lmacri

Hi wendivad: The Malwarebytes forum has a strict Piracy Policy that you should review. Users who request assistance with malware removal in their Malware Removal Help & Support board are instructed <here> that "If you're using Peer 2 Peer software such as uTorrent or similar please completely disable it from running while being assisted here" and I know of a few technical forums that will decline to assist users until torrent downloader software is disabled or uninstalled. Again, be careful about making any changes to your system while your support ticket is open. I don't know what assistance Malwarebytes Customer Support is currently providing but it can be very difficult to troubleshoot problems if a user starts making changes to their system after submitting diagnostic logs. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi wendivad: Just another quick thought about your software updating problems and other glitchy behaviour. I'd also suggest uninstalling (not updating) your outdated µTorrent v2.0.4 (the current version is v3.5.4) and see if that helps. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi wendivad: I haven't used Spybot Seach & Destroy for several years but my own opinion is that it's now redundant and probably doing more harm than good if you already have Norton Internet Security and/or Malwarebytes Premium running in real-time protection mode. Please don't make any major changes to your system, though, before you check with dcollins and the other Malwarebytes employees who are trying to help you troubleshoot and confirm it's okay to proceed. Just an FYI if you do eventually uninstall Spybot S&D. I can't see any evidence in your FRST Addition.txt file that you've used the Immunize feature of Spybot S&D to passively "immunize" your IE browser and Hosts file (see the section titled Spybot Immunization in the article Protect your Windows from Spyware - Using Spybot-Search & Destroy), but if you did, be sure to undo this immunization (Start Center | Basic Tools | Immunization | Undo Immunization) before uninstalling Spybot S&D from the Control Panel. I don't know what programs you've configured for automatic updating so it's impossible for me to say if this is a general problem on your system. I did notice you have Mozilla Firefox v35.0.1 (rel. Jan 2015) while the current version is v62.0.0 (rel. Sep 2018). It looks like Chrome is your default browser but if automatic updating is turned on in Firefox (in newer versions the setting is at Tools | Options | Advanced | Update | Automatically Install Updates) I'm not sure why Firefox isn't updating. Go to Help | About | Check for Updates and see if a manual update check detects a newer version. Just be warned that updating Firefox might disable any old/unsupported browser plugins and extensions that are no longer compatible with the new Quantum engine in Firefox v57 and higher. Even better, just uninstall Firefox if you don't need it. There are a large number of recent Event Log errors listed in your FRST Addition.txt log (including several Application Errors related to your Nero BackItUp software and System Errors related to "Local Activation permission for the COM Server" for multiple application CLSIDs) but as I said before, I don't have the technical expertise to be diagnosing these types of problems. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some of these errors are related to outdated/unsupported software. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi wendivad: I recently learned that when you manually check for updates from the dashboard or system tray icon (or if you have an automatic updates scheduled in MB Premium) that MB v3.x only checks for updates for the malware definitions database but does not check for application updates. MB v3.x tries to run a background check for application updates every hour, and if it connects to the update server and an application update is available the update is only metered out to a set percentage of users (i.e., the server will randomly choose who receives the application update in a lottery). I've never received an application update via one of these background "lotteries" since upgrading to MB v3.x and the only way to make sure you have the latest application updates is to go to Settings | Application | Application Updates and click the Install Application Updates button. The versions of your main Malwarebytes product, Component Package (which includes the modules for anti-exploit, anti-ransomware, etc.) and Update Package (a.k.a. the malware definitions database) are listed at Settings | About | Versions. See post # 4 of luddy's thread Program Itself NEVER Updates for further details. I'm not a trained malware removal specialist and I'm not qualified to interpret the logs in your mbst-grab-results.zip file, but I did take a quick look at your Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST) logs and noticed that you have a lot of outdated software