anti-virus database updates fails on W11
Today my F-secure Total app on W11 notified my that the anti-virus database was out of date and needed to be updated.
Clicking on the Update button did not result in the update. The response was that the check was done but the result was "unsuccessful".
I checked the support articles and only found this, a scenario to uninstall and re-install the product.
But I was reluctant to respond to quite such a radical action.
A search on this forum did not result in any relevant article, so I am writing this one now.
In the app there is the functionality to run a diagnostic tool, which results in a .zip-file (fsdiag.zip) on the desktop.
So I connected to support, opening the chat and immediately asking the AI-bot to connect me to a support person. It did exactly as I requested.
The support officer kindly listened to (or to be more precisely read my) the description of my problem. Then I got the same advise as I found in the support articles, to uninstall and re-install the product.
When I responded that this would not help to analyze and understand the problem I was kindly but also non negotiable pointed to do as the support article suggested. If that would not help, I could contact support again for further help.
Upon my request I received the case number of my support case (00648334) to be able to refer to this first line support action.
I checked my laptop any further and noticed that the was a Windows security update (2026-01 Security Update (KB5074109) (26200.7623)) downloaded and waiting to be installed.
So I thought, let's first install that update and see if that helps. The Windows security update needed a restart before becoming effective, so I restarted the laptop after installing it.
After the restart, the Windows security update was ready and in use, and surprise surprise, the F-secure app informed me that the product and database update were successful.
So, to anybody - including F-secure support - I would like to give you this advise:
If there is any problem with F-secure product or database update, first run all your Windows updates before taking any action on the app itself.
It will save you a lot of time and hassle and the additional irritation 😉.
Kind regards,
Theo