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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
I have windows 7 SP1 64bit. I have noticed that Windows Defender hasn’t updated since the elenventh of June. So it is not running now.
I still receive the other updates through WU. I have noticed that the Vista users of this site have the same problem. Win 7 is supposed to receive security updates until the fourteenth of January 2020. So what is going on? Is this part of Microsoft´s doing away with Win 7?
And more importantly, does it matter security-wise?
Have you tried downloading and installing the manual definitions from:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/definitions
I distinctly remember this happening a few years ago to our W7 64bit and did a manual update which resolved the issue and also fixed future auto-updates thereafter.
As of reply time.
The latest antimalware definitions file is as follows:
Version: 1.271.224.0
Released: Jun 28, 2018 03:28 AM UTC
I’ve the same discussion within my German blog. It seems that a June 2018 update breaks the Defender update mechanism. Will write a blog post (also in English) about that later.
Ex Microsoft Windows (Insider) MVP, Microsoft Answers Community Moderator, Blogger, Book author
https://www.borncity.com/win/
Hi Gunter:
Just an FYI that Vista SP2 computers (which reached end of extended support in April 2017) also stopped receiving Windows Defender updates this month at the same time as Win 7 SP1 machines.
See Cybertooth’s 25-Jun-2018 thread The End of Defender Definitions for Vista? at https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/the-end-of-defender-definitions-for-vista.
————
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * NS v22.14.2.13
Ex Microsoft Windows (Insider) MVP, Microsoft Answers Community Moderator, Blogger, Book author
https://www.borncity.com/win/
MpCmdRun.exe command line utility has an auto-run command and signature update, etc. See Tip: Run (and Automate) Windows Defender from the Command Line for details – it may help?
I’m sorry, but this method, too, falls in the “used to work” category.
While this ISN’T something I’ve direct working knowledge of, I understand that the latest SSU may be required for the udpate to work, even in Win7.
Another avenue to try is PSWindowsUpdate (see here on AskWoody and here on Petri.com).
@sldc88 …
In post #200824, I wrote:
Though I have no way of knowing for sure, I’m thinking some bright young Microsoft Defender Team engineer during a team meeting asked “why are we still updating Defender for non-supported OS’s like XP & Vista” then subsequently some scrupulous mid-level manager received a bonus for submitting a cost savings proposal to upper management and … wallah! … no more Defender updates post 6/11/2018 for non-supported systems to include XP & Vista.
I just did some testing on several of my Windows 7 systems & 1 resurrected Vista system. My results are posted #200783 & #200801.
As such, I believe Microsoft, in tweaking the Defender engine version “1.1.15000.2” to disable future definition updates for XP & Vista, made an error which introduced a negative side effect (bug) in Windows 7 Defender once it’s updated to engine version “1.1.15000.2”.
Again, this is all conjecture on my part so this may not actually be the case but it sure seems to fit well within the current Microsoft update environment/mindset.
Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS
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