installed (Adobe Flash Player, Java RE, etc.) and a large number of programs that automatically load at boot-up and consume much of your 4 GB of RAM, including an old version of Spybot Search & Destroy v2.1.21 (the current version is 2.7.64) that could be causing a conflict with Malwarebytes. I don't want to interfere with the troubleshooting that MB Customer Support and MB employee dcollins are doing and don't advise that you make any changes to your system unless they specifically ask you to do so, but a good system clean up might be in order after you've figured out what's causing your MB real-time protection to switch off. If your MB real-time protection continues to switch off after you update to Component Package v1.0.441 (double-check your version at Settings | About | Versions), be sure to run the Malwarebytes Support Tool and attach a new mbst-grab-results.zip for dcollins. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi wendivad: Is your MB v3.5.1 real-time protection still switching off since you updated to component package v1.0.441 (i.e., since your last incident on 31-Aug-2018)? If so, is MB Customer Support still working with you on your support ticket, or do you need dcollins to check the mbst-grab-results.zip file you posted on Tuesday? ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi wendavid: Did the latest component package v1.0.441 solve your problem, and if not what is your Windows OS and what is the name and version of your Norton product (open Norton and go to Help | General Information | About)? I'm having problems running Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 and Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 together in real-time protection mode on my 32-bit Vista SP2 machine (see my post # 6 in jniffen's thread Mbamtray.exe Doesn't Start in Windows) and I was wondering if component package v1.0.441 solved your problem with your MB real-time protection timing issue. If you have a Win 8.x or Win 10 OS, ensure that the Fast Startup power option is disabled (see peterweb's thread Windows 8/8.1 or 10 and Fast Start Feature in the Norton forum) and then re-boot your system a few times after this setting is disabled. This Fast Startup feature can interfere with product updates and loading of Norton (and Malwarebytes) services at boot-up and result in all sorts of odd glitches and unexpected behaviour on Win 8.x and Win 10 computers. If you're still having problems and Fast startup isn't the cause be sure to run the Malwarebytes Support Tool as instructed in post # 2 and attach the mbst-grab-results.zip file to your next reply for dcollins. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi jniffen: Was Symantec Endpoint Protection wiped off your computer with the SEP CleanWipe Utility? Remnants of SEP might continue to cause issues with Malwarebytes Premium and/or Bitdefender AV and the CleanWipe utility should remove any orphaned registry entries and files left over after the uninstall. Just an FYI that I see a similar problem on my 32-bit Vista SP2 computer (i.e., not Windows Fast Start feature) when I try to run Symantec's Norton Security v22.x and Malwarebytes Premium (v3.2.2 and higher) together in real-time protection mode - see my thread MB v3.2.2 - SystemTray Icon Missing After mbamtray.exe APPCRASH. I know of at least one 64-bit Win 8.1 user with Norton Internet Security who had the same issue, even when Fast Startup was disabled - see MadDemon64's thread Malwarebytes System Tray Icon Missing After Latest Update. After extensive troubleshooting with Malwarebytes employee dcollins both MadDemon64 and I were able to demonstrate that the MB system tray icon (mbamtray.exe) would consistently load at boot-up if we disabled MB's Self-Protection module (Settings | Protection | Startup Options | Enable Self-Protection Module | OFF) - see post # 97 of that thread. This conflict with MB's Self-Protection module was never resolved and I continue having other issues running Norton and Malwarebytes together in real-time protection mode (e.g., my Norton Automatic LiveUpdates will frequently fail if the Web Protection module of MB is enabled - see my thread <here>), even if I create mutual scan exclusions in both programs. I don't want to run MB Premium with Web Protection and Self-Protection both disabled and I worry that there might be other conflicts between these two security programs that I haven't noticed yet so I've deactivated my MB Premium license and just use MB Free as an on-demand scanner now. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.15.0.88 * MB Free v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

