Harry Waldron - Corporate Security News

1. Uninstall any previous Anti-virus products (esp. the 60 day trial AV products that may have come with your system)

2. Reboot your system to ensure a clean start

3. Go the WINDOWS UPDATE site to install all updates for improved protection. There is a Malicious Software Removal Tool which will clean up major virus or spyware infections that could be present on your system.

http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

NOTE: You must also be under SP3 for XP (right mouse on My Computer and look at Properties to confirm)

4. In order to download MSE, your system must be WGA compliant. At this site Click on VALIDATE BUTTON to ensure your system is WGA compliant

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/

5. Then visit Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) site and click DOWNLOAD Button

TIP: there is also an Installation Video to guide in this process you can watch 1st if desired using Media Player

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

6. Manually Download latest virus definitions For older 32 Bit systems (XP, Vista)

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87342

For brand new 64 Bit systems (Vista, Windows 7)

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87341

7. After downloading, click on MPAM-FE.EX (32 bit) or MPAM-FEX64.EXE (64 bit). It will automatically install lastest definitions in a couple of minutes.  If you have PCs that never connect to the Internet, steps 6/y are a good way of keep them updated with MSE.

8. Reboot system to ensure MSE starts automatically

9. Launch Microsoft Security Essentials from Start Menu and select FULL SCAN to ensure your system is malware free. This may take an hour or two depending on the size of system. You can let it run unattended.

10. Ensure your system is set for AUTOMATIC UPDATES (the WIndows Update process in step 1 above allows you to select this option