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theflyingmonkey
Former Member
Message 1 of 26

Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

So I noticed something really strange on my XP Home SP3 machine running McAfee Internet Security. Eariler this week I had to uninstall McAfee because it kept asking to restart my computer after the updates and I noticed that my Security Center version said 12, but the build was 11.#.#.

I uninstalled McAfee using Control Panel and reinstalled it by downloading the software from my account. The installation went fine with no problems and the Security Center version and build number matched my other machines.

Now the strange thing is that I just manually updated my McAfee and it downloaded and installed today's dat. The dat version should be 1452. I restarted my computer and after that I did a right-click scan on a word document file that I made. The scan finishes and when I go to the Security History to check the details of the scan, it lists that I scanned a file and at the bottom of that item it said that it used DAT version 1446 and the DAT creation date was 2/24/13. This was the date I reinstalled McAfee. But when I check the About tab, it lists I have the latest DAT, I ran MVT and there was no problems.

How do I fix this? My other machines aren't displaying this strange behavior, their scans show that they use the latest dat.

25 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

The MSC 12.x series doesn't use DATs.  Engine version on mine is 1451 so yours is ahead of mine at the moment.   If it was a boot time scan report however is uses a previous one because the software hasn't yet been made active.  What you may be seeing is the boot-time version which is always an older one.

Where exactly did you see this older number?

Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 02/03/13 3:06:42 EST PM
theflyingmonkey
Former Member
Message 3 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

Sorry, I meant to say Engine version.  As I mentioned before this was a right-click scan that I did on a Word Document.  So I right-clicked a Word Document and selected the Scan option with the McAfee shield icon.  After the scan it says "No Issues Detected or Found".

After that I go to Navigation -> Under Reports and History -> Security History.  I selected the option to display Scans run, and then I click on the > symbol to expand the details of the scan.  That report shows what was scanned, when the scan started and when the scan finished.  As I scroll down reading the report, it lists Engine Version: 1446 and Engine Creation Date: 2/24/13.  This was the date that I had to reinstall McAfee because as I mentioned before it kept asking to restart my computer after the updates and I noticed that my Security Center version said 12, but the build was 11.#.#.

In addition, the other reason why I uninstalled it and reinstalled it was because for all the right-click scans and full scans that I did with McAfee, in the reports it says that it was using the Engine from when McAfee should have upgrade to Security Center 12, which was 1/26/13.  Basically, when I click on the About link in the bottom right hand corner of the Security Center it says my Engine is the latest, but my scans showed that I was using an Engine from a month ago to scan my computer.

After I uninstalled McAfee and reinstalled it, I was update to update my McAfee without the constant message of "Computer needs to restart to finish update", but today I noticed that the same problem with using an older Engine to run the scans are happening.

I check my other machines which are 2x Vistas and 1 Windows 7 machine.  All of their scans, right-click or full scan would use the Engine Version of the date that I ran the scan, not the Engine version of the date that I installed/upgrade McAfee.

So how do I fix this problem, seems really strange that in the About it lists the Engine as up to date and so does MVT, but with right-click scans and full scan on my XP machine shows that it is using an Engine from a week ago.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

I would assume that's not a problem you can fix and probably not a problem at all, merely a glitch in the interface.

I can either bring this up on Monday afternoon on our conference call with McAfee or you could ask Technical Support for clarification as I have no idea why it would be different there from the installed engine version.

Mine displays 1 engine version prior, i.e. 1450 by the way.

theflyingmonkey
Former Member
Message 5 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

I don't think that is a glitch in the interface because my other machines are running the same version of McAfee and they don't have this problem. 

In addition, I just used one of my Vista machines to scan a Word Document. When I checked the Security History report, it shows the Engine as 1452 and the Engine Creation Date as 3/2/13.  This is Engine version matches what it says in my About tab and I had just manually check for updates on this Vista's McAfee about an hour ago.

If you could bring this up in your conference, I would appreciate it. Since my other machines are running McAfee Internet Security with the same version of Security and they don't have this problem, it is just strange and makes no sense unless it is only a problem for XP.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 6 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

OK I will make it a subject for the conference call.  It is rather curious I must say.

I tested mine on Vista by the way.

theflyingmonkey
Former Member
Message 7 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

Just an update.

On my XP machine, the Engine was updated to 1453, Engine Creation Date 3/3/13 in the About tab.  Scanned 3 Word Documents all at once, the Security History report for today's scan still shows Engine 1446 with Engine Creation Date of 2/24/13.

On both of my Vista machines, Engine and Engine Creation Date was updated to 1453 and 3/3/13 in the About tab.  Scanned 3 Word Documents all at once.  For both machines, in the Security History report, the Engine and Engine Creation Date for today's scan was 1453 and 3/3/13.

Still seems like my XP machine is the one that doesn't match the behavior of my other machines.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

I've pointed that out in my question for Monday's call.

Sc00ter
Former Member
Message 9 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

I tested this on my Windows XP Home SP3 system and the Security History report is correctly showing today's Engine 1453 and Engine Creation Date of 3/3/2013.  I am using Total Protection with the following build levels:

Security Center: 12.1.253

Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware: 16.1.144

I wil check my other XP systems to see if they have the issue.

Sc00ter
Former Member
Message 10 of 26

Re: Virus Scan using older DAT version to scan

I checked a second Windows XP Home SP3 system and the Security History report is correct on the second system (checking a right-click scan operation).  Second system build levels are the same as the first system.

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