Jems' Blog

How to update Microsoft Security Essentials virus definition offline?

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-virus and anti-spyware solution that provides protection against different types of malware such as computer virus, spyware, rootkits and trojan horses for end users and home businesses.  Microsoft has released second version of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). This release has included lot of features and enhancements such as heuristic scan engine, network intrusion detection, integrated Windows firewall management, etc. to improve security protection for computer.

The direct link for the download is:

Download Microsoft Security Essentials v2.0.657.0 - 64-bit English (x64): mseinstall.exe

Download Microsoft Security Essentials v2.0.657.0 - 32-bit Engligh (x86): mseinstall.exe

Alternate 1:

Updates are downloaded automatically and if you want to download the update package it can be downloaded from

• for a 32-bit (x86-based) http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87342
• for a 64-bit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87341

Install the update file, your MSE will be updated.

Alternate 2:

Now if you don’t want to download the update file, what you can do to update your system is – find an updated system type following in the explorer or run

For Windows XP

%Allusersprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Definition Updates

For Windows 7 and Windows Vista

%Allusersprofile%\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Definition Updates

Double-click the {GUID} folder.

Copy the following files to a removable media and paste into your system. Your antivirus definition will be updated.

File name
Description (via Stuff n Things)

Mpasbase.vdm
Last base signature set of AntiSpyware definitions

Mpasdlta.vdm
Last delta signature set of AntiSpyware defintions

Mpavbase.vdm
Last base signature set of AntiVirus definitions

Mpavdlta.vdm
Last delta signature set of AntiVirus definitions again

Mpengine.dll
The AV Engine

This can be helpful is you are reinstalling windows in your up-to-date system.

Run Menu Shortcuts for Lazy Admins

I guess from my earlier blog post, you all know IT pros, developers are lazy people. What do you have to do to become lazy? You have to apply some tricks…

You might know, there are environment variables (for e.g. PATH. type path in command prompt and see) in Windows OS that stores the semicolon separated folder names.  And you might also know , every file (executable, document, el al) in these folder can be opened just by typing its name in run. So why not take the advantage of it.

You might see, all the important executable files, administrative tools are located in C:\Windows\System32 directory. This directory is listed in PATH environment variable. So, we can execute any file located in this folder. That’s the trick. Here are the list of things you can do to open:

Likewise, you can also access the control panel tools using this technique. Control panel tools have the extension ‘.cpl’. Below is some list.

The above is not an exclusive list of what you can do from this technique. Just explore the sea.

“Are you lazy????”

If somebody asks you this question, what would be your answer?

You know what my answer would be. Yes.

I would be happy to say them that I am lazy. Yes, I am lazy and I am proud to be lazy. I reckon IT pros, developers all are lazy and it applies to everyone of you who is reading this article. If not, you will like to be lazy soon after this.

Today’s server OS has nice look and feel. Server admins no longer have to type commands in Command User Interface (CUI). Life’s better than old days, isn’t it? And every new release of OS comes up with better look and feel. Windows 2008 server has better functionalities and user interface than its predecessor. But sometimes look and feel doesn’t help much. You might have to go old school and make your hand dirty writing scripts, batch file. What I mean is -

Lets say you are a Windows Server 2008 admin in some xyz company, you are assigned to do a repetitive task every day or lets be more specific; you have to create 1000 new users in an Organization Unit (OU) in your domain. What would you do? You would go to Active Directory Users and Computer, create OU and then add 1000 users to your OU. Oh if you are thinking of this, it will take ages to create 1000 users.

So what you do is become a little lazy. You don’t create 1000 users manually. You automate or semi-automate this task by creating a script (some sort of simple code) that will do this job.

To make it further clear, this example will help. I am using Office 2010, and I save my documents in native Office 2007/2010 .pptx format and my friend uses Office 2003 and doesn’t have compatible pack to open .pptx document. Now, I have 29 word documents which I need to send to this friend. If I send him .pptx documents, he would not be able to open them. So, I need to convert my document into Word 2003 file. What would I do? Open individual files and save it in word 2003 compatible file. Nah… It would take a lot of time. What if I create a macro or simple Visual Basic script to automate it? Yeah, you can do that. That’s sounds interesting.

So what you are doing is becoming a bit lazy. Now, I think you want to be little bit smart and lazy. Now, my question is - are you lazy enough to become an IT expert???

Problem Step Recorder in Windows 7

Do you know what the most hectic thing to do is? It's troubleshooting someone's PC. It will give you a migraine when you have to be a help desk call center guy, they start telling their problem in phone or chat, and they are not able to tell what the actual problem is and what went wrong.

So if this is the problem then Windows 7 has one very good tool for troubleshooting that takes the guesswork out of explaining what happened when something went wrong.

To explain what when wrong or what the problem is, the same problem should be duplicated and here come Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) in your aid.

Problem Steps Recorder is hidden in Windows 7, so you have to know it exists before you can access it.

How to use it? it is simple.. Just follow the steps

1. First type psr in run. Then you will see PSR application as shown in the figure.

2. Click the Start Record button in Problem Steps Recorder. When you do, the application interface changes slightly, to indicate that it’s recording and provide a few additional options, including Pause Record, Stop Record, and Add Comment (see Figure below).

3. When you’re done, click Stop Record.

4. Problem Steps Recorder will prompt you to save a ZIP file on your desktop. Give it a name and click Save.

5. Now, you’re can e-mail this to the person that’s going to provide the help. It will make his life easy.

P.S. Inside the ZIP file, you’ll find a single MHTML document, which can be viewed with Internet Explorer. It includes a complete walk-through of all the steps you took. This tool can be used for trainings.