Trouble with Security Essentials

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Recently had to redownload security essentials to my w 7 home premium all of a sudden after computer is on for about 3 minutes the security center icon appears in the tray with a red flag that informs security essentials is turned off have opened essentials and it says it is on and up to date but open security center it says everthing is off so click on the presented screen to turn on essentials and all goes to normal any ideas or cures? Thanks ahead of time.
Phil.

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You may have something on your system that doesn’t play well with MSE.
I’m assuming the MSE you downloaded was version 4.0, yes.

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Ther is a new version that came out last week, 4.0. Did you unimstall the previous version first? Older version was 2.1 I believe.

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Thanks for both of you replies i did uninstall the previous version using revo the one i have now is 4.0.1526.0 the only other things i can think of doing lately is a beta version of an adobe product and a newer version of java. How would i find out what would be interfering? Thanks.
Phil.

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Look in the event view for errors relating to either Security Center or MSE
Ensure that both Security Center & MSE has not been removed from startup and that all related services are set to automatic

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Clint thanks for the reply your dealing with a novice here i know how to do msconfig to get start up which i checked mse is checked so it should be working from that standpoint i do not see security center listed as for event view i put that into search box it came up but i hate to say it i havent got a clue what that is about. Where do i go from here?
Thanks
phil.

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See if you can boot into safe mode to see if the MSE behavior continues. I’m thinking maybe some other startup process or even a driver could be bumping, or interfering with MSE’s startup. But looking in the event viewer may flag something related to why security center is not seeing MSE, or why MSE is not turning on properly.Type “event viewer” into the search box, when it comes up look in the administrative section for yellow or red flags relating to either one.

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Clint thanks for the input let me try to check it out.
Phil.

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Clint thanks again for your assistance i finally just decided to reformat and so far everything is working well thank you again.
Phil.

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There’s a long thread on Microsoft discussing the problem.
One solution which worked for quite a few people was to reboot, run CCLEANER then install (reinstall)
If you use REVO Uninstaller to remove MSE 2.x, you still need to run CCLEANER.
Worked for me under all flavors of Windows.

The Microsoft topic above has additional solutions, including a batch job to clean the registry (read thru, it’s towards the end.

Anyway, it looks like it’s a registry problem.
The MSE uninstall, like many many other apps, does a poor job cleaning after itself on uninstall.

Good luck.

OOPS. Here’s the MS Support topic:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_start/microsoft-update-kb2691905-failed-with-error-code/61e53cb7-ce3f-44b8-bf32-430f0ae7937c

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There’s a long thread on Microsoft discussing the problem.
One solution which worked for quite a few people was to reboot, run CCLEANER then install (reinstall)
If you use REVO Uninstaller to remove MSE 2.x, you still need to run CCLEANER.
Worked for me under all flavors of Windows.

The Microsoft topic above has additional solutions, including a batch job to clean the registry (read thru, it’s towards the end.

Anyway, it looks like it’s a registry problem.
The MSE uninstall, like many many other apps, does a poor job cleaning after itself on uninstall.

Good luck.

OOPS. Here’s the MS Support topic:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_start/microsoft-update-kb2691905-failed-with-error-code/61e53cb7-ce3f-44b8-bf32-430f0ae7937c

Here’s a direct link if you don’t want to read through 13 pages: Uninstalling MSE
Bruce

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Thanks for the info i just went for the custom reinstall and so far things are working fine thanks for everyones help.
Phil

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MSE 2 does NOT need to be uninstalled for MSE 4 to install properly. In fact, I strongly recommend keeping MSE 2. and doing an overlay upgrade with the MSE 4 installer. This worked on both my 64-bit Toshiba Satellite and my old 32-bit WinBook (Windows XP SP3) laptops. No installer errors, and no red Security Center Icon.

-- rc primak

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MSE 2 does NOT need to be uninstalled for MSE 4 to install properly.

For most of us perhaps. But many had the automatic update fail with an error over the last two weeks, which leaves them without any MSE or Security Center in most cases.

And in attempts to correct that situation, Microsoft Support have been recommending various manual uninstallation and registry cleaning procedures.

It’s all in the links at posts 10 and 11 of this thread if you want to read about it. Or just Google “KB2691905 fail”.

EDIT: But you commented on this twice in the last two weeks at AskWoody.com, so you already know about many MSE 2 to 4 update problems:

Microsoft Security Essentials installation error 0×8004FF83

Bruce

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I also did not have any problems with the upgrade from v2 to v4, but then again I keep our systems ultra clean at all times. I wonder if some of the problems are coming from conflicts with other junk on the affected systems, either apps, or temp. junk conflicting with the installation.

