Display of Defender Antivirus Updates

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I set up a new Win10 pro v1909 pc about March 1 and set up the update process using pkcano’s AKB 2…16 instructions. On March 7 I installed its first cumulative update.

On the “View Update History” screen, [Defender]Definitions section, it shows definition updates through March 7 – none afterwards.

However, on the “Virus & Threat Protection” screen under Windows Security, it shows “Virus & Threat Protection Updates” as “up to date” with latest being installed today, March 30. There are no warnings anywhere on that screen indicating that antivirus updates are out of date.

Being new to Windows 10, I find this display of definition updates rather strange and somewhat disturbing. Can someone please explain this?

Thanks

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jburk07

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My definition updates show up in View Update History>Definition updates, but try looking at Reliability History which should show the definitions as installing successfully or unsuccessfully.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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hms

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Thanks so much for the info. Did not know about the reliability monitor; it shows updates successful. No other indication of security update failures. Do not know why they do not appear in Definition Updates —but this is Windows 10.

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Do you update your definitions via the “Virus & Threat Protection” screen? I do and I think that may have something to do with it for whatever reason.

-M-

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No, I let it update automatically.

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You can set Group Policy on W10 Pro to notify you before DL/install of updates.

Every morning when I boot up, I go to Settings>Update & Security> WU and there is a Defender update waiting to be downloaded/installed. That’s probably why my Defender updates are listed.

Go to Local Group Policy editor>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Windows Update. Use the settings that I have to see if that makes a difference.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Those are the settings that I use. The defender updates appear each day as available updates and apparently get installed during the day, but they do not appear in definition update history. As I mentioned earlier, they do appear until Mar 7 when I did the monthly cumulative update.

Suppose I will not worry about it again unless there are update errors. Really miss the simplicity of Win 7 updating.

Thanks for your help.

 

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Regarding Defender. A new Nir Sofer portable utility to display Defender’s all threats detected.

WinDefThreatsView v1.00 : https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/windows_defender_threats_view.html

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@hms,
I use the same settings as you (in v 1909 Pro) and have the same results. The Defender updates that installed through Windows Update on 2-29-20 *do* show up in View Update History. But when they update automatically daily, they do *not* show up in View Update History, even though they *do* first appear in Windows Updates before they install automatically.
As is the case for you, the automatic Defender updates do show up as the current version in the Virus & Threat Protection screen (and in the Reliability History report).

I’ve only been using Windows 10 for a couple of months and thought that maybe this was something that had changed with the February updates, but I guess it’s one of those things that seem to vary by user, for reasons I don’t understand.

Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.1
Group A:
Win 10 Pro x64 v22H2 Ivy Bridge, dual boot with Linux
Win l0 Pro x64 v22H2 Haswell, dual boot with Linux
Win7 Pro x64 SP1 Haswell, 0patch Pro, dual boot with Linux,offline
Win7 Home Premium x64 SP1 Ivy Bridge, 0patch Pro,offline

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hms

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Thanks for replying. At least I am not the only one with this rather peculiar behavior.

This afternoon, I installed the monthly cumulative update; the security update was at the top of the list. I clicked download; the daily update installed by itself. Out of curiosity, I checked the view installed virus definitions and there it was – the last one since Mar 7.

Thinking back on the display of definitions installed March 7 and earlier, the pc was initially set to pause updates for 7 days. During that time, the daily updates did appear as installed virus definitions. The first cumulative update installed March 7 at the end of the pause update period and I do not pause updates now.

No idea why this is so as I am also new to Win 10. At least there are no apparent errors; I just wish it were as straightforward as Win 7 and its predecessors.

 

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jburk07

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