Multiple issues in 1/20 update to MS Anti-spyware

[Guest]

1) Saw "error and needs to close" after automatic update, with recommendation
to install a new version
2) See spurious green box for Microsoft Reader activation components on
every login
3) After uninstalling, downloading a fresh copy, and reinstalling, no
improvement
4) Automatic updates are broken
5) Setup wizard tries to run the first time I open the application in a
login session
6) Scheduled scans are broken
7) See spurious red box from MS AS when running Spybot Search and Destroy:
warning about a site being added to the trusted sites list. I'm pretty sure
Spybot S&D was actually trying to add it to the restricted sites list. (This
item has some small possibility of being a Spybot S&D bug.)

I'm seeing all of these symptoms on one machine at home running XP Home SP2.
I have two other machines at my office running MS AS on XP Pro SP2. One seems
to be normal, and doesn't seem to have taken the update. The other one
doesn't seem to be running scheduled scans; I don't think it took the update
either.

Is there a fixed version in the works?

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Interspersed:

1) Saw "error and needs to close" after automatic update, with
recommendation
to install a new version

Not clear whether this is a definition update (date would be right for
that)--or a code update.
Please go to Help, about, and let us know the program version and definition
version--examples: 1.701.0 program version 5797 definition version

Then please press the Diagnostics button, and check for a line ending in two
numbers with a / between: example 150/150 What are these numbers and are
they equal?

2) See spurious green box for Microsoft Reader activation components on
every login

Login, or startup of Microsoft Antispyware? Do you have media containing
what is being asked for available to you? Do you have Microsoft Reader
installed and wish to retain it? Reinstalling the called-for code is one
fix--but there are some others if that isn't desirable for one reason or
another.

3) After uninstalling, downloading a fresh copy, and reinstalling, no
improvement

OK - so presumably you are on the current version.

4) Automatic updates are broken

Answers to the first set of questions would help here.

5) Setup wizard tries to run the first time I open the application in a
login session

OK--if the wizard runs each time you go in, this fix works:

Delete or rename the following file

\program files\microsoft antispyware\gcasUserData.gcd

6) Scheduled scans are broken

How? There are a number of problems with the scheduler which have
workarounds--but I need to know what specifically isn't working--i.e. if you
are trying to scan at 2 am with no one logged in, and your time format is a
24 hour one, there are a couple of different issues involved. Give us the
detail and we can make it work.

7) See spurious red box from MS AS when running Spybot Search and Destroy:
warning about a site being added to the trusted sites list. I'm pretty
sure
Spybot S&D was actually trying to add it to the restricted sites list.
(This
item has some small possibility of being a Spybot S&D bug.)

Nope - this is a Microsoft Antispyware beta1 bug. The dialog is just plain
wrong, and there's even a KB article explaining it, but I don't have the
reference handy, I'm afraid. The right thing is happening--you can check by
looking at the restricted sites list--but the dialog box is misleading--i.e.
flat out wrong!

I'm seeing all of these symptoms on one machine at home running XP Home
SP2.
I have two other machines at my office running MS AS on XP Pro SP2. One
seems
to be normal, and doesn't seem to have taken the update. The other one
doesn't seem to be running scheduled scans; I don't think it took the
update
either.

Is there a fixed version in the works?

In a recent public chat about Windows Defender on Vista, they said that the
current target to release beta2 (Microsoft Antispyware is re-christened
Windows Defender in beta2)--is first quarter 2006--i.e. in the next 2 months
or so.

The infrastructure to distribute updates via autoupdate and WSUS is being
prepped--so this is definitely coming. They also reiterated support for
Windows 2000, Windows XP, and all newer Windows version.

So--My sense of what's wrong with your system is a number of bugs of various
kinds--all relatively minor--and I wouldn't connect them to the definition
update at all--in fact, I don't think any of them are new with the current
code change.

Lay out a bit more info and we can give specifics to work around all of
them.

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill and Martin

Here is the refernce:

http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=902956

Engel

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Deleting gcUserData.gcd and a couple of temp files helped a lot. Thanks!

By "broken" I meant that I couldn't get settings to take. That part was
apparently caused by a problem with the gcUserData.gcd file.

I'll see if the green pop-up for Microsoft Reader activation components goes
away after time. I think I was already having the stuck user data problem
when I installed Reader on this machine.

Is there a workaround for problems getting scheduled nighttime scans to
start? I've noticed that if two people are logged on at the start time, the
scan sometimes starts in both. If noone is logged on at the start time, it
doesn't start. And if one person is logged on at the start time, it might
start if the machine isn't asleep.

 

[Guest]

Hi Martin,

About the scan, see this thread:
Subject: Scan Schedule
10/4/2005 1:51 PM PST
By: NOP
In: onlinecommunity

I hope this post is helpful, let us know how it works ºut.
Engel

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Your description of the night time scanning issue sounds accurate--i.e. the
beta1 product is behaving as it, in fact, does.

Beta1 is a user mode program--it runs when a user is logged in, with the
permissions of that user. Beta2 will have a portion which runs as a
service, probably with System permissions, and the user mode visible GUI
piece will communicate with that.

So--for beta1, a user must be logged in, and preferably an administrator.
If two users are logged in, you'll get two scans. If you think thats bad on
an XP workstation, think about the poor Terminal Server admins who've
installed this for all users!

Beta2 will do this much better.

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