the level of all security systems at a server has increased to level 9 and the available bypass level increased also to level 9.
then I must end the game and after I reastart it, the security level increased to 12 but the bypass programms go back to level 5.
is this a feature or a bug?

Hmm, I don't know about security systems going up when you restart, but yes, bypassers resetting back to v5.0 is a bug.

...and so it has been for quite some time. $me wants a new patch :(

EDIT: Anyways, my solution to the problem is to buy a v20 (or so) bypasser when one is available, after that there shouldn't be any more problems with up-to-date bypassers being unavailable. Except with the Uplink ISM of course.

how long must I wait before the level increase or reach 20

It varies, AFAIK anyway. Sometimes you need to wait forever for the bypassers to update, sometimes it just takes a couple of hours :/

And it doesn't have to be 20, it'll take some time before even v10 security systems are common. You could of course buy the upgraded HUD bypass thingy and watch the status of Uplink ISM's security systems while praying your favourite god the bypasser versions are based on the Uplink ISM's security systems.

I once double-checked the versions of the security systems, made sure up-to-date bypassers were available, bought 'em, and when I started to hack it I noticed my firewall bypass (v22 IIRC) was already useless. The firewall had been upgraded in a minute or so.

Like I said tho', that's really only a problem with the Uplink ISM.

It might also pay to know that you only really need the Proxy Bypass and B.Monitor Bypass, as the rest of the security systems can be disabled once you're into the admin section of the Uplink ISM, so long as the proxy is Bypassed.

It means you have less time with the Monitor active, since it'll start a trace once it realises you've disabled the B.Monitor or as soon as you begin password cracking, but with enough bounce points it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm having the same problem; the top level bypass OR disable I can buy is level 5, even though most places are up to 6 or 7 now and Uplink ISM is up to 10 and 11 with some things.

Is it just a case of waiting or can you go somewhere else to buy them/do something to speed them up? (I've never had a reason to break into Uplink ISM before)

Well, you could always use killers. Theoretically, at least. But if you want higher level bypassers/disablers then no, there's nothing you can do except wait.

According to Miah, this has been fixed for 0.2.0

Yeah, and also the time you wait for the killers to function is less... psychotic.

Currently in 0.1.2F, your only solution to this problem is to play for a really long time. When I say "a really long time", I think playing a single session for an hour or two will catch the bypassers/disablers up to Uplink's security levels.

-- Griffinhart