Marc_Foreman

Ron, thanks so much for that. I appreciate the rundown about ransomware protection. To be honest, I use it as a last line of defence, as when I exclude locations I know to be non-critical I still ensure that ransomware protection is active on those locations (I don't like excluding them from everything, especially in the wake of wannacry). I'll run the test as soon as I can. Best regards, Marc

Thanks for the heads up RonnHarr. I didn't try disabling ransomware protection, as it's a critical feature I need for this PC (it's a work system), but it's interesting you're seeing something similar. Since you're running Windows 10 1903 it also cements my thinking about holding off on a major Windows version update until resolved, as it'll just be complicating the situation at the moment, so thank you! I'm fortunate in having both Porthos and Maurice debugging the issue - maybe the resolution will also help your issue. Much appreciate your input! Many thanks, Marc

Please see the attached 2 files for the logging information you requested. Fixlog.txt mb-cbs-log.zip

Hi Porthos - thanks. Your link doesn't work either (still shows "unavailable"). However, kudos to you for anticipating that and putting the script in the message. I'll download and transpose manually and get back to you both. Thanks!

Maurice - this is the error which appears when I attempt to click the fixlist.txt attachment: This attachment is not available. It may have been removed or the person who shared it may not have permission to share it to this location. Error code: 2C171/1

Hi Maurice - thank you for your help but I can't download the fixlist.txt you've attached to the post. It shows as "unavailable".

Hi Maurice, and thank you for the advice on all fronts. Please find attached the two logfiles you've asked for. Bear in mind these logs were generated when running the old deprecated version of Malwarebytes 3 mentioned in my previous post. I will not be able to run this tool with Malwarebytes 4, as installing version 4 typically denies me access to my desktop on a normal boot. Addition.txt FRST.txt

Just a final point on my windows version - although I have deferred feature updates, checking available updates for my system using WUShowHide reveals that I'm not yet being offered any version higher than my current 1803 edition. Best, Marc

Hi Maurice, I delibrately don't rush to update Windows to the latest version for obvious reasons. It's a business-critical platform, and I need to be certain that what I'm upgrading to has been market-proven. Thanks.

Thank you Maurice. I tried this as per my original post during all of the issues. I used the support tool to clean up all aspects, and then answered "yes" to the prompt to reinstall. Once reinstallation occurred of Malwarebytes 4, the same problem of locking up occurred.

I googled the issue and found an old forum post which provided a link to your legacy support tool at https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb3_check I ran this and in a few moments it created the log. I'm not sure it contains all that you need from my own windows event log, but I am attaching the zipfile it created to this post. Regards, Marc mb-check-results.zip

Ok, the support tool is unable to complete the zip stage in both regular and safe boot with networking startup modes. The error message is "unable to create MBST-grab-results.zip". Can you provide me with instructions on collecting the necessary logs manually please.

Hi - tried to run this tool, but it fails at the "zipping logs" stage, and reports it's unable to write the zipfile. I'll try to generate these logs in safe mode, but is there a manual way of collecting them for you? Best, Marc

I'm having trouble with Malwarebytes 4. I'm a long-standing Malwarebytes premium license holder, having stayed with the software through all versions. I'm upgrading from Malwarebytes 3, and have found that following the upgrade, I get periodic pauses in windows operation. these pauses affect the windows explorer shell which provides the desktop, effectively halting all interactions between me and the system. This problem also manifests as a complete lockup on system startup, occurring intermittantly but with heavily weighted likelihood of happening following a cold boot. During these lockups, the computer is apparently still working, as I see the hard drive light flickering, but all keyboard input is ignored, and although I see a moving mouse pointer, it fails to trigger any icon or desktop related function. CTRL-ALT-DEL also fails, with no response. Once my system entered this unusable state, I had no option but to hard-reset, with a long-press on the power button to force power-down, and then reboot from cold. Once I see the windows desktop, that's when the system hang happens. The only way around this was to keep forcing power down until Windows itself launched the recovery console on start, from which I was able to get into safe mode with networking. Here, I uninstalled Malwarebytes 4, and also ran the removal tool for 3, which found old remnants of Malwarebytes 3 that apparently hadn't been removed. Once I was certain Malwarebytes was no longer present on the system, I did a normal boot, and the system worked fine. To verify my conclusions, I reinstalled Malwarebytes 4, this time from the direct download on the Malwarebytes website. Once the installer had run and completed installation, the momentary pauses during this current windows session returned, and I then rebooted and hit the same wall : As soon as the "preparing windows" lock screen clears and launches the desktop, the system hangs in the same manner as described above. Another few forced power-downs, and I was able to launch recovery console, get back into safe mode, uninstall Malwarebytes 4 and restart without a problem. I then reinstalled Malwarebytes 3 from an older version (3.3.1) that I had on file. This installed seamlessly, had no negative impact, and upon restart the system performed as expected without any problems at all. Unfortunately, the Malwarebytes website only provides access to Malwarebytes 4 from the download page, meaning that users in my position have no choice but to be lucky enough to have an older version on hand, or simply stop using the software. I'd like to work with your dev teams to analyse and resolve this problem on my system, as mine can't be the only one affected. I'm a huge fan of Malwarebytes' technology and evangelise it to all my colleagues and clients, but this problem, especially given there's no option to revert to version 3 which is now known to be stable, makes it impossible for me to continue to do so. I've actually issued a warning to them all to say don't upgrade if given the option, just in case. Does anyone else have this issue? I'm running Windows 10 v1803 (OS Build 17134.1069). Happy to share system specs and support logs via private message. Best, Marc Foreman

Thanks Ron - I'm on the latest Google version Google Chrome is up to date Version 77.0.3865.75 (Official Build) (64-bit) I don't have sync turned on, and rarely stay logged in to my google account on the browser. There is some geo-locking going on though, as my issue is with bbc.co.uk (took 5 seconds to appear today instead of the usual 15 with the Malwarebytes extension enabled). However, I can't get to bbc.com to compare. You guys have the opposite issue, where you can't get to bbc.co.uk. I'll keep an eye on the situation and if I find another website that displays the same behaviour I'll update this message - hopefully we'll both be able to connect to it. Best, Marc

Hi - this is a note for the devs. I'm experiencing a general slowdown in Chrome when loading up web pages when the Malwarebytes Browser Guard Extension is enabled. Even when turning off all per-website settings to whitelist my chosen page, the extension being active still extends the loading time for my homepage from under 1 second to around 15 seconds. The site I'm testing with is https://www.bbc.co.uk I find it odd that it's the active extension itself rather than the actual site-checking / blocking that's causing the slowdown. Once disabled, the problem immediately goes away, so hopefully that's a clue? Please let me know if I can assist in any way by running beta / logging versions to provide additional info. FYI My system is Windows 10 1803, running Malwarebytes Premium paired with Windows Defender. Best, Marc

Hi, I am including a logfile which reports what I am certain is a false positive for the Trojan.Agent.Ed malware signature. The application is a mission critical trusted license server issued by Chaos Group who are the developers for a rendering plugin for 3D Studio Max called VRAY. This particular license server has been running on my system for many months without a problem, but following an update of malwarebytes' database this morning, has been reported as having this malware. Please could you expedite a fix for this, as without this software, we have an entire LAN of PC's that are unable to obtain a license. For now, I have manually restored the software and will do so each time it is quarantined. Thank you, Marc Foreman Technical Director Buzz 3D falsepositive-vrlservice.zip falsepositive-vrlservice.zip