Overview

Exclusions have not been set up for Windows Defender, causing multiple files and directories to be flagged for malware. Multiple engines and modules are failing updates.

Solution

1. Add exclusions for the directories mentioned in the Recommended Anti-virus and Backup Exclusions article.
2. In the Windows Defender Quarantined Items list, remove all the MailEssentials files that have been flagged, since they would have already become corrupt, and restoring them can cause further issues to arise.

3. Restart the MailEssentials services:
   MailEssentials services need to be restarted. Open the Windows Services Manager by navigating to Start > Run > services.msc and restart the following services:

   • Microsoft Transport Agent service
   • GFI List Server
   • GFI MailEssentials Attendant
   • GFI MailEssentials AS Scan Engine
   • GFI MailEssentials Autoupdater
   • GFI MailEssentials AV Scan Engine
   • GFI MailEssentials Backend
   • GFI MailEssentials Legacy Attendant
   • GFI POP2Exchange
   • GFI MailEssentials Quarantine Action Services
4. In the GFI MailEssentials Configuration UI:
   • Navigate to Dashboard > Updates >Under the Anti-Spam Definition Updates, click Update all engines.
   • In case of the anti-virus plugins, navigate to EmailSecurity > Virus Scanning Engines > [Anti-virus which is failing updates] > Updates tab > click Force full update

Confirmation

After performing the above steps, verify that the modules have been updated in the Dashboard, and perform a quick scan with Windows Defender to verify that the MailEssentials directories are not being scanned again.