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I also did not have any problems with the upgrade from v2 to v4, but then again I keep our systems ultra clean at all times. I wonder if some of the problems are coming from conflicts with other junk on the affected systems, either apps, or temp. junk conflicting with the installation.

Or even malware.

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Upgrade installed without issue here too, sorry Phil, we should have thought about RAdu’s registry cleaning suggestion before the clean install.

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I am aware of only isolated issues with any recent Microsoft Update which fails to install properly, contrary to Woody’s dire warnings at AskWoody.com. Woody tends to focus on relatively rare patching and updating issues, as we all know if we follow other patching advice sites (including Susan Bradley’s Windows Secrets column). My comments at AskWoody were reports that my own MSE upgrades were trouble-free, unlike some other commenters at that site. Patch or upgrade installation failures look like isolated anecdotes for the most part, although MS automatic updates for anything have a slightly mixed history. (FWIW: As another example of both Woody and Susan crying wolf, the May (and previous) .NET Updates have caused me absolutely no issues, and I expect this was the experience of the vast majority of Windows home — non-business — users.)

It’s nice to have at hand advice on what to do if a MS update goes haywire, but to issue Do Not Patch warnings for months on end serves the average home user no purpose whatsoever. Even for .NET, which is not a core feature of Windows. If you have .NET, it needs to be patched — period.

Getting back on topic here: This Lounge thread may have had a few instances cited of MSE upgrade failures, but some other posts here do not indicate that in-place upgrades were even attempted, let alone failed. In the vast majority of cases, the Version 2 to Version 4 upgrade has succeeded if done from sources other than MSE or MS automatic updates. I used the downloaded MSE 4 stand-alone installer for my upgrades. I have never advocated letting Microsoft update anything automatically, and this is yet another example of why not. My MS and MSE Updates are always handled manually (notify, but do not download). (This includes Definitions Updates.) I even do Flash Player updates manually, except for Chrome.

When it works, the MSE in-place upgrade path is faster and less hassle than a full MSE rip-out and reinstall, yes? I just want folks to know that the upgrade is available and usually does work, without the sweat and tears of a rip-out.

But if you have to rip out the old version, it’s good to have instructions and advice available. That’s one of the things this Lounge is for. Thanks to everyone who has posted advice here on this topic.

-- rc primak

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It’s nice to have at hand advice on what to do if a MS update goes haywire, but to issue Do Not Patch warnings for months on end serves the average home user no purpose whatsoever. Even for .NET, which is not a core feature of Windows. If you have .NET, it needs to be patched — period.

Agreed. A blanket warning which says, “MS-DEFCON 1: Current Microsoft patches are causing havoc. Don’t patch.” just because a few users have issues with one patch on one windows version (after they hacked the registry five years ago because they couldn’t cope with a standard keyboard layout) is crazy when the monthly updates are addressing 23 security vulnerabilities, mostly with remotely exploitable code likely.

Bruce

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CLINT THANKS FOR THE THOUGHT MUCH APPRECIATED. i HAVE LEARNED A BIT THROUGH ALL THIS PROCESS SO THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THE INFO I WOULD THINK MICROSOFT WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS BY NOW WITH SOME ADVICE.
PHIL.

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Agreed. A blanket warning which says, “MS-DEFCON 1: Current Microsoft patches are causing havoc. Don’t patch.” just because a few users have issues with one patch on one windows version (after they hacked the registry five years ago because they couldn’t cope with a standard keyboard layout) is crazy when the monthly updates are addressing 23 security vulnerabilities, mostly with remotely exploitable code likely.

Bruce

But just as we thought it was safe to go back in the waters, there is a widespread patching issue with three .NET patches issued (apparently mistakenly) through Automatic Updates on May 21-22, 2012. According to Woody Leonhard and Susan Bradley, all three have been withdrawn, but some Windows XP users are still trying to straighten things out. I still consider this a rare event. Only worthy of a temporary moratorium on MS Updates patching, now expired AFAIK.

-- rc primak

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I have to admit, there was a problem on my mom’s PC upgrading from V2 to V4. It did not do it. I had to manually uninstall MSE V2 and download then install V4. Also Malwarebytes for some reason would not run so I had to uninstall, download latest version and reinstall. She however has Vista. I wonder if some of the reported problems were on Vista rather than Win 7. Both of these security apps would not update to new versions without first uninstalling the old versions on her Vista PC.

On our Win 7 PC’s we had none of these problems with either app.

I did run deep scans on her PC with both apps after upgrading with nothing found so this was not caused by virus activity.

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Or even malware, who knows what lurks on some of these systems!

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