Greetings blog readers!

I’m happy to announce that we will release a new antimalware engine update for FCS. Full information on the updates included with the release will be published in a KB article once the update is released. The KB article is Microsoft Knowledge Base article 979536 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979536).

Currently, we are slated to release the update (and the KB) on 13 April 2010 – if there is a change in this schedule, this blog post will be updated.

The items included in the update are summarized below:

• Malware detected while a user is not logged on will have the default action (defined either in policy or by the definitions) taken. Previously, the malware was suspended (making the malware unable to run, and unavailable to other applications), thereby rendering the computer protected, but the default action was not taken.
• Update to the installer to no longer use DIFx for Applications. This fixes update and uninstall issues on computers running Windows 2000.
• The FCS antimalware service sometimes unexpectedly exits on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

This update also replaces some earlier fixes and updates – the full list is in the KB article.

The update is available via Microsoft Update and WSUS. The KB article also includes instructions for downloading it separately for distribution via some other method.