HI pendaws: It might still be worthwhile to collect and post the Malwarebytes Support Tool logs as instructed in post # 2. The website block shown in your original post looks like it's for the latest Opera v53 browser, and this might be a false positive (e.g., Web Protection is preventing Opera from running legitimate auto-update checks for your browser) or you might have some PUP like adware or a browser re-director infecting your browser. If you run a MB Threat Scan and it doesn't detect any threats on your system then the details in your diagnostic logs might have more information about the IP address or domain name that Web Protection is blocking. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.1 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.2.13 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi dcollins: Malwarebytes discontinued MB program updates for my Vista SP2 machine a few weeks ago (see post # 8 of the MB v3 FAQ) which means I won't be receiving the latest v1.0.374 component package update. I already posted in my own thread MB v3.2.2 - System Tray Icon Missing After mbamtray.exe APPCRASH that the 10-May-2018 update to MB Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 didn't fix my mbamtray.exe problem so there's no point in me providing another set of Malwarebytes Support Tool diagnostic logs. Sadly, that also means that more serious conflicts I've reported between MB Premium v3.x and Norton Security v22.x real-time protection (e.g., intermittent Norton LiveUpdate failures when MB Web Protection is enabled) will never be fixed on my Vista SP2 machine - even if bug fixes are released in future program updates - so I've deactivated my MS Premium license and will have to use MB v3.5.1 as a on-demand scanner. Good luck to MadDemon64 et al with their troubleshooting. Sorry I won't be able to provide further assistance.? ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.1 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.2.13 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi bdubrow: Thanks for your prompt response. Would it be possible to revise Erix's update announcement <here> for component package v1.0.374 to include this information? I only stumbled across the Malwarebytes Support for Legacy Windows XP and Vista Operating Systems post yesterday even though it was appended to the FAQ on 17-May-2018, and I can't see anything about this change in support for older OSs pinned at the top of the Malwarebytes 3 Support Forum or Malwarebytes News board. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.2.13 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

I have a Vista SP2 OS and can't get my MB Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 to download the new component package v1.0.374 (see Erix's update announcement <here>) . Every time I go to Settings | Application | Application Updates and click Install Application Updates it reports "Progress: No application updates are available". The download link at https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb3/ is currently offering me a v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 installer. Should Win XP and Vista users expect to receive the v1.0.374 component package? Ransomware protection is not available on these older OSs and I also found a recent post added to the FAQ titled Malwarebytes Support for Legacy Windows XP and Vista Operating Systems announcing that "Users running Malwarebytes 3.5 on Windows XP and Vista will continue to receive on-going protection updates to keep safe from the latest infections. However these operating systems will no longer receive program upgrades,such as component packages or newer program versions, for new features." Does that means that product and component package updates for MB v3.5.1 are stopping immediately for XP and Vista, or should product and component package updates continue to be delivered until v3.6.x is released? ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.2.13 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi paynterf: This could be completely unrelated, but the symptoms you described reminded me of a similar problem being discussed in the Norton forum about the MS .NET Framework Native Image Generator (NGEN). See mickhardy's workaround posted in the Norton forum thread CPU Usage about 30% about a recent problem related to the .NET Framework NGEN v4.0.30319 and Visual Studio 2013. He was able to solve the high CPU consumption by his Norton real-time protection (i.e., nortonsecurity.exe) on his Win 10 computer by disabling non-critical NGEN tasks scheduled in his Windows Task Scheduler. From the MS .NET Framework support article NGEN.exe (Native Image Generator): The FRST Addition.txt diagnostic log bundled inside your mbst-grab-results.zip file shows that you have a Win 7 SP1 computer. I believe the NGEN scheduled tasks mickhardy showed in his post are unique to Win 10 and I can't see any reference to NGEN.exe tasks in your Scheduled Tasks, but there are several references to C:\Windows\assembly\NativeImages_v2.0.50727_32\ and C:\Windows\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_32 in that log. I wonder if your high CPU consumption by MBAMService.exe is actually being triggered by assembly compiling by the MS .NET Framework NGEN (which is supposed to improve the performance of .NET applications) rather than Visual Studio itself. