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exile360

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Everything posted by exile360

  1. You may stick with Windows 7 if you wish, however as time goes on more and more programs are going to abandon it. Microsoft is pushing very hard to get both hardware and software vendors to abandon 7 and support 10 exclusively (both AMD and Intel have stopped supporting 7 with drivers for any modern hardware they make even though there are no major changes with regards to device driver functionality in 10 compared to 7) and once January of next year hits you can expect a lot more software vendors to drop 7 support. I intend to keep running 7 for as long as I feel I can keep it secure, however the measures I take tend to be quite extreme so I don't expect everyone to do so. For most users, moving on to a different operating system will be easier, it just all depends on what kind of system you have and what you use it for to determine what OS is best. If privacy and security matter at all to you, then Windows 10 is a no-go and you should look into Linux. If usability and professional media production are king then Mac is likely where you should be. If you just browse the web, check email and like the convenience of a touch-friendly interface then you should probably be using a smart phone or tablet (likely loaded with Android or iOS). The use case for Windows 10 as a secure operating system is hard to make because it has its security compromised deliberately in order to provide Microsoft with the same kind of absurd level of user data that the likes of Google and Facebook have from their users. Weighed against 7 where your main concern would be whatever vulnerabilities (which likely have yet to be discovered even after all these years) may remain unpatched after January 2020 and, at least for now, you can use a modern browser that still receives updates/patches like anything based on Chromium (though I would not recommend Google Chrome itself if privacy is at all a concern for you) or Mozilla Firefox and keep some kind of active exploit protection on hand along with the usual recommendation for good browser plugins like uBlock Origin, Adlbock Plus, Ghostery, Disconnect, Privacy Badger, Noscript, Easy WebRTC Block, and of course the Malwarebytes Browser Extension Beta then you should be good for the foreseeable future as long as you are careful about what you download and run on your system (as you should be anyway regardless of what OS you're using) and a good HOSTS file to block bad sites, ads and trackers wouldn't hurt as well (something like HostsMan can come in quite handy for that), disabling things like remote desktop, remote registry, file and printer sharing, unnecessary services, internet protocols that aren't needed/used (basically anything other than IPV4 at this point; at least until IPV6 is widely adopted as a web standard) and use a good antivirus/anti-malware solution that receives regular daily or even more frequent definition updates and you should be OK, especially in a world where currently the most frequently targeted browser is Google Chrome and the most common type of threats are scams, ransomware and PUPs. If the threat landscape changes dramatically in the coming year then you may need to reassess, but for now at least there is no great risk in running Windows 7 that I am aware of and given the massive shift towards mobile devices I don't expect that to change any time soon.
  2. This appears to be resolved as the download isn't blocked on my end. Are you still seeing it being blocked?
  3. You may keep it if you wish, however you might also look into the Malwarebytes browser extension beta which is currently available for Chrome (and other Chromium based browsers like the new Microsoft Edge, SRWare Iron and Vivaldi) as well as Mozilla Firefox. It blocks many ads, trackers, phishing sites, clickbait sites and includes behavior based blocking for tech support scam sites and other malicious webpage types that may frequently change and therefore aren't easily blocked using a block list. You can learn more and download the extension at the following links: Chrome Firefox The extension works well alongside the protections in Malwarebytes 3.
  4. Yes, restarting the system is probably necessary since any registry startup items would not be loaded after being restored until the system is restarted.
  5. It wasn't at the time the OP reported it. I verified it on my own system, but it is indeed back now. At the time that it had vanished it didn't show up either from the direct link to the Play Store from the Malwarebytes.com Android page or via searching for 'malwarebytes' on the Play Store but everything appears fine now.
  6. I recall Malwarebytes had the same issue a while back with an earlier Windows 10 build that was later fixed. I assume that this issue will be addressed by the time the new build goes RTM assuming MS doesn't address whatever change was made on their end if they had a hand in the issue. Hopefully the logs will provide whatever info the Devs might need to fix it if necessary. I just hope it's not something silly like Defender detecting that Malwarebytes is being installed and automatically turning it off on their end regardless of the setting in Malwarebytes/the installer.
  7. You can also post on the MS Office forums here if you prefer that, and hopefully someone from the Microsoft team who actually knows about what that process does will see it and respond.
  8. That is the support page for MS Office. Once you put the details in and click on the 'Get Help' button it presents you with more options. It also prompts you to sign in with your Microsoft account so they'll most likely contact you via email. They might also have a live chat option but I'm not sure.
