Random Stuff About Software

One of the benefits of Windows Vista is that it has built in spyware protection with the Windows Defender tool. Defender has frequent updates much like virus scanner products. Frequent updates are good, the annoying thing is that every time there is an update, Windows Update pops up in the task bar and asks you to install the latest update. Because I have Windows Updates set to not install automatically, this requires a few clicks every few days. I always wished there was a way to install the Defender updates automatically.

I finally figured out how to make this happen. It turns out that Defender is scheduled to automatically download updates at 2am every day and then scan your machine. This is great if you keep you machine on 24 hours a day. But I put my machine in hibernate every night to save electricity so the scheduled process rarely gets run. This means that the Defender updates don’t get downloaded automatically causing Windows Update to prompt me to install them.

To fix this just schedule the scan to occur at a time when you are more likely to be using the computer. My computer is usually on in the evening so I set Defender to scan daily at 9pm. This way the updates will get downloaded automatically when the computer is most likely to be on. And I haven’t noticed much of a slowdown of Vista when the scan is running.

Here are details steps on how to enable the automatic definition updates:

1. Open the Windows Start Menu and type “defender”.
   
2. Click Windows Defender.
   
3. Click Tools.
   
   
4. Click Options.
   
5. Make sure these options are set:
   • Automatically scan my computer is checked.
   • Frequency is set to daily.
   • Approximate time is set to a time that your computer is usually on.
   • Check for updated definitions before scanning is checked.
   • The other options don’t matter so set them however you like.
     
6. Close out all the dialogs and you should be all set.

This is a very useful tip for anyone who regularly uses the Windows command line. The default cmd.exe prompt displays the current path on the same line that is used for input. When you are in a deep directory you don’t get much room for typing. The other problem is that the default prompt has a “>” symbol directly after the path which causes a problem when cut and pasting the current path into other windows.

You can have an improved command prompt like this:

The quick way to test this change is to enter this command at the prompt: “set prompt=$C$S$P$S$F$_$+$G$S”. The improved prompt will be enabled in the current window until it is closed.

To make the change permanent and enabled in all new cmd.exe windows:

1. Windows Key + R.
2. Type “sysdm.cpl” and press enter.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Click “Environment Variables”.
5. Click “New” to add a new user variable.
6. Add variable name: PROMPT
7. Add this value: $C$S$P$S$F$_$+$G$S
8. Exit out of everything.

Now every cmd.exe window that you open will have the enhanced prompt. This gives you some benefits:

1. More room to type your command.
2. Separation between the current directory and the typed command.
3. Double click on the current directory and paste and you have a valid path without modification.