Sorry to hear about this, not that it’s not incredibly common.

Like the suggestion for them to read the signed exe as that can be easily automated in the anti-virus software. Chance of it happening – snowballs and hell spring to mind.

The thing with the anti-virus companies, I’m sure, is they have a sign over their desks that reads “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do own your computer!”

Take a look sometime at how some of them behave on multi-processor machines. Symantec for example, splices into several if available.

http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/05/28/who-digs-the-elephant-trap/

The McAfee recommendation is, in a nutshell – “Don’t protect your work using a packer, because malware authors do it”.

Gee, thanks, McAfee!