  9. Greetings, FRST is only used in the malware removal area of the forums where our malware removal specialists trained in the proper use of such tools assist users. Please create a new topic in that area by following the instructions in this topic and then creating a new topic in that area by clicking here and provide them with the logs and info requested in the first link and one of the malware removal specialists will assist you as soon as they are available. Good luck and I hope this issue is resolved quickly. Please let us know if there is anything else we might assist you with. Thanks
  10. Greetings, JRT has actually long been discontinued and is no longer being actively updated, maintained or supported. Please refer to the information in this topic.
  11. Greetings, This is actually how modern subscription licenses work. They are multi-seat/multi-install based licenses (if purchased for more than 1 device) and the devices/installations can be managed using the My Account feature at My.Malwarebytes.com. The problem right now is the older lifetime licenses/backwards compatibility. I do think two factor authentication might be a good idea, however it's not nearly as bulletproof as some may believe and there have already been many occasions where 2FA has been bypassed/cracked. No solution is perfect obviously, however it actually has already gotten to the point that keygens no longer work with Malwarebytes. This is why all pirated versions now included a crack along with a keygen generated key as well as modifications to the system's HOSTS file to attempt to block Malwarebytes' licensing servers because keys alone no longer work (though these additional methods actually end up breaking the application's ability to update and I suspect also break its cloud detection capabilities). I also like the idea of a notification system whenever a key/license seat is used. That said, all lifetime licenses are only good for a single device/installation at a time anyway, so there would be no need for tracking the number of installs/activations for those keys beyond the first one, so if the user wishes to use it on a new system they first must deactivate the previous device/installation so that they can move the license over. Signing into the software could be convenient for users with many different license keys, but ideally, with the modern multi-seat licensing system, most customers should only have a single key to keep track of for all of their devices anyway. The situation with multiple keys that some users such as yourself are dealing with is really just the result of lifetime licenses being grandfathered into the current licensing system so most users shouldn't have to deal with that issue. They might be able to provide such a solution eventually, but they would need to get all of the existing lifetime license users to create accounts at My.Malwarebytes.com before they could as many users are still doing things the old fashioned way and have yet to create accounts. Malwarebytes may force the issue eventually by making everyone create an account in order to activate the software, but I don't believe they've done so yet.
  12. Yes, just like Malwarebytes, ADWCleaner places everything it removes in quarantine so that if necessary it can be restored later. The quarantined items are encrypted so that they are rendered harmless/can't execute and are decrypted and restored to their original locations if restored from quarantine.
  13. Greetings, Malwarebytes does offer some level of intrusion detection in their Endpoint Protection and Response business product, however it is for businesses only, not consumers. It includes breach remediation capabilities including their proprietary Malwarebytes Forensic Timeliner Administrator Guide application. You can learn more about it here and you can compare their offerings here and if you're still not sure which solution would best suit your needs you may contact Sales here and they can discuss your environment and needs and determine which offering(s) might best fit your environment and what you're trying to accomplish. With all of that said, Malwarebytes does not offer any kind of HIPS solution if that's what you're looking for, though they do include extensive targeted behavior based detection and protection technologies in their products for specific attack vectors (like exploits and ransomware), and for consumers at least, Malwarebytes did recently acquire Binisoft including their Windows Firewall Control application. I do not know if they have any plans to offer the firewall to their business customers/as a part of their business solutions or not, but as far as I know it's mainly for consumers/individual endpoints at this time. I hope this helps, and if there is anything else we might assist you with please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks
  14. Obviously it's a component of Microsoft Office so I wouldn't recommend attempting to modify or delete it, however if it is causing performance issues on your PC I'd recommend contacting Microsoft about it and hopefully it's an issue they are familiar with and can assist you. I doubt anyone could say with confidence one way or the other what deleting that file might do and how it would affect the functionality of Microsoft Office if you were to do so. You've created 3 threads on 3 separate sites that I've been able to find so far and you're going to get the same kinds of responses from each obviously because only Microsoft knows what those files are and exactly what purpose they serve. You could check your scheduled tasks and see if there's an entry for it as it may be some kind of maintenance process that runs from time to time, but otherwise you'll likely need to contact Microsoft Support to get any real answers on what it does and what you might do to fix the problem you're experiencing with it. If you aren't willing to do that then I don't know what to tell you; you could try deleting it but it's very likely that doing so would break Office and you'd just end up having to reinstall it anyway and it's also possible that it would restore itself automatically when Office detects that it is missing the next time you run any MS Office application. MS Office isn't open-source software so there is no way for anyone outside of Microsoft's own developers to know what each file is and what function it serves, but I would speculate based on your description that it is some kind of maintenance component like a performance optimizing tool for MS Office files or a telemetry utility to report back to Microsoft or some kind of sync component related to MS Office's online/cloud functionality, but again, there is no way of verifying any of that so it's just speculation. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/what-is-osfinstaller-exe-causes-high-cpu-load-ok-to-uninstall-it.2564329/ https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/what-is-osfinstaller-exe-causes-high-cpu-load.415948/ If you want help from someone that might actually know what that file is for then the people you need to talk to can be contacted here. Unfortunately there just isn't enough information online about that file for anyone else to be able to help and Microsoft isn't exactly forthcoming with documentation about it since nothing comes up from their knowledgebase when searching for those files. That tells me that it must be for some undocumented purpose which points me to either telemetry (i.e. harvesting usage data from users) or maintenance (some automated background task with no user-facing options/controls), but again, that's just pure speculation on my part.
