Start and Elapsed Time for Defender Incorrect

[Guest]

I have Defender automatically run on both my laptop and my desktop. Defender
seems to run automatically at the scheduled times for both computers.
However, I have noticed on my laptop that when I actually go in and click on
Defender, to see if it is running, the start time shows up as the time I
click on Defender while the elapsed time counts from that just mentioned
start time. For example, if I have Defender automatically run daily at 06:00
PM, I can tell that it is running by checking system processes
(CTRL/ALT/DEL). If I wait until say 06:10 PM, the start time in the Defender
window shows 06:10 PM, while the elapsed time also counts from 06:10 PM.
Yet, it is obvious that Defender has been running (since 06:00 PM) because
the number of objects scanned by 06:10 PM is rather high. This does not
happen on my desktop, which seems to run as you would expect. Main
difference that I can see: desktop runs XP Home Edition, while laptop runs XP
Professional Edition. Anyone else see this?

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

Can you check at Help, about--on both machines, and let us know about the
topmost version number listed?

 

[Guest]

The Defender Version number for both machines is the same: 1.1.1347.0.

The Engine Version number and Definition Version Number are the same for
both machines....1.1.1508.0 and 1.14.1637.1, respectively.

I checked for the problem again this evening, and it occured again on my
laptop (XP Professional) and it did not appear on my desktop (XP Home).

I'm wondering something...I use various anti-spyware tools, including
Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Webroot's Spysweeper. Recently, my Ad-Aware stopped
working on properly on my laptop. For some reason I thought to turn off
Spysweeper on my laptop and run Ad-Aware again. This time, with Spysweeper
off, Ad-Aware ran with no problem.
While I use Ad-Aware and Spybot on both computers, I do not use Spysweeper
on my desktop. Ad-Aware on my desktop has not had the problem that it has
had on my laptop.
Any reason to suspect Spysweeper might be interfering with Defender on my
laptop? I'll try to remember to turn off Spysweeper Tuesday, before Defender
automatically runs again at 18:00.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

I'll be interested in the outcome of that experiment.

I haven't carefully tracked the reports here with regard to Spysweeper--this
isn't a symptom that I recognize, but let's see how your test comes out.

--

 

[Guest]

Bill,

Shutting down Spy Sweeper did not help the problem. I did shut it down, and
I also changed the schedule of Defender to run at 05:00 PM automatically
today since I won't be around at 06:00 PM when it normally runs. I did a
CTRL/ALT/DEL to watch the processes on my laptop at 04:55 PM. I watched
MsMpEng.exe, which had 0% CPU usage until 05:00 PM, when CPU usage jumped up,
indicating Defender was running.
At 05:10 PM, I double clicked on the Defender icon to see the activity.
Start time indicated 05:10 PM, not 05:00 PM; elapsed time started at 0
seconds and increased from 05:10 PM. At that time, over 13,000 objects had
already been scanned.

For what it is worth, the Defender Icon does not show up in the system tray
before or after Defender starts running. It does show up in the tray after I
double click on the desktop icon.

 

[Guest]

Hi, Bill.

Another test: This afternoon, I changed the automatic run time of Defender
to 03:00 PM on my laptop. Once I did this, the Defender icon showed up in
the system tray (as it always does, whenever I double click on the icon). I
did not reboot, leaving the icon in the system tray. Defender started
running at 03:00 PM, as scheduled, and ten minutes later, when I double
clicked on the icon in the system tray, the CORRECT start time of 03:00 and
correct elapsed time of 10 minutes showed up this time. Note that in
Defender options, in the section which says "Choose when Defender icon
appears in the notification area," I have checked "always."

I am not quite sure of the status of the system tray icon for Defender on my
desktop. I know a month ago it used to be there. However, I have been
having some trouble recently with icons that are supposed to be there not
showing up (another problem I'm trying to solve.) The Defender icon does not
show, there, but, as mentioned, it used to. I think it is supposed to be
there. (One icon in the system try that rarely shows up, now, is the volume
icon...there are a few others as well...but, again, another problem.)

 

[Guest]

Bill...more information:

I ran Defender again automatically at 05:00 PM. I had rebooted after I
changed the time so the icon does not show up in the system tray. Before
Defender ran at 05:00, I saw one process associated with it in Task Manager:
MsMpEng.exe. It was in memory with 0% CPU usage.
Right at 05:00 PM, MpCmdRun.exe started up in Task Manager. For most of the
time, it showed 0% CPU usage; once I saw it jump up to about 6%. CPU usage
for MsMpEng.exe showed higher than 0 (up to maybe 60) about 10 to 15 seconds
or so after 05:00 PM.
At 05:05 PM, I double clicked on the Defender desktop icon. This brought
the Defender icon into the system tray. It also started a process called
"MSAaCui.exe" in Task Manager. It ran with typically 2 to 6% CPU.
Don't know if this helps, but it is what I have observed. Seems as if the
problem has something to do with the icon showing or not showing in the
system tray.

 

[Guest]

One thing I forgot: On my desktop, MSAsCuis.exe is among the processes shown
in Task Manager, in addition to MsMpEng.exe, before the automatic run of
Defender. It appears, then, that the inconsistency of the start time and
elapsed time is linked to MSAsCuis.exe.