Additional Schedule/Settings Bugs

[Michael Krantz]

I set a scan to run at 02:00, and I also set updates to run
at 1:00 AM in the AutoUpdater Settings. Note that the scan
schedule time is formatted according to the regional settings,
but the AutoUpdater Settings time is not. The scan does not
run. I'm not sure if the update ran; there were no new updates
to download, today. Can anyone tell me if this is buggy, too?

I am running Windows XP with regional settings set to a
24-hour clock and everything done in a user account. I'm
not going to bother with the regional settings work-around.
The bug with the 24-hour clock should not affect AM schedule
settings, anyway, right? The scan probably did not run,
because the schedule was set in a user account, right?

One impetus for this post is that when I check the box on the
schedule for "Always run a deep scan" and uncheck the one for
"Do not display scan results" and click "Update Schedule," my
check box changes are removed/backed out/lost. Sometimes.
Actually, they get kicked out on one PC, but saved on my
other PC. Should I look for something different in the user
accounts settings?

Also, when I check the "Display the scan results window after a
spyware scan." box in the Spyware Scan Settings, click Save,
and click OK in the "Your settings have been saved." box, my
check is removed. This happens on both PCs. Also, these two
check boxes appear redundant; are they intended do the same thing?


Also, when I check the "Include technical information in selection
details." in the General Settings and click Save and OK, the same
thing happens on one of my PCs but not the other.

Also, the Search function on the web interface to these newsgroups
appears to be disabled. Does anyone know when it might be restored?

Regards,
Michael Krantz

PS: If this is really unusually buggy for a Beta (pre-)release,
then does it qualify as user testing in an Alpha release? Or is it
somewhere in between? Does tradition (or some standard) dictate
that the next major pre-release is "Beta 2" and not "Gamma"?
;-)

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I'm not going to be able to hit all the details, I'm afraid.

The priority for the developers is work on beta2. I don't expect the kinds
of things you're mentioning here to be fixed in the beta1 code.

In the situation where you have one machine which is not accurately
recording your choices of settings, but another which does, I believe that
what is happening is corruption in one or more of the .GCD files that
control the recording of such details.

My sledgehammer fix for this issue is as follows:

1) uninstall Microsoft Antispyware
2) delete the installation folder, typically \program files\microsoft
antispyware and all subfolders. You will lose access to all quarantined
items and any history or customized settings.
3) reinstall Microsoft Antispyware, taking care to be signed in as the
Administrator user who will typically use the program.

The best way to get a search facility for these groups is to open them in an
NNTP reader and turn off any settings which limit message
acquisition--Outlook Express has one which limits a run to 300 headers at a
time. Instructions for seeing these groups via NNTP are in the top panel
when you first go to them via the Help link--scroll down--there are password
and usernames involved that you'll need to print or write down.

I expect the next release to be Beta2. This beta is rather different from
others I've participated in--I won't characterize the level of bugs in
beta1--I'm firmly of the belief that having this product out there has
enabled millions of people to get their systems cleaner and keep them that
way--but I do expect beta2 to be different.

--

 

[Michael Krantz]

Thanks, Bill.

Actually, I'm not unhappy with the way MS AntiSpyware is running
on my system. These are minor bugs with work-arounds (and I've
seen much more functionally debilitating problems in MS software
in full release that remain unfixed across major releases).

Mostly, I wanted to put together in one post some peripheral
problems that I had not seen posted among the frequent
"schedule not working" posts. (Settings not saved; redundant
and conflicting settings.) Also see if I should look for
differences in environment between my two PCs. And release
terminology.

I will probably reinstall sometime soon; I am not concerned
about quarantine or history.

As one might notice from headings, I am using the NNTP interface
with Outlook Express. However, I found the search function of
the IE interface superior, and I hoped someone could tell me why
it is down and (more important) when it might be available, again.

Regards,
Michael Krantz

 

[Bill Sanderson]

When the search functionality was removed, I had hoped that it might be a
harbinger of a change to a newer HTML interface to the groups. I still have
some hope that this might happen. Whether search will come back, I dont
know.

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