  15. I definitely hear where you're coming from with regards to older games. That said, if you haven't already, I'd highly recommend checking out gog.com as they have a lot of older games which have been made compatible with modern operating systems which makes it a lot easier to get them up and running (including without needing the original CDs as are often required with many older games for their DRM) on newer Windows versions. Obviously that's not the only reason to continue using an older version of Windows, but I just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware as it can be most useful and convenient when seeking to run older games on newer hardware/operating systems (plus it's all DRM-free and you can backup your games locally, so even if GOG ever goes out of business you'll still have all your games as long as you've backed them up; something services like Steam can't promise should their servers ever be taken down).
  16. Greetings, You should be able to manage your license using the new My Account feature by creating an account at My.Malwarebytes.com. You'll find instructions on how to do so in this support article and additional info on how to manage your license can be found in this support article as well as this support article (I recommend trying the Deactivate all function as that usually does the job for freeing up a lifetime license from a previous system/installation) and if necessary, you may contact Malwarebytes Support and they can deactivate the old installation for you as they did before. To do so simply fill out the form on the bottom of this page and they will assist you. I hope this helps, and if there is anything else we might assist you with please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks
  17. Greetings, According to the older documentation for a previous build of ADWCleaner here it did support CLI to some extent at one time, however I'm not sure if it still does or not as I couldn't find any references to it more recent than that so I suspect that the CLI build/component either isn't available any more or was dropped from the set of features that ADWCleaner supports.
  18. Greetings, Yes, ADWCleaner has its own database and heuristics detection capabilities so it actually does target several PUP items that Malwarebytes does not currently. I believe that eventually they do plan to integrate ADWCleaner's capabilities into Malwarebytes, however for the time being the two programs are still separate and ADWCleaner is still useful as an on-demand second opinion scanner even when using Malwarebytes on an endpoint. I hope that clears things up and if there is anything else we might assist you with please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks
  19. Greetings, ADWCleaner is just an on-demand scanner (no real-time protection) and targets mainly PUPs like adware and other junkware with a database that does target some items that Malwarebytes 3 doesn't detect so if you want to keep it around to scan with occasionally as a second opinion (a good idea, especially if you or anyone who uses the system tends to download and install a lot of 'free' software from the web that might include bundled items that you might not want on your PC) you are free to do so, but otherwise if you don't need it you can go ahead and delete it. It doesn't run in the background so it isn't going to waste any resources while you're using your PC so if you find it handy you can keep it around but if you'd rather not keep it around you can remove it and Malwarebytes should keep you safe. I hope that helps to clarify things a bit. If there's anything else we might assist you with please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks
  20. I've been without a third party AV for several years now, relying on Malwarebytes as my primary protection, and while I do generally surf safely, I do actually occasionally press my luck going out into the riskier parts of the web to go 'hunting' for new threats and bad sites to report to the Malwarebytes Research team and even then, I still have yet to get a single infection (not even a single PUP) and the worst thing I've come across so far that actually got through was the occasional tech support scam site (though even those don't get through any more ever since I installed the MB browser extension beta I mentioned; it's very good at blocking those sites). For years I used Kaspersky and later ESET, always with Malwarebytes, but now it's just Malwarebytes and MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) and it's been that way for the past 3~4 years.
