Help, my windows defender keeps updating

[Bill Sanderson]

So--if it is acting broken, maybe it is. There are a couple of repair
options--start, control panel, add or remove programs, Windows defender:

Then:

1) change, update
or
2) "click here for support information" then Repair.

I've no idea if there's any functional difference between these.

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[Guest]

I tried both repair options. Neither solved the problem. So I uninstalled
the program, downloaded a new installation file and reinstalled the program.
That didn't help either. I'm still stuck on signature version 1.13.1276.3.

I appreciate all your help, but I'm giving up on Windows Defender until the
next version is available. It's obviously not ready for prime time, as
indicated by the large number of posts reporting the same problem that I'm
having. Microsoft Antispyware doesn't offer real-time protection, but I've
never had any trouble updating it.

 

[Guest]

Oops, Microsoft Antispyware doesn't exist any more, so I can't reinstall it.
Instead, I'm stuck with Windows Defender, only now the signature version is
1.0.0.0. Neither repair option gets me past 1.0.0.0. Windows Defender is a
useless piece of crap.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Microsoft Antispyware does have real-time protection, but it was less
effective. I think these issues will get sorted out, and pretty quickly,
but obviously I don't have the right recipe for each instance yet.

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[Bill Sanderson]

the web is a remarkable thing--try www.filehippo.com, search on Microsoft
Antispyware, and be sure to download the .701 version.

I've flipped a Windows 2000 install back and forth between the two products
once just to be sure that it worked fine--it did.

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[Guest]

Thanks again. File Hippo is a very handy site. I've uninstalled Windows
Defender and installed Microsoft Antispyware 1.0.701 (which, as you said,
does have real-time protection). I feel much more comfortable with Microsoft
Antispyware, updated daily, than with Windows Defender with the 1.0.0.0
signature file, even if Windows Defender offers better real-time protection,
other things being equal. I guess I shouldn't complain about Windows
Defender -- after all, it is a beta. Then again, so is Microsoft
Antispyware, and it updates itself automatically.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

My guess is that they will keep supplying sigs for Microsoft Antispyware
through July, but that will be it.

Sometime before that they will very likely start pushing Windows Defender
through the automatic update facility of Microsoft Antispyware. There's
always the chance of refusal with that mechanism, as I recall. I expect the
current teething issues to get taken care of --perhaps by more useful error
dialogs, and they are definitely clearing bugs in the program as well.

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