My PC is running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit with NOD32 antivirus/anti-spyware and Windows Defender.
Windows Defender is not the best anti-spyware however it does have it’s place. NOD32 from ESET does a decent job on spyware and it is one of the best for antivirus so I was happy.
Part of my normal security procedures verifies everything is updating itself properly. Windows Defender had not updated in quite some time so I opened it and manually ran an update. I promptly got the following error:
Arrgh say I!
After a little googling, I found a procedure that fixes the problem. Apparently the definitions have something wrong with them (corruption maybe?) that causes the update to fail.
Here is the procedure that worked for me:
Type Windows-R (Hold the Windows or start key and type an R) to bring up the run dialog box.
Type in cmd.exe and the press ctrl-alt-enter to run it as Administrator. It may ask for escalation privileges so type in your password and press enter if it does.
Use the cd command to change to the Windows Defender directory:cd “\Program Files\Windows Defender”
Run the following commands:mpcmdrun -RemoveDefinitions -All
mpcmdrun -SignatureUpdate
That is it. It worked for me. Here is a screen shot of an example run of those commands once you have a command window open:
There still aren’t a lot of downloads out there that can really improve Vista, but we’ve found twenty real keepers that will allow you to tweak it and improve your experience with the OS.
Preston Gralla
Nice overview of various downloads that you can use to tweak and improve your Windows Vista PC.
Whip Vista into Shape
09.24.07 Microsoft Windows Vista is a pretty muscular operating system, but it still needs toning. These three utilities give your new OS more speed and endurance.
PC Magazine online has a good article on tweaking Windows Vista. Not as thorough as more technical sites, but good for what it covers.
Or does your Vista system suddenly freeze or reboot with no rhyme or reason?
If so, you need these two hotfixes:
KB938194 An update is available that improves the compatibility and reliability of Windows Vista
KB938979 An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista
They certainly did the trick for me! But, I know there are quite a few more fixes needed. At least these cleared up the weirdness with video and freezes/reboots that I was experiencing. And restart from hibernate is much, much faster.
