MSE For Vista Now Shows XP Nag Screens

[Jody Thornton]

Apparently, the most recent engine and definition updates bring about a nag screen for end of support (but for XP ...lol - perhaps Microsoft was too lazy to change the displayed message for Vista users, as in both of them )

https://www.vistax64.com/system-security/304847-microsoft-security-essentials-begins-nag-january-10-a.html

[Dibya]

MS Devs are lazy or its a bug

[dencorso]

It's not a bug, it's "by design"...
They're giving Vista die-hards some of the love they give us XP die-hards on a daily basis, but to be even more insulting they pretend they don't even notice Vista isn't XP...

[Jody Thornton]

I thought they just didn't want to take the extra time because of the small user base.

[WinClient5270]

I wonder if this also affects Windows Server 2008, since it's essentially the exact same OS as Vista, the only difference being that it is due to receive security updates until January 2020. So it should be eligible for MSE support for another 3 years.

Guess that's something I'll need to test. 

[Vistapocalypse]

On 1/14/2017 at 8:48 AM, dencorso said:

It's not a bug, it's "by design"...
They're giving Vista die-hards some of the love they give us XP die-hards on a daily basis, but to be even more insulting they pretend they don't even notice Vista isn't XP...

Yes, just your basic amber alert at this point, but I'm sure we'll go to red alert on April 11. An interesting question is when MSE support will actually end for Vista. In the case of XP, Microsoft proclaimed that definition updates would end in July 2015; but they didn't actually crack down until September 1, 2016. Even now, XP die-hards are still able to use MSE 4.4 from before the dreaded end-of-life features were introduced. However I'm not interested in downgrading to 4.4 in light of MSE's historical record at AV-Test (see https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/manufacturer/microsoft/windows-7/). MSE's protection was quite poor until 2015. (Microsoft evidently resolved to make Windows Defender more effective for Windows 10, and MSE improved as a byproduct.) Granted, 4.4 might perform better with today's definition and engine updates, but who can say? Whenever definition updates end, I will turn to another antivirus solution.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Vistapocalypse
referenced fix not feasible for Vista

[Werewolf]

On 1/14/2017 at 9:41 AM, 2008WindowsVista said:

I wonder if this also affects Windows Server 2008, since it's essentially the exact same OS as Vista, the only difference being that it is due to receive security updates until January 2020. So it should be eligible for MSE support for another 3 years.

Guess that's something I'll need to test. 

For what it may or may not be worth I can confirm that the notification does not appear in Windows Server 2008 when Microsoft Security Essentials is installed and updated.

[WinClient5270]

2 hours ago, Werewolf said:

For what it may or may not be worth I can confirm that the notification does not appear in Windows Server 2008 when Microsoft Security Essentials is installed and updated.

That's great to know! I hope MS decides to keep MSE support afloat on Server 2008 up until at least 2020... This is a good indicator of that happening. 

Thanks for testing this!

[Jody Thornton]

I didn't even know that MSE was supported on Server 2008.  I was able to get it running on Server 2003, but I thought they would have referred users to the corporate product this time around.  Good to know.

[sdfox7]

On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 8:22 PM, Werewolf said:

For what it may or may not be worth I can confirm that the notification does not appear in Windows Server 2008 when Microsoft Security Essentials is installed and updated.

I don't believe you'll receive the end of support warning on Server 2008.

Server 2008 shares the Vista kernel, i.e. NT 6.0.  However, extended support for Server 2008 ends on January 14, 2020, the same day as Windows 7.

[Werewolf]

3 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

I don't believe you'll receive the end of support warning on Server 2008.

Server 2008 shares the Vista kernel, i.e. NT 6.0.  However, extended support for Server 2008 ends on January 14, 2020, the same day as Windows 7.

I am aware of the support end date, but I wanted to confirm that the warning did not appear for those who were curious.

[Werewolf]

The notification has been updated.

Further, one is not only not allowed to scan for updates, he or she is also not able to scan with existing definitions or change settings.

[Jody Thornton]

So can the release of MS just before these nags still be used on Vista (similar to v4.4.304 on XP)?

[dencorso]

I think Vista users should give precisely v. 4.4.304.0 a shot. Maybe it'll be necessary, after installing, to use heinoganda's updater v. 1.5 for the initial updating of the definitions on the newly installed MSE, but I think it probably should be able to auto-update after that (although heinoganda's updater v. 1.5 is the only way to keep it up-to-date on XP, nowadays)...

[heinoganda]

The MSE Definition Updater is designed exclusively for Windows XP, so it can not be guaranteed that it will work under Windows Vista. A test in a VM or test system can not hurt. For me, the question arises which version of MSE is installed. In version 4.8 I am aware that the engine is disabled by the definition. One approach would be to install an older version of MSE (4.4.304.0) and corresponding key in the registry

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Security Client","DisplayVersion",,"9.9.999.0"

so that MSE can not be updated (works under Windows XP, only the question is whether Windows Vista is looking for updates of this Key is just as relevant).

Edited April 17, 2017 by heinoganda