  21. Greetings, To report a false positive please read the information in this topic as well as this topic and then create a new topic in the false positives area by clicking here with the requested information about the detection including a scan log from Malwarebytes showing the detection as well as a copy of the file attached in a ZIP folder so that the Malwarebytes Research team may determine why the item is being detected and get the issue corrected if it is a false positive. If there is anything else we might assist you with please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks
  22. Greetings, I am sorry for the issue you experienced. It sounds like Malwarebytes performed a scheduled scan, detected O&O and was configured to quarantine detected items automatically and to restart the system automatically to remove any items detected. I would recommend changing this so that when items are detected by scheduled scans, you have the opportunity to review the detections and decide how to handle them and when to restart if necessary should you decide to remove them. To do this, open Malwarebytes and navigate to the Settings>Scan Schedule tab and check the box next to your scheduled scan and click the Edit button or simply double-click on the scheduled scan. In the edit dialog, click the Advanced button and uncheck the option Quarantine all threats automatically, or, if you still want Malwarebytes to automatically remove detected items you may leave that box checked and simply uncheck the box next to Restart computer when required for threat removal if you just want Malwarebytes not to restart the system automatically to remove items detected by your scheduled scan. Repeat this process for each scheduled scan if you have more than one scheduled. The image below highlights the two settings I am referring to: To prevent Malwarebytes from detecting O&O again, after you've either restored it from quarantine or reinstalled it, perform a Threat scan with Malwarebytes by opening Malwarebytes and clicking the Scan Now button on the Dashboard and once the scan completes, click the empty checkbox at the top of the list of detections in the column header to clear all of the checkboxes for all of the detections and click Next. When asked what to do with the remaining detections select the option to always ignore them and they will be added to Malwarebytes exclusions so that they will no longer be detected by future scans. Optionally you may also change how Malwarebytes handles PUP detections in the future by navigating to Settings>Protection in Malwarebytes and using the drop-down menu under Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) in the Potential Threat Protection section. If you select the option Warn User then any items classified as PUP that are detected will not be automatically removed and will not be selected for removal but will still be detected so that you may review them and decide how to handle them. If you select Ignore Detections then Malwarebytes will no longer detect any items it classifies as PUP. These settings apply to all scans (both scheduled and manual) as well as real-time protection. With regards to why this program was detected, please refer to the following information about PUPs and how Malwarebytes classifies them and why: https://www.malwarebytes.com/pup/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2016/10/malwarebytes-gets-tougher-on-pups/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/06/digital-snake-oil/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/06/driver-updaters-digital-snake-oil-part-2/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/07/pup-makers-digital-snake-oil-part-3/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threats/registry-cleaner/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/puppum/2016/12/why-malwarebytes-detects-pc-pitstop-as-potentially-unwanted/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2017/11/winning-the-battle-against-pups-on-your-computer-and-in-u-s-district-court/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/puppum/2016/07/pup-friday-cleaning-up-with-5-star-awards/ https://blog.malwarebytes.com/puppum/2016/08/systweak-redux-our-response/ Regarding legal precedent, please refer to the following articles which cite two cases involving Malwarebytes and vendors blocked as PUP: https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2017/11/section-230c2-protects-anti-malware-vendor-enigma-v-malwarebytes.htm https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2018/09/section-230-helps-malware-vendor-avoid-liability-for-blocking-decision-pc-drivers-v-malwarebytes.htm The following links should also prove informative as to why many items are classified as PUP by Malwarebytes: https://decentsecurity.com/#/registry-cleaners/ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2563254/microsoft-support-policy-for-the-use-of-registry-cleaning-utilities https://www.howtogeek.com/171633/why-using-a-registry-cleaner-wont-speed-up-your-pc-or-fix-crashes/ https://www.howtogeek.com/162683/pc-cleaning-apps-are-a-scam-heres-why-and-how-to-speed-up-your-pc/ https://lifehacker.com/5482701/whats-the-registry-should-i-clean-it-and-whats-the-point https://lifehacker.com/5033518/debunking-common-windows-performance-tweaking-myths https://www.howtogeek.com/198758/never-download-a-driver-updating-utility-theyre-worse-than-useless/ https://www.howtogeek.com/233115/the-only-way-to-safely-update-your-hardware-drivers-on-windows/ http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1857635/good-free-automatic-driver-updater.html http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1974868/trusted-driver-updater.html https://www.howtogeek.com/172839/10-types-of-system-tools-and-optimization-programs-you-dont-need-on-windows/ https://computer.howstuffworks.com/question1751.htm https://lifehacker.com/5415355/do-you-really-need-more-than-4gb-of-ram https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-module-upgrade,2264.html https://www.howtogeek.com/128130/htg-explains-why-its-good-that-your-computers-ram-is-full/ https://techlogon.com/2011/03/28/will-more-ram-memory-make-my-computer-faster/ I hope this helps, and if there is anything else we might assist you with please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks
  23. Greetings, Yes, it appears you've been hit by a nasty ransomware infection. I'm not certain if the files can be recovered, however your best bet would be to work with one of our malware removal specialists to deal with the infection and they will advise you on how to proceed. To do so, please follow the instructions in this topic and then create a new topic in the malware removal area including the requested logs and information by clicking here and one of our malware removal specialists will assist you as soon as one becomes available. Good luck, and I hope that you are able to get your files back.
  24. Just to quote the article linked above by David H. Lipman as it's relevant to this issue:
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