadcom_Bluetooth_6.4.0.670.exe out of the zip archive. Drop the rest.
If you´ll click on this .exe file you´ll only get some weird screen all filled up with ????, so you´ll have to use a different way:
Exctract Broadcom_Bluetooth_6.4.0.670.exe once again to a folder and then click on the file setup.exe

Then, the software will install correctly.

Well, this is weird, agreed. I found it out only a few trials. Remember, this software is leaked from Lenovo, but

it is the latest version I found, it is 100% Widcomm Bluetooth Software.

Here you have prove of what Widcomm is doing:

It does not provide the latest widcomm bluetooth software for free, but only for notebook manufacturers.

Widcomm doesn´t give a single hint on this policy on their homepage- private customers seem to be

unimportant for Widcomm- and still no amendment with the update bug in this software- really poor.

But no way to kid me.

Andy

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97 additional answers

Anonymous

2010-09-15T06:16:51+00:00

Well, when you do go to uninstall it, in the hope of being able to re-install a newer version, then it will wipe out your PC.

Considering that Broadcom has such a huge portion of the bluetooth market, someone should really try to get this posted to slashdot.org in the hope that the problem will get some attention and be fixed. This problem must of course be destroying the computers of thousands of Broadcom customers. At minimum, the antivirus companies should be blocking the software at the point where it starts deleting user data.
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Anonymous

2010-09-15T05:14:06+00:00

Update: Spoke too soon. The uninstall tanked my C drive also.

I get the error 1935 when I attempt to install the latest widcomm bluetooth drivers. The installer then rolls back the installation so far, then just stops working. Afterwards the Bluetooth service is trashed. Fortunately, this variation does not seem to be deleting any of my system files. But this is a serious issue in my book. I guess its to be expected though. Widcomm's reputation for bluetooth drivers has been shakey for years. An ownership switch to Broadcom doesn't seem to have changed anything :>

Running Win7 Home Premium on Asus EEEPC 1000H.
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Anonymous

2010-09-15T04:42:59+00:00

I have the same issue windows vista 64bit ultimate clean install just had my wow and wow beta all updated there goes a good day of work. went to update bt drivers they gave error when i tried to hook up my Moto S9-hd head set microsoft said to download the update from broadcom it failed I went to manually uninstall lost all my pictures video and apps i put on clean install no virus no malware they can go and do the world a favor and quit making software. If any one at broadcomm that made this driver is reading this grab a note pad and write "I am too stupid to program properly. I quit" this would help and then they could use competent programmers to rewrite the virus like software you made.
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Anonymous

2010-08-31T16:07:32+00:00

To Shinmila H of Microsoft Are you or anybody from Microsoft reading this blog???
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