Difference between revisions of "MSSecurityEssentials"

Revision as of 14:03, 12 March 2010

WPKG Package

This is a silent installer and uninstaller for Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows XP, US English, 32-bit version.

<package
	id="microsoft-security-essentials"
	name="Microsoft Security Essentials"
	revision="2"
	reboot="false"
	priority="1">

	<check
		type="uninstall"
		condition="exists"
		path="Microsoft Security Essentials"/>

	<install
		cmd='%SOFTWARE%\ms_security_essentials\mssefullinstall-x86fre-en-us-xp.exe /s /runwgacheck' />

	<upgrade
		cmd='%SOFTWARE%\microsoft-security-essentials\mssefullinstall-x86fre-en-us-xp.exe /s /runwgacheck /o' />

	<remove
		cmd='%SOFTWARE%\ms_security_essentials\mssefullinstall-x86fre-en-us-xp.exe /s /u'/>
</package>

Note than an upgrade line is required because although the program may update itself (though I'm not certain it does), if you bump the revision number then WPKG will want to run an 'update'.

Installer command-line switches

• /s - perform a silent installation

• /runwgacheck - automatically perform a Windows Genuine Advantage check

• /o - don't automatically run the updater and the system scan after installation - when you then login it may then give a red indicator and say that real time protection is off because virus definition files are out of date. I've had a few differing experiences at this point, either it updates them quickly automatically, or if you click on the system tray icon it tells you it's out of date but then updates it quickly, or it displays this then just waits for you to manually press the 'Update' button.. This is as both an Administrator and as a Limited User.

Gotchas

• Soon after installation it can recognise potentially useful software as a threat. For example if you have UltraVNC installed it will flag up UltraVNC.exe and RealVNC.exe. There's a risk that a user, when prompted, will choose to remove or quarantine such files and remove the administrator's ability to connect. Administrative users can allow, quarantine or remove suspicious files where as Limited users can only remove or quarantine suspicious files. It would be useful to script the white-listing of specific files that should not be considered a threat, upon installation. White-listing can be performed maually using: Show details → Recommendation → Select an action → Allow → Apply actions (note that Close means 'don't take any action at this point') → Close - this is saved system-wide.

References

* http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en/msestart/thread/a944fa0a-db4c-43da-affb-ab21eb9a4d65
* http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msestart/thread/56426422-5c5d-4296-a055-421b554f5eee

Updates

Virus Definition Updates

Virus definition updates are automatically downloaded and used.

To download the Microsoft Forefront Client Security antimalware definition update file(Mpam-fe.exe) for 32-bit (x86-based) versions of Windows, click the following link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87342&clcid=0x409

To download the Microsoft Forefront Client Security antimalware definition update filefor 64-bit versions of Windows, click the following link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87341&clcid=0x409

Run in silent mode:

Mpam-fe.exe -q

Program Updates

Does anyone know how it handles program updates? F-Prot, for example, runs as a service so is able to automatically update itself whether or not a user is logged in as an Administrator, Power user or Limited user.