MSAS and SP2

[Guest]

Will the final version of Microsoft Antispyware support
only SP2. People it's about time to upgrade to SP2, its
now 2005, your software should be already updated to
support SP2. MSAS should be require sp2 to be installed,
so they can only focus on 1 OS which is window xp with
sp2.

Please people when you post some ISSUE on MSAS can you at
least put if SP1 or if you have Window XP Service Pack 2
installed. It's really hard to know if MSAS has more
issue on Window XP with sp1 or sp2.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I'm not aware of any present issues with Microsoft Antispyware which are
Windows version specific. I should probably qualify that a bit--I see more
issues with XP Home versus XP Pro, I think--but these fit in a category of
administrator versus limited user issues which will change when beta2 is
released, I hope.

 

[Andre Da Costa]

I think the Windows Firewall is sometimes a problem, and the error log which
I read somewhere is caused by the non support of limited accounts and fast
user switching in beta 1 of MSAS.

 

[Guest]

you talk about xp home versus xp pro. How about Media
Center 2005 is it supported even tho XP MCE 2005 is built
on xp pro there's a bit difference between the XP MCE
2005 and xp pro. people with MCE 2005 need protection
too. extender is not an issue for me since i don't have
one yet, but hopefully they already fix that issue on
beta 2 or final version.

 

[Linuxgirl]

I think the Windows Firewall is sometimes a problem, and the error
log which I read somewhere is caused by the non support of limited
accounts and fast user switching in beta 1 of MSAS.

Windows firewall is turned off here. In this Windows box I use Outpost Pro
firewall and AVG Pro on XP pro-SP2 (fast user switching turned off). The 2
times I've installed MSAS on it I had no problems....saw no bugs.... but I
had no spyware either. It's not my primary system ( Linux is of course ) and
I do have Spybot w/Tea Timer, Ad-aware, Hijack This and Ccleaner installed.
I uninstalled MSAS both times and cleaned the 800 or so entries out of the
registry.

I would recommend that if you have a lot of problems with it, uninstall it
through add/remove programs or restore to an earlier period, clean your
registry (use RegSupreme or something similar) and wait for a future build.
In the meantime use the applications named above to get your system as clean
as possible before installing it again. It is an early beta and if your
system is full of spyware/malware, including "Kazaa" you *will* have
problems.

LG

 

[Guest]

yea im the one who post it that without a proof, just a
major guess. I think it error.log got something to do
with window accounts, limited account, multi-user scan.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

It is definitely supported on Media Center 2005. The issue with the
extenders can be worked around by shutting down Microsoft Antispyware while
the extender is in user, fwiw.

 

[Andre Da Costa]

There is an issue with Media Center Extender:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892374

 

[Guest]

When i go online i Always log in as limited account, what
are the chances of getting infected by a spyware/adwae?
can i still get infected (if answer is yes, How will
Microsoft Antispyware real-time protection protect me
when it doesn't under limited account? It's really hard
to remove spyware once its inside the computer, so im
really looking forward at the real-time protections
working under limited Account which will prevent
spyware/adware from installing.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Running under a limited account helps, but isn't perfect. Quite a bit of
software doesn't run, or may lose functionality. There have, in the past,
been security flaws which allow an attacker to gain administrative
privilege. We can't be certain that such a flaw won't exist in the future.

As far as I'm aware, Microsoft Antispyware's real-time protection is just as
effective when running as a limited user as it would be when running as an
administrator--but I'll admit that I can't be certain of this statement.

 

[Guest]

ok should i still run it on Limited Account? since nobody
seems to follow what microsoft is saying to run it on
limited account to be safe im having a second opinion of
not using limited Account anymore?

But how will MSAS remove files when it doesn't even have
a administrative privelege? Can Antivirus utilities
remove viruses under limited account?

 

[Andre Da Costa]

Run as limited if you are not downloading stuff.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Antivirus vendors solve this issue in a different way, by using services
running with different permission levels, I suspect.

Microsoft Antispyware, running under limited permissions, should be able to
undo any operation that the current limited user was able to do. It isn't
going to be able to clean something that infected under an administrator
profile, or a bug which was set to autostart, and where a subsequent start
by and administrator has allowed it to further protect itself.

I have a whole small office (6) of users with Microsoft Antispyware
installed, and have heard absolutely nothing about the product from them
since I asked their CEO to put it in, back when the beta began. I believe
it is doing its job, and that they are better off running in that mode.

 

[Guest]

Many people including me have requested for limited
account support. Will Beta 2 or final version support
limited account and multi user scan? this is one of many
feature I'm looking forward to see on beta 2 or final
version.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I can't say for sure what will happen, but I know this is a request that has
been heard--and Andre has quoted Steve Dodson discussing how much work is
involved. I believe that this area of the product will change, but I don't
want to predict how well they'll do.