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi GLL: If you want to collect and post diagnostic logs using the Malwarebytes Support Tool as instructed <here> (Advanced Options | Gather Logs and then post the mbst-grab-results.zip file in your next post) it's possible dcollins or one of the other Malwarebytes employees following this thread might be able to provide further assistance. There are other users who have reported that mbamtray.exe doesn't crash when it fails to load in the system tray at boot-up (see exile360's comment in post # 16 of the thread [Possible BUG] System tray icon missin when fast start is on) but I'm not entirely certain these users are looking in the correct location for evidence of an application crash. You might find evidence of a crash if you look for dump files named mbamtary.exe.xxx.dmp in the hidden folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\CrashDumps (you must unhide this folder to see the contents), and you might also be able to find errors logged for Malwarebytes Tray Application at Control Panel | System and Maintenance | Problem Reports and Solutions | View Problem History or in your Windows Event Viewer (Source = Application Error; Even ID =1000; Task Category =100). I don't know if you use MB Free or Premium, but if you use the latest MB Premium v3.5.1 also note that the product update announcement Ladies and Gentlemen, Malwarebytes 3.5 was edited this past Thursday (24-May-2018) to confirm that there are known issues with the latest Ransomware Protection module that might be causing unexpected problems at boot-up on your Win 8.1 machine. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi bru: Just a heads up that the product update announcement Ladies and Gentlemen, Malwarebytes 3.5 was edited this past Thursday (24-May-2018) to confirm that there are known issues with the latest real-time Ransomware Protection module. If you are still using MB Premium v3.4.5 and it's running well you might want to delay the update to v3.5.1 until a new component package is released to replace CU v1.0.365. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi GLL: I agree that the load order of processes at boot-up must be part of the problem. I've shown in my own thread MB v3.2.2 - SystemTray Icon Missing After mbamtray.exe APPCRASH that the MB icon will fail to load in my system tray if Windows Calendar loads at boot-up to remind me about a scheduled task/appointment. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi GLL: MadDemon64 and I have run several tests and we both observed that the MB system tray icon (mbamtray.exe) would consistently load at boot-up if we disabled MB's self-protection module (Settings | Protection | Startup Options | Enable Self-Protection Module | OFF). That's fine for testing purposes, but I wouldn't advise leaving this module permanently disabled since it prevents MB files from being deleted or modified by outside agents (e.g., if your system is ever infected with malware, if your antivirus incorrectly removes a MB executable because of a false positive detection, etc.). You could also try setting self-protection to load early in the boot-process (Protection | Start-up Options | Enable Self-Protection Module Early Start | ON). I noted in post # 108 that this seemed to reduce the severity of the problem on my Vista SP2 machine. Malwarebytes has acknowledged the system tray icon problem and has been looking for a solution for quite a while now, so I'm not sure there's much else you can do at the moment short of trying a clean re-install of MB v3.5.1 with the MB Clean tool built in to the new Malwarebytes Support Tool (Advanced | Clean) to see if that fixes some of the other glitches you're experiencing with your real-time protection. I've seen other threads in this forum about problems with real-time protection disabling itself at boot-up so if that issue persists I'd advise that you start a new topic (you should receive an automated reply with instructions for collecting diagnostic logs) for customized support. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi GLL: Some users have reported that disabling the Win 8.x / 10 Fast Startup feature will decrease (or even solve) these types of problems. I believe MadDemon64, the OP of this thread, has a 64-bit Win 8.1 computer so disabling Fast Start might not completely solve the problem but it could help. If you haven't already disabled this feature you can find instructions in the EightForums at Fast Startup - Turn On or Off in Windows 8. Creating scan exclusions in Avast for your Malwarebytes files and folders might also help to reduce any possible conflicts between the two programs. See the Malwarebytes v3.x support article at https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1123 and the Avast support article Excluding Certain Files or Websites from Scanning in Avast Antivirus for further instructions. I've also posted a sample image <here> showing how I've also created scan exclusions in Malwarebytes for my Norton Security folders and main executable at Settings | Exclusions | Add Exclusion. I've never used Avast but you should be able to find the installation folder and executables for your third-party antivirus at C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\AVAST or some similar location. