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Microsoft security essentials and Windows XP


ND22

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1 hour ago, JodyT said:

Has Blackwingcat removed this WindowsXP-KB2584577-v0.4-x86-ENU.exe file?  It does not seem to download any more.

:(

Sorry .I maintained the download definition file today.

Now download is available.

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17 hours ago, JodyT said:

I can't find it on that link.  The old one says it's downloading but it doesn't.  :(

Also, I take it that you've done something similar for Windows 2000?  Is that right?

:)

Then Please try to reload a few times :P

Perhaps it has a collision against another download of  someone .

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Thank you to all who commented on this topic and offered solutions or tips.

Now that it seems to be solved (so far), I learned a few things that I have questions about.

1. How can you find and  install version 4.4 of MSE now that support has ended and it is an outdated release?

2. Does it matter in any way if I now have version 4.5 and it always shows in red and says PC status at risk, OS support has ended? As long as I ignore the warning banner, is everything ok with the operation? Or would it be better to downgrade and get the green banner?

3. Leaving it to do automatic updates now, is there a danger that it will "break" XP or update routines that won't work in XP? Would going to the manual update method above be any different (ie download the update file from the link, extract the defs file and manually load the update)?

Please note: I have been using 4.5 for about a year with no serious issues up to now (except the recent update problems discussed in this thread). I am just trying to be thorough.

Edited by mo832
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3 hours ago, mo832 said:

1. How can you find and  install version 4.4 of MSE now that support has ended and it is an outdated release?

On 2/1/2016 at 1:41 AM, sdfox7 said:

:angel

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Can someone comment on my other 2 questions, ie is there any harm/is it ok for me to continue with 4.5 and not bother with 4.4? (see my concerns in the original post).

Thanks,

mo

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On 5/1/2016 at 1:11 PM, mo832 said:

Can someone comment on my other 2 questions, ie is there any harm/is it ok for me to continue with 4.5 and not bother with 4.4? (see my concerns in the original post).  Thanks,  mo

Mo, IMHO - The red flag you mentioned may be a result of the MSE definitions not being updated recently.  A nag flag may be caused by using 4.5 instead of 4.4.  My MSE showed a brown danger flag instead of the green safe flag within a few days after my automatic definitions updates began failing in mid April.  MSE changes the flag from green to brown if the definitions don't update within a certain time limit and changes it from green to red if there is a major problem.  After I ran blackwingcat's program, my definitions updated, the MSE flag changed back to green, and the definitions began updating automatically again, like before mid April.  Automatic updates are easier, more convenient, than manual updates.

If your MSE flag is still red then your manual definitions update apparently did not work.  The flag will turn back to green if nothing is wrong.  Microsoft updates the definitions about once per day or more.  The update pane of your MSE panel shows when your definitions were last updated along with the definition version number.  When I did manual updates using Bersaglio's method, the flag changed from brown to green, and the definitions version number changed.  But the auto updates still didn't work.  The next day I updated manually with heinoganda's method and the definitions version number changed, but the auto updates still didn't work; which is to say I was able to update manually, but not automatically.  It was only after I used blackwingcat's solution that the definitions began updating automatically again.

On your question about the red / green banner - I would be bugged by the red banner,  I would want the green banner.  Changing from 4.5 to 4.4 should help with that.  Running blackwingcat's program was what got MSE working right again for me, got the definitions back to automatically updating, and got my MSE flag to stay green.  

If your MSE update problem began around mid April like mine did, then it seems likely that blackwingcat's fix would work for your XP system also.  If you cannot get MSE 4.5 to work right after running blackwingcat's program, it might be a lot easier to just install 4.4 than keep trying to debug 4.5.  Apparently MSE 4.4.304.0 was the last version that Microsoft designed to work in harmony with XP.

Edited by NeauCloux
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NeauCloux,

Thanks for the tips. But I must tell you that the banner has ALWAYS been red, from the moment I installed MSE, which IIRC was AFTER XP went out of support. Every time I reboot windows xp, the startup routines run, and then I get a MSE popup window that says "support for this os has ended...". However, it has ALWAYS updated the virus defs automatically, and the update specs have been current anytime I check. The only time it didn't update was when this problem began in mid April, but now it is back to updating. I still get the red banner, which basically tells me I need to dump xp and go to a newer one (shut up MS), but it appears MSE still works as designed, but with a red warning. The program "knows" I am on XP, and it has been told to flash a warning to stop using XP. But if you read it closely, it doesn't actually say that MSE is not working.

