• Microsoft Security Essential Uploads

    From Bill Bradshaw@1:396/4 to All on Mon Mar 6 19:40:04 2017
    From: "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net>

    Running Windows 7 Pro with Microsoft Security Essentials. Every once and a while the Microsoft Malware Protection Command Line Utility uploads over 100 megs to this computer. Unfortunately I have not been keeping track of the dates this happens but have now started to see if there is a pattern to the dates. I manually check every morning to confirm the virus definitions have been updated (this usually involves a couple of megs). I have also gone through the task scheduler to see if there something I would recognize that would be doing this without finding anything obvious to me. Anybody have
    any idea what is going on? This is probably harmless but I still want to understand it.
    --
    <Bill>

    Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska


    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)
  • From VanguardLH@1:396/4 to All on Tue Mar 7 04:42:52 2017
    From: VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH>

    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    Every once and a while the Microsoft Malware Protection Command Line
    Utility

    This one?

    MpCmdRun.exe

    It is a cleanup tool. You'll find it has one, or more, events defined
    in Task Scheduler. It has the following commands (with hyphen prefix):

    -Scan
    -Trace
    -GetFiles
    -RemoveDefinitions
    -SignatureUpdate <---.
    -Restore |
    -AddDynamicSignature |
    -ListAllDynamicSignature |
    -RemoveDynamicSignature |
    -EnableIntegrityService |
    -SubmitSample |
    |
    ... uploads ... |
    |
    downloads -------------------'

    ... over 100 megs to this computer.

    It employs a signature database as do most anti-virus programs.

    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg131918.aspx

    Run mpcmdrun (without any arguments) in a command shell to see its own
    help on how to use it.

    http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/command-line-utility-mpcmdrun-exe-microsoft-security-essentials/
    http://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-windows-defender-command-prompt-windows-10
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)
  • From Bill Bradshaw@1:396/4 to All on Tue Mar 7 17:50:44 2017
    From: "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net>

    Thanks for your response. I have run this program from the command prompt.
    Is the signature update different from updating the virus definitions from within MSE Update? I guess basically I am asking are there 2 database(?) files involved because I know the definitions get updated every morning because I do it manually as my first step after turning on the computer.
    --
    <Bill>

    Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

    "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message news:ei8rbdFttloU1@mid.individual.net...
    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    Every once and a while the Microsoft Malware Protection Command Line
    Utility

    This one?

    MpCmdRun.exe

    It is a cleanup tool. You'll find it has one, or more, events defined
    in Task Scheduler. It has the following commands (with hyphen prefix):

    -Scan
    -Trace
    -GetFiles
    -RemoveDefinitions
    -SignatureUpdate <---.
    -Restore |
    -AddDynamicSignature |
    -ListAllDynamicSignature |
    -RemoveDynamicSignature |
    -EnableIntegrityService |
    -SubmitSample |
    |
    ... uploads ... |
    |
    downloads -------------------'

    ... over 100 megs to this computer.

    It employs a signature database as do most anti-virus programs.

    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg131918.aspx

    Run mpcmdrun (without any arguments) in a command shell to see its own
    help on how to use it.

    http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/command-line-utility-mpcmdrun-exe-microsoft-security-essentials/
    http://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-windows-defender-command-prompt-windows-10


    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)
  • From VanguardLH@1:396/4 to All on Wed Mar 8 05:29:40 2017
    From: VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH>

    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    Thanks for your response. I have run this program from the command prompt. Is the signature update different from updating the virus definitions from within MSE Update? I guess basically I am asking are there 2 database(?) files involved because I know the definitions get updated every morning because I do it manually as my first step after turning on the computer.

    The GUI frontend probably checks status to determine if the database
    file is newer than the last retrieved database. I haven't used the command-mode mpcmdrun tool to know if it bypasses the download by first checking if the database's datestamp is newer than the local one's
    datestamp.