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi luddy: I asked a similar question back in March 2018 - see comments from Malwarebytes employee dcollins in my thread No Update to 3.4 Offered. Firstly, when you manually check for updates from the dashboard or system tray icon (or during an automatic update scheduled with MB Premium) MB v3 only checks for updates for the malware definitions database but does not check for application updates. From dcollins' post # 2 in that thread about an hourly background check on both Premium and Free versions that uses a metered "lottery" for delivering application updates: If you are using MB Free as an on-demand scanner and only run MB a few hours each week then chances are very low that you would be connected to the MB servers when one of these hourly metered update "lotteries" occurs. That's probably why most MB Free users (or even MB Premium users that leave their machine in sleep/hibernation mode for long periods throughout the day) find that they eventually have to manually click the Check for Application Updates button at Settings | Application | Application Updates to get their application updates. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi MadDemon64: Correct. I only tested twice (i.e., two system restarts) after setting MB's self-protection to early start, but the MB icon eventually appeared in my system tray about 1 min after the initial crash by mbamtray.exe for both system restarts. Two tests isn't conclusive, but I don't recall ever seeing mbamtray.exe recover from one of these crashes and load the MB icon in the system tray in any of my previous testing going back to MB Premium v3.2.2. During testing I monitored the start time of MBAMService.exe and mbamtray.exe with MS Sysinternal's Process Explorer. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi MadDemon64: I tried two system restarts this morning on my Vista SP2 machine with the MB setting at Protection | Start-up Options | Enable Self-Protection Module Early Start turned ON and mbamtray.exe still crashed. Note that mbamtray.exe is owned by USER and only attempts to load shortly after I log in to my Windows user account, and not when MBAMService.exe (which is owned by SYSTEM) is loaded at boot-up. However, the MB icon eventually appeared in my system tray about 1 min after I logged in to my Window user account, so it looks like mbamtray.exe was able to recover from both crashes. I've never seen that happen when self-protection early start is disabled. Here are both dump files (saved in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\CrashDumps) for this morning's mbamtray.exe crashes after MB self-protection early start was enabled, as well as the pop-up message my Vista SP2 OS displays every time the MB tray application crashes... mbamtray.exe.1096.dmp mbamtray.exe.4192.dmp ..and a sample of one of the mbamtray.exe APPCRASH errors logged in the Event Viewer showing that kernel32.dll is still the faulting module. MB v3_5_1 mbamtray_exe APPCRASH Error Log 21 May 2018.txt As I previously reported in post # 96, the MB icon will consistently load in the system tray without crashing if MB's self-protection is completely disabled . ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi Irhere: See Cindy10's thread Norton Blocked my Mailwarebites antimailwareprogram! in the Norton forum for further information about these Unauthorized Access Blocked messages. As others have suggested, these entries are logged in the Norton Product Tamper Protection (NPTP) section of your Norton security history every time any executable (including trusted Windows system files like svchost.exe, dfrgntfs.exe, etc.) attempts to read/write/edit/delete a Norton file. This NPTP logging rarely causes a performance issue and it's usually safe to ignore these Unauthorized Access Blocked entries in your security history. The instructions in Cindy10's Norton forum thread are a bit out-of-date but if you'd like to try Firefox's suggestion in post # 3 to create scan exclusions for the Malwarebytes v3.x files listed at https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1123 (like Firefox, I always do this to prevent possible conflicts) this will likely stop the Unauthorized Access Blocked logging for MBAMService.exe. Go to Settings | Antivirus | Scans and Risks | Exclusions / Low Risks and then add the file and folder exclusions in both the Items to Exclude from Scans section (to prevent detection during a "traditional" file scan like a Quick Scan) and