Malicious Software Removal Tool - January 2009 (KB890830)

[John]

My WSUS 3.2.7600.26 is showing 1 Windows XP Pro needs Malicious Software
Removal Tool - January 2009 (KB890830) and no "2009" is not a typo.

This computer has been getting patches from that same WSUS for years. The PC
is used every single day. Nothing has changed recently other than
downloading January 2010 patches. All of a sudden this computer needs MSRT
January 2009. Is this normal?

[Lawrence Garvin [MVP]]

Post by John
My WSUS 3.2.7600.26 is showing 1 Windows XP Pro needs Malicious Software
Removal Tool - January 2009 (KB890830) and no "2009" is not a typo.
This computer has been getting patches from that same WSUS for years. The
PC is used every single day. Nothing has changed recently other than
downloading January 2010 patches. All of a sudden this computer needs MSRT
January 2009. Is this normal?

No.. but it's nothing I'd lose sleep over.

An update that old, and superceded by that many generations (12 now, right?)
ought to be declined anyway.

Decline the thing and move on to something more productive with your time.
:-)

[John]

Thanks. Doesn't WSUS automatically decline old MSRT updates?

Post by Lawrence Garvin [MVP]
No.. but it's nothing I'd lose sleep over.
An update that old, and superceded by that many generations (12 now,
right?) ought to be declined anyway.
Decline the thing and move on to something more productive with your time.

[Lawrence Garvin [MVP]]

Post by John
Doesn't WSUS automatically decline old MSRT updates?

No. Nothing is done automatically.

Using the Server Cleanup Wizard, WSUS will decline expired updates that have
not been approved for more than 30 days, and will decline superceded updates
that have not been approved for more than 30 days, and are not reported as
needed by any client system.

The key hurdle here is that the WSUS Administrator must remove the approvals
from such superceded updates, or else they'll remain approved and superceded
in perpetuity. To that point, if the admin is going to remove the approvals,
the admin might as well go ahead and mark the update as declined, unless
there's a specific reason why the update needs to remain in a 'detectable'
(Not Approved) state.