    The -SignatureUpdate switch can take additional arguments on the command
    line. The only one that I know about is the -unc argument which
    specifies an alternate path to a definition file using a UNC; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_(computing)#Uniform_Naming_Convention. Sometimes users will download the definition file and then use mpcmdrun
    to use that one. For example, they may disable auto-update and decide
    when to update using the downloaded def file and either run mpcmdrun
    themself or have it as a scheduled task.

    If you run "mpcmdrun.exe -signatureupdate" in a command shell, what do
    you see for its console output? Do an update, then following with
    another update. Does it just go ahead and push in the same update or
    does it notify you that the database is already up to date?
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)
  • From Bill Bradshaw@1:396/4 to All on Wed Mar 8 18:23:22 2017
    From: "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net>

    It just reports the signature file is up to date no matter how many times I run it. I wondering if this may have something to do with the Network Inspection System definitions.
    --
    <Bill>

    Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

    "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message news:eibif5Fg0mkU1@mid.individual.net...
    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    Thanks for your response. I have run this program from the command
    prompt.
    Is the signature update different from updating the virus definitions
    from
    within MSE Update? I guess basically I am asking are there 2 database(?)
    files involved because I know the definitions get updated every morning
    because I do it manually as my first step after turning on the computer.

    The GUI frontend probably checks status to determine if the database
    file is newer than the last retrieved database. I haven't used the command-mode mpcmdrun tool to know if it bypasses the download by first checking if the database's datestamp is newer than the local one's
    datestamp.

    The -SignatureUpdate switch can take additional arguments on the command line. The only one that I know about is the -unc argument which
    specifies an alternate path to a definition file using a UNC; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_(computing)#Uniform_Naming_Convention. Sometimes users will download the definition file and then use mpcmdrun
    to use that one. For example, they may disable auto-update and decide
    when to update using the downloaded def file and either run mpcmdrun
    themself or have it as a scheduled task.

    If you run "mpcmdrun.exe -signatureupdate" in a command shell, what do
    you see for its console output? Do an update, then following with
    another update. Does it just go ahead and push in the same update or
    does it notify you that the database is already up to date?


    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)
  • From VanguardLH@1:396/4 to All on Thu Mar 9 11:11:44 2017
    From: VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH>

    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    It just reports the signature file is up to date no matter how many times I run it. I wondering if this may have something to do with the Network Inspection System definitions.

    Probably have to wait until Microsoft actually has a newer signature
    database file to upload.

    If you want, you can manually download and install the sig updates from:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/971606/how-to-manually-download-the-latest-definition-updates-for-microsoft-security-essentials

    Until there is a new version, doing this over and over is a waste of
    bandwidth, time, and CPU cycles. Alas, their KB article and download
    links don't provide version information.

    http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5247-microsoft-security-essentials-definition-update.html

    That announced a new sig (definition) update just today. Is that the
    one the GUI frontend to MSSE reports to you? After you use mpcmdrun
    with the -signatureupdate switch, is the version any different in the
    GUI frontend for MSSE?
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)
  • From Bill Bradshaw@1:396/4 to All on Thu Mar 9 18:23:24 2017
    From: "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net>

    The command line utility ran again today and added 10 megabytes. You
    noticed a change and the command line ran again. I will start recording version numbers along with dates. I ran mpcmdrun and it reported no updates needed.

    With your help we seem to have isolated it to mse and updates.
    --
    <Bill>

    Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

    "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message news:eieqsgF51lcU1@mid.individual.net...
    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    It just reports the signature file is up to date no matter how many times >> I
    run it. I wondering if this may have something to do with the Network
    Inspection System definitions.

    Probably have to wait until Microsoft actually has a newer signature
    database file to upload.

    If you want, you can manually download and install the sig updates from:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/971606/how-to-manually-download-the-latest-definition-updates-for-microsoft-security-essentials

    Until there is a new version, doing this over and over is a waste of bandwidth, time, and CPU cycles. Alas, their KB article and download
    links don't provide version information.

    http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5247-microsoft-security-essentials-definition-update.html

    That announced a new sig (definition) update just today. Is that the
    one the GUI frontend to MSSE reports to you? After you use mpcmdrun
    with the -signatureupdate switch, is the version any different in the
    GUI frontend for MSSE?


    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)