Items to Exclude from Auto-Protect, SONAR Detection and Download Intelligence Detection section (to prevent detection by Norton's real-time protection) as shown in the image below. See the support article Exclude Files and Folders from Norton Auto-Protect, SONAR, and Download Intelligence Scans for further information. I'm currently having a few issues running Norton v22.x and MB Premium v3.x together in real-time protection mode on my old Vista SP2 machine so I'm also testing the following exclusions for Norton executables in Malwarebytes at Settings | Exclusions | Add Exclusion. Unfortunately, the location of the main Norton executable (nortonsecurity.exe if you are using the latest Norton v22.14.0.54) moves to a different folder every time Symantec releases a product update so if you want to create an exclusion for a specific file like nortonsecurity.exe you'll have to remember to edit the exclusion every time Norton is updated. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi dcollins: Thanks for that information. I had no idea my MB Premium scheduled updates (or manually checking for updates from the dashboard or system tray icon) only look for database updates and do not check for available application updates. I'm currently preventing MB Premium from loading at boot-up due to apparent conflicts with my Norton AV (which I've documented in other threads) so you're likely correct that I don't have MB running a sufficient number of hours each day for the program to find an application update in one of these metered background update checks. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi dcollins: Then I'm thoroughly confused. Are you saying that scheduled updates (i.e., the updates I can schedule in my Premium version at Settings | Protection | Updates | Automatically Check for Updates) only check for malware database updates, and that Malwarebytes (both Premium and Free) runs a separate background check every hour for application updates on the backend servers in this metered "upgrade lottery" (assuming MBAMService.exe is running and the computer has not entered sleep/hibernation mode)? If I deactivate my MB Premium license and use MB Free as an on-demand scanner, I normally start MB manually every 3 days or so, run a Threat Scan (which updates my malware database prior to starting the scan), quit Malwarebytes after the scan is finished and then leave it turned off for another 3 days. Based on conversations I've had with MB Free users over in the Norton community, it sounds like there are quite a few MB Free v3.x users who have discovered that they need to click the Check for Application Updates button in their settings in order to receive application updates. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi dcollins: !!! Good to know. I've been using MB Premium v3.x since June 2017 and always assumed that I was checking for available application updates every time I right-clicked the MB icon in the system tray and chose Check for Updates from the pop-up menu or checked for updates from the MB dashboard. I'm still surprised, though, that my automatic updates weren't able to find the v3.4.x application updates for over a month (I finally gave up waiting and clicked the Check for Application Updates button at Settings | Application | Application Updates). Changing the frequency of my automatic updates from every hour (the default) to every three hours probably exacerbated the problem, but perhaps I didn't notice something was amiss with my automatic updates because my scheduled Threat Scans were downloading the latest malware database updates at the start of each scan. Your answer raises another important question. Since MB Free does not have the ability to automatically check for updates, does that mean that MB Free users have to monitor this forum for product update announcements and then click the Check for Application Updates button in their settings (or performing an over-the-top update with the latest installer) to receive an application update? ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365

Hi exile360: I don't think this was a new issue for v3.4.5. OP Xauma95 was using MB v3.3.1 on their Win 10 / Avast IS machine when they first reported this problem in their November 2017 thread Tray Application Doesn't Work. See Portho's suggestion to disable Fast Startup in post # 12 of that thread as well as Malwarebytes employee vbarytskyy's 30-Nov-2017 reply in post #15, stating: I've been following several threads in this forum where users began reporting their MB system tray icon intermittently failed to load at boot-up after MB v3.2.2 was released in August 2017, including calintexas' September 2017 thread mbamtray.exe Doesn't Always Start Since 3.22 Install about a Win 10 machine running Norton 360. ---------- 32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.8.0 * Norton Security Premium v22.14.0.54 * MB Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365