Microsoft Security Essentials not updating

Microsoft has been made aware of the issue which appears to be affecting all MSE and possible Defender on Windows 7 and prior for updates since the 19th of January. I expect that it will be fixed soon. If MSE is not alerting you, you don't need to do anything. If MSE is alerting that it is out of date and a search for updates does not yield an error, but also does not bring down any updates, you can manually update from here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/mse...

Seems its an ongoing issue at the moment with many not getting automatic updates. The updates are there if you manually download them, but dont appear on the update servers.

Alot wont know either as MSE doesnt nag you unless definitions are a week old

Edited by bobble_bob (Tue 22-Jan-13 15:34:48)

I am but of course I am using my own update system.

on my laptop which runs MSE I have a task scheduled every 3 hours to forcefully download updates, as I found the default system on MSE to be inadequate. The only downside is a command window pops up during the updates I need to make it background.

Oh, is this the command you run as a scheduled task?

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate

yep it runs at logon and every 3 hours. seems i cant find an option to make it run in the background tho, so thats the only downside, if I am using the laptop at the time a command window will popup during the update and take focus.

MSE automatic update does seem to be one of the big mysteries in life, as no one seems to know how exactly it works. I know it runs when you boot your PC up if its been 24 hours since the last update, but if you leave your PC on then not sure how it works. Sometimes you get 2 updates a day, other times 1 and if you dont reboot your PC to set off the autoupdate process, it may not update that day

If you leave your PC on all the time, there is an option for MSE to run a daily quick scan and also to check for updates before running the scan.

True, although i have the scan turned off. Once a day scan is abit overkill