Although I may agree with the sentiment of "cleaning up" the systray - my
contention remains that how this whole process has been implemented is a
mistake and I interpret this as a flaw in their development process.
1. I did not use the previous version (Beta 1 of defender??) that
apparently had an icon in the systray. Going from Beta 1 to Beta 2 -
Microsoft removed the icon from the systray (they thought that was a good
idea - and maybe it was - maybe it was not).
See also thread:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/sec...D5649468C647&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-US&m=1&p=1
Now then, the flaw in my view is that they went from one version to the next
and switched from an always on (in systray) to always off (not in systray)
and did not consider the need or justifaction for any middle ground.
This caused some consternation to users but there are several workarounds to
create a shortcut.
See for example:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/sec...D5649468C647&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-US&m=1&p=1
:
My concern was and remains that if "you" remove the icon from the taskbar
(this should be a user controlled option) they should have still listed the
program as readily identifiable in the Applications menu of Task Manager or
other means that would accomplish the same feat. They did not and that is a
conceptual flaw that theey (Microsoft) needs to address. Why do they assume
that that "they" can simply go from an "always there - by default to a never
there - by default from one version to the next without any consumer control
or input for the change they introduce? Flawed process in my view.
Now then there is an another and unintended consequence of the flaw that I
encountered this morning.
2. Windows Defender was running (I know this because of a flaw from system
trying to access remote drives in Win2K)
For backgound see thread at:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/sec...D5649468C647&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-US&m=1&p=1
As such Defender had stopped running due to no disk in the zip drive (DR0)
on my system and paused until I inserted a disk and cleared the error
message. Now Defender had resumed operation and I knew it was still
scanning. I also needed or wanted to reboot system to "clean out the
garbage" and did a system reboot and then noted that:
A. On shutdown Defender was stopped and system restarted without problems.
That is no warning that program was running, no user-required intervention to
stop running program or to acknowledge they were interfering with a scheduled
task.
B. On reboot - the "incomplete scan" was not restarted and if user accesses
the prgram (Windows Defender (Beta 2) control screen they see a display that
implies as per status screen that>
i. System is running normally. - This may be a true statement.
ii. Last scan was earlier today. - This is a partially true statement.
iii. A full system scan had run. - This is a false statement as a full scan
had not run.
Now if user were to access the System Log they would find a warning:
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: WinDefend
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1002
Date: 03/18/2006
Time: 11:00:45 AM
User: N/A
Computer: MPD-XPS-T550
Description:
Windows Defender scan has been stopped before completion.
Scan ID: {A52C22CD-BA95-4122-A262-CB8CBA96D4C5}
Scan Type: AntiSpyware
Scan Parameters: Quick Scan
User: MPD-XPS-T550\mpdooley
Which formally confirms that a previously scheduled event had stopped or
been interrupted and had not been completed.
Now Microsoft has several options and I will only list a few here that are
relatively obvious but have been overlooked.
1. Include an icon in the systray for every essential service that is
running and that user can or should have control over (Windows Defender is
one of these). Now they can have these features always on by default, always
off by default, or some intermix based on what they feel is the best for that
program and feature. IN ANY EVENT - it is the customer that has final
control to display or hide the icon but in all cases this should be embedded
in the program.
2. Create a "Microsoft Icon" that is embedded in the systray and this icon
then accesses a list of all running "essential" programs for the OS and then
also contains links to those Microsoft programs that are running and that I
should have some control over (e.g. Defender that if running or I wish to
review can then be assessed via this shortcut). If a key componet is
disabled or interrupted etc. the icon can blink or some other set of features
can be used to provide notice (sound; popup warning etc.).
3. If there is a desire to "clean-up" the systray then at a minimum this
"icon" should have been "translated" into a "program" or Task in the
Applications menu or list for Task Manager. Not simply disappear totally for
all intents and purposes.
4. Programs should retain a log of program operation. To simply assume the
System Log is a "sufficient" summary tool is flawed. I use this for problems
- not to monitor the routine and normal behavior of a system component as is
time consuming and wasteful to try use it this way. In the case of Windows
Defender it is a scheduled task. As such either it is a scheduled task that
I interface with - e.g. an alarm or a program I use or discontinue or an
event that runs when I am away from system (e.g. a scan in the middle of the
night) that I can readily confirm the next day has run or at some later date
confirm that it has been running regularly as scheduled. This activity
should be incorporated as a component of the program log.
In no event should any program that utilizes more that 5% of CPU resources
for more than a fraction of a second or a few seconds not be clearly
identified as being operational accessible to the user to monitor. The
"Processes" menu is not sufficient as for many of these to "interrupt" or
stop them is deemed "inadvisable". Windows Defender utilizes far too many
resources and for far too long to be considered a "background task" that
should be "hidden" to the user.
It is the conceptual approach to application development and the user
interface that is rearing its ugly head here in my view.
My take.....
Hi Trop,
We've gotten that feedback very forcefully from Microsoft internal folks,
too - we turned it off to clean up the systray for Vista, but we're looking
at adding an option to have it on all the time. The default behavior will be
like you're seeing it, though.
Thanks for using Defender,
Joe
Trop said:
We should have an option to turn the tray icon on. I normaly shutdown
anti-spyware when I was burning a dvd, but now it's impossible. Please add
this option!
Steve Dodson said:
This is an intended result. If there is action for a user, the icon will
appear to notify you of the event.
--
-steve
Steve Dodson [MSFT]
Windows Defender Beta Lead
MCSE, CISSP
http://blogs.technet.com/stevedod
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originated.
Now that MSAS is gone, so is the tray icon. The only times I have seen any
icon at all is during update attempts. Is this the intended result? Or is
this a bug?
(Win Defender seems to be running fine. 3 services MSASCui, MsMpEng and
MsPMSPSv in Taskmanager.)
