automatic scan at scheduled time

[mgryan]

Using XP2 professional -- Defender was working fine up to last week -- now,
even though it is set to run a scheduled scan daily, it doesn't do the
scheduled scan. Any ideas?

 

[Mr Cat]

Take a look at scheduled tasks: start->control panel->performance and
maintenance->scheduled tasks. Under scheduled tasks, click the advanced tab
and click view hidden tasks. You should see an entry for MP Scheduled scan.
That is Windows Defender. If that looks ok, then you might want to re-check
WD options. Try changing the scan time to see if that might correct the
problem.
Please note that if your computer is sleeping (standby), the scheduled task
does not attempt to wake the computer. You might also want to check the
system logs (use Event Viewer). There should be entries (under WinDefend)
that show WD activity. Possibly, there might be an entry to explain why the
scan wasn't initiated.

 

[mgryan]

Tks for the input. Will see what my task scheduler is up to.

 

[Engel]

Hi mgryan,

To add to Mr Cat's posting

I have a question.... What happens ?

Scheduled scans are done via the Windows Scheduled tasks facility.
Go to Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Scheduled tasks.

In the menu at the top, choose Advanced, View hidden tasks and Notify me of
missed tasks.

You should see an entry for MP Scheduled Scan.

If you right click this entry, and choose to RUN it--what happens?

Scheduled scans are done via the Windows Scheduled Tasks service. So--check
that Task Scheduler is started and set to automatic.

On XP, the job is a hidden task.
-


AUTOMOBILES
The reason there were fewer wrecks in the old horse-and-buggy days was
because the driver didn't depend wholly on his own intelligence.

 

[thorbaron]

I have the same issue--no automatic update--although it is marked under
"options".
I did what you said-and went to CP--scheduled tasks--adv tabs--MP scheduled
scan.
When I click settings--there is a field called: "start in"--this is blank.
Should this be empty? Also--there is an option to wake up the computer to
enable an update. Thanks

 

[GoldenRabbit2011]

I am now having the some problem with Vista Home Premium. Defender has been
set to scan daily, then a few days ago I received an alert saying it hadn't
scanned in three days. After running a complete scan, I changed the settings
to a different time to see if that helped. This morning, same thing, the
last scan reported is the custom one I ran last night. Any ideas of how to
fix this problem in Vista?

Defender has been happily co-existing with Webroot SpySweeper BTW sincee I
bought the computer last fall.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Open scheduled tasks in control panel--it is at the very tail end of System
and Maintenance.

You may need to turn on View, show hidden tasks in the right Actions column.
In the left tree view, you can expand Microsoft and see Windows Defender.

This should let you filter to the right event log entries. However, I'm not
sure what you see will help.

Choose the task in the top center window, then the history tab in the lower
window.

If you double-click a given record--say, a task completed record, you should
have a copy button, and get something like what's below--lets see if it
gives you or the rest of us any useful clues.

I've removed my computer and usernames before posting the log record--you
may want to do that--or just post any relevant codes for the failure.

I also left out the XML, to save space, and you will note that my record is
not from Defender--but what you see should be similar.

---------------------

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational
Source: Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler
Date: 3/18/2008 2:28:00 AM
Event ID: 102
Task Category: Task completed
Level: Information
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: removed
Description:
Task Scheduler successfully finished
"{83384e01-7c8c-447c-b16a-c1fdb8edee69}" instance of the
"\Microsoft\Microsoft Forefront\Client Security\Client\Antimalware\MP
Scheduled Scan" task for user "removed".

 

[GoldenRabbit2011]

Thank you, Bill, for your reply. I changed the time once again to give it
another try and now Windows Defender is working fine. It may be possible
that when the scans were missed that were reported to me, I had the computer
in Sleep and not Shut Down, so that may have been the problem? It seems to
be okay now. I appreciate your prompt answer.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

That's good to hear--The interface in this area is far simpler in XP. I was
a bit daunted by the amount of detail and the number of scheduled tasks in
Vista--so I wasn't at all sure how easy it would be to pull out useful
information.