Xinghua said more than 1000 customers in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has reported the problem by lunchtime last Friday.
It said an automated update of the Chinese version of Norton Anti-Virus issued last Friday caused computers running Windows XP to crash to a blue screen of death. The computers returned to the blue screen even after a reboot.
Symantec confirmed the incident had resulted from an inappropriate handling of an automatic upgrade of the AntiVirus security software. It is thought the update accidentally prompted computers to kill two essential system files.
Xinghua said it was estimated that several million users ran the Windows XP operating system with Norton Anti-Virus in China.
The state-owned English language China Daily newspaper said Chinese companies were already seeking compensation.
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