So again I ask, is the warning anything to worry about vs. MSE? It never says MSE won't work,, just no longer supported on my pc. And the defs are always updated.

Comments?? Anybody?

To be clear... the red banner was never dependent on or related to whether the defs were updating or not. Automatic or manual, the defs were updated, then it wouldn't update, then I manually updated for a few days, then it fixed itself, back to auto update. And the banner was red from start to finish and has never been green. EXCEPT, when updates started failing, after a week or so the "flag" icon in the tray went orange, and windows warned me that virus is out of date (which never happened before).

Main page:

real-time protection: ON, operating system support has ended

Virus and spyware definitions: Up to date, operating system support has ended

Edited by mo832
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The problem with keeping to v. 4.5 is exactly that: it'll be always showing the red flag. So, although it updates and works all right (but for that), you lose the warning feature (red meaning something wrong like a malware found or definitions out of date; brown meaning system scan too old; green meaning all well and blue meaning updating, IIRR). Removing it and going back to version 4.4 fixes all that and has no known disadvantages. That's all.

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27 minutes ago, dencorso said:

The problem with keeping to v. 4.5 is exactly that: it'll be always showing the red flag. So, although it updates and works all right (but for that), you lose the warning feature (red meaning something wrong like a malware found or definitions out of date; brown meaning system scan too old; green meaning all well and blue meaning updating, IIRR). Removing it and going back to version 4.4 fixes all that and has no known disadvantages. That's all.

Thanks dencorso  for the info.

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@mo832: NeauCloux implied that BlackWingCat had looked at it and given the issue a solution. So I searched his blog. This article at BlackWingCat's seems to point to a solution that permits to keep v4.5, while restoring it's ability to work Ok (= not always on red flag). So, since you have nothing to lose, why not try it before removing v.4.5? In case it works, we'd learn something, and you'd avoid removing/reinstalling MSE, right? So, do the following:

Quote

[In order to] reset the Microsoft antivirus update engine of the PC
Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Accessories. Then, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
Enter the following command in the command prompt window. Each time you enter a single command, and then press the Enter key.

Cd \
Cd% programfiles% \ microsoft security essentials
Mpcmdrun -removedefinitions -all
Exit

Restart your PC.
Open the Microsoft Security Essentials, click the Update tab, and then click Update.

Whether the problem gets solved or not, let us know. Good luck!

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dencorso,

thanks for your attention. I tried your steps. It didn't help. Here is what happened:

Firstly, there are 2 different kinds of red flags, 1. tells you that your OS is not supported. This will remain constantly on the machine and never goes away 2. tells you that something is currently wrong, as above (old defs, a virus detected, some setting wrong, needs your attention)

I was able to do the remove operation, which flashed a warning immediately that files need to be updated to do a scan. I shut down and rebooted, and upon reboot, I got the same as always popup window that says OS is not supported and MSE is not compliant, etc. THEN, before I could go to click on the "update button", MSE was automatically changed to reflect the previous updates that I had just deleted! It must have loaded them from a saved file somewhere? Anyway, I clicked again to update, and it now has the latest files of 446pm 5/1/16, version 1.219.551.0. But the top red banner is still there and it still says OS is not supported (but the def's are all current and realtime is ON)

So now I must believe that 4.4 has not been programmed to flash a scary warning, but 4.5 has, so that people are scared into going to Windows 8.

Can you or someone else give me detailed steps to remove 4.5 and install 4.4 such that I don't run into any version conflicts and/or confuse the system so it blocks the install or corrupts my system? I generally am one to leave stuff alone if it is already working- this seems to be mostly cosmetic and it didn't give me trouble for over a year, but if it is not too corrosive for my system I am willing to "downgrade".

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You should be able to remove it from Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs. MSE is quite well behaved in what regards removal, in my experience. After the removal finishes, however, it's a good idea to reboot, before inastalling the older version. Moreover you should set your MS updates to manual, or else it'll  update it to version 4.5 or latter via aotomatic updates.

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