O.T. - Belarc Advisor

[Smirnoff]

I ran BA and was informed that "Microsoft Security Updates - Status unknown.
Advisor security definitions are out of date. Click here for latest
definitions".

I duly clicked the link and was offered a new download of BA,

During installation I was informed (after ticking "don't ask me again" and
clicking "yes" in the dialogue boxes) that definitions had been updated.

However, on opening BA, the same "Status unknown" and "Advisor security
definitions are out of date" warnings are still showing.

Anybody else seeing this?

 

[R. McCarty]

Not familiar with recent versions of Belarc Advisor. I've found that
an online scanner from Secunia is better at analyzing a PC's state.
It does a good job of locating out-of-date, or missing components.
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/

 

[Smirnoff]

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind.

However, back to BA for the moment.

I think I may have found the problem. Under "Missing Microsoft Security
Hotfixes" in BA, It states:

"All required security hotfixes (using the 09/08/2009 Microsoft Security
Bulletin Summary) have been installed."

09/08/2009?

I can see that the security updates issued on the 13th October have been
installed.

Is possible that BA cannot access the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary
for October and that, as it detects later updates, it has to return a
"Status unknown".

I would have thought that the Summary would have been released on the same
day as the updates. Perhaps there is a server problem at the moment.

 

[R. McCarty]

Could be. I do know that Eset Smart Security has a monitoring feature
of Microsoft Updates. It generally knows that on the 2nd Tuesday there
are new patches to be applied and it's status icon shows a warning color
until you apply the updates.

 

[ED]

I am getting the same results you did. It looks like BA is having trouble
getting the latest security definition listing.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What does a CUSTOM scan at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com offer?

 

[Jose]

I ran BA and was informed that "Microsoft Security Updates - Status unknown.
Advisor security definitions are out of date. Click here for latest
definitions".

I duly clicked the link and was offered a new download of BA,

During installation I was informed (after ticking "don't ask me again" and
clicking "yes" in the dialogue boxes) that definitions had been updated.

However, on opening BA, the same "Status unknown" and "Advisor security
definitions are out of date" warnings are still showing.

Anybody else seeing this?

New Microsoft Security updates come out only once a month, on the
second Tuesday. Only a small subset of specific prevalent low and
medium risk malwares are targeted on already infected computers (the
risk exception is the high risk Conficker which came out in January
2009 - Zzzzzzz).

The last monthly MS/MSRT updates came out on schedule two days ago and
BA hasn't figured it out yet so the status of your Microsoft Security
updates is "unknown" to BA. Someday they will catch up and they
really should try to keep up. Look at the dates in Belarc... second
Tuesday of the month?

This is one reason I personally find the MSRT useless - it is only
updated once a month and the list of malwares it knows about is
small. I think most people will agree that new malwares appear more
than once a month. Why download/install/use something that only gets
an update the second Tuesday of every month? It also frequently
leaves installation folders behind and then the "what is this folder
and can I delete it" questions start. It is delightful.

There is nothing wrong with MSRT, it is just weak and outdated the day
after the second Tuesday of every month. I would rather burn my CPU
cycles, memory and disk on something else besides any part of MSRT.

MS is not in the malware removal business but had to come out with
something, so they came out with a weak once a monther.

 

[1PW]

I ran BA and was informed that "Microsoft Security Updates - Status
unknown. Advisor security definitions are out of date. Click here for
latest definitions".

I duly clicked the link and was offered a new download of BA,

During installation I was informed (after ticking "don't ask me again"
and clicking "yes" in the dialogue boxes) that definitions had been
updated.

However, on opening BA, the same "Status unknown" and "Advisor security
definitions are out of date" warnings are still showing.

Anybody else seeing this?

Between your OP and now, Belarc may have released an update.

HTH

 

[gram pappy]

Just ran BA and it seems to be fixed, as I got this response
in new profile:
"All required security hotfixes (using the 10/13/2009 Microsoft
Security Bulletin Summary) have been installed. "

gram

 

[Jose]

Just ran BA and it seems to be fixed, as I got this response
in new profile:
"All required security hotfixes (using the 10/13/2009 Microsoft
Security Bulletin Summary) have been installed. "

gram

When I installed it, ran it and updated before my post, it was still
behind!

I doubt yelling had anything to do with it.

 

[Smirnoff]

Same here.

Whilst downloading new definitions, I noticed that it said the list was
issued 15/10/2009. Two days after the updates were released, although of
course BA quotes it as the 13/10/2009 list.