Unable to Update Virus Database

[pshipwrite]

As other users have reported, I, too, have been unable to update the CIS 5.10 virus database the past couple of days. The incremental database updates are downloaded successfully and I can see the incremental download is decompressed successfully in the SCANNERS folder (extension of $$$). However, it appears there is a problem in merging the updates with the virus database and then subsequently copying the previous database version to the REPAIR folder.

I have read other postings on this issue indicating that a user should upgrade to the latest version of CIS, 7.0.315459. That’s not really an answer. I would like to continue to use version 5.10.228257. Having an older computer, I much prefer CIS 5.10 since it has only 2 processes, not 4, like CIS 7.0, and resource consumption is somewhat lower. I hope COMODO is not forcing users of earlier versions of CIS to migrate to the latest version by not making virus updates available to earlier versions of CIS.

[Citizen_K]

Version 7 uses the same database as v5.8 and newer. You can keep on using 5.10 for quite a while. Even if the database format would change then history shows that Comodo will keep on providing older databases. At this moment the v4 database is still provided for.

@ambrougham post:46

[at]Eddy (and anyone else with this problem)

The next time you get the problem, have a look in the “scanners” directory [##] and see if you’ve got a file called “bases.$$$” in there.

bases.$$$ appears to be a working file containing all the downloaded incremental updates which is ultimately merged with the live database and then deleted providing that the update process completes satisfactorily. If the update process fails for any reason then this working file seems to be retained and effectively acts as a cache for previously downloaded incremental updates. The next time an update is attempted, the previously downloaded incremental updates do not appear to be downloaded again, only new incremental updates are downloaded and added to the working file.

Just a theory … But if for any reason there was a ‘bad’ download and this is what is causing the update process to fail then this duff data could possibly be retained in the working file which would then lead to getting repeated failures. Apart from anything else, rebooting or stopping/restarting cmdagent.exe appears to have the effect of forcing Comodo to download all available incremental updates again even if the working file is present. This obviously generates a new working file with entirely fresh data. Assuming that all downloads are ‘good’ this time then the update will also complete satisfactorily this time.

So, if you do find the file “bases.$$$” then rather than rebooting or stopping/restarting cmdagent.exe just try deleting or renaming “bases.$$$” instead to see if that also fixes the problem by forcing a fresh download of all available incremental updates. I don’t know if it’s actually possible to do it or not with your particular problem because the file could be locked and you probably need admin rights as well but it’s something that I could do and it might be worth a try. If it does resolve the problem then it would suggest download errors and a lack of error checking or sensible error handling is what is causing these problems.

[##] typically "Program Files\COMODO\COMODO Internet Security\scanners" on the drive where Windoze is installed

When deleting the bases.$$$ does not help try stopping and starting Comodo Internet Security Helper Services under Services. Services can be found in Control Panel → Administrative Tools.