Microsoft Security Essentials has recently been praised in the media as solid defense against malware and computers viruses. But oddly though, the automated update option on Microsoft’s antivirus stopped working a few days ago.
Clicking on the ‘Update’ button makes no difference at all. According to H-Online, the bug was first reported on January 19, but Redmond is yet to provide a fix or even release a statement on this issue.
Then again, Microsoft prefers to take the quiet route when it comes to security flaws, and only provides details when they are patched and fixed — not doubt for safety reasons.
Luckily however, you can download and install the latest malware signatures manually. Just make sure you select the package containing the latest virus definitions.
Microsoft offers different standalone signature packages for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows installations.
If you are using Security Essentials and find it has not been recently updated, then head on over to the Malware Protection Center on Microsoft’s Security site and download the signatures are contained in a 70 MB program that must be run with administrator privileges.
You will also need to install updated network access control rules, which are separately available from Microsoft here. You can then download and install the updates manually until the issue is fixed.
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