thewestwings

Have tried on several Windows 10 computers switching between open windows with the built-in Windows 10 keyboard shortcut: Left Alt - hold, Right Alt - tap, Tab. On all machines "Malwarebytes Tray Application" shows up as an option. Selecting Malwarebytes does not open the application. There is no way to make this go away short of closing Malwarebytes. There is something wrong with Malwarebytes. A stray process running. This did not exist in prior releases of Malwarebytes and doesn't exist on an old Window 7 machine running the current version of Malwarebytes. Besides being an anoyance, it could be a very visible indication of a flaw with Malwarebytes running processes. Is there any progress on finding the root cause of this bug?

Following your suggestion, I deleted the non-standard Windows 10 setting. Now using the built-in Windows 10 keyboard shortcut (Left Alt hold, right Alt tap, Tab), I still see the same problem with the Malwarebytes Tray icon showing up. Please see the screen shot. This appears to be the same problem as was documented and eliminated in Malwarebytes 3.2.2 and has reemerged in the standard Windows 10 configuration. It’s the only application I know that’s misbehaving this way. As before, it's annoying and distracting on an everyday basis. Earlier you said, “We did have the issue years ago [2017] because of how the program was loading. That was fixed and has not been an issue ever since.” However there are those like me who still see this problem and go to great lengths to hide it as seen in this website from 2020: https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/malwarebytes-tray-app-alt-tab-switch-window-mbtray/. The problem has returned sometime after it was fixed. It would be nice to have this problem looked at again. Thanks

OK, that Registry parameter was switched from 0 to 1 to enable the classic, less busy, Windows Alt-Tab screen. I switched it back to 0 and restarted Explorer. Now it switches between the open apps in standard Win 10 style. There isn’t a Malwarebytes open screen, so it isn’t displayed. Keeping the Registry parameter at 0, it’s possible to call the classic Windows Alt-Tab switching screen by this keyboard shortcut: Press and hold Left Alt key Press and release the Right Alt key While holding the Left Alt key, press Tab key to switch between apps Even in this case, the Malwarebytes icon is still there. Let me know if this reveals anything. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to run and get you results from FRSTEnglish. Thanks for sticking with this,

Hi, The only time is Doesn't happen is when there is no other program running on the desktop. To confirm your question, I just opened a program that closes to the Task Bar (on the right) where it sits as a background process. When it's open on the desktop, Alt-Tab gives me the Malwarebytes icon with the program icon. Close to the Task Bar, Alt-Tab and nothing pops up at all. The Malwarebytes icon is otherwise always there when any other program(s) are open or opened in any order. For your reference, see the screen shot of the Task Manager. It shows the Tray Application as "active" while the program "Access Manager" is minimized to the tray as a background process. For your reference, this website from 2020 consolidates methods to hide this problem. None were appealing to me: https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/malwarebytes-tray-app-alt-tab-switch-window-mbtray/ I found the file you referenced earlier, however I need to make an image of my disk before running it. I'll get back to you with the results afterward. Thanks again

Hello again, I’ve never run “FRST” before. No such program is on my computer. The script supplied is goes deeper into my computer’s operations that seems appropriate to diagnose or resolve the problem. Please, let’s reset & restate the issue I’m having before such drastic measures are taken. The latest version of Malwarebytes is loaded on this Windows 10 computer and runs PERFECTLY. Never had an issue with it running nor with it doing its job I see Malwarebytes in the Taskbar. If I right click on the icon, the menu pops up and I can open the program. No issues The only problem I have is when I tap the ALT-TAB Shortcut to switch between apps, a “Malwarebytes Tray Application” shows up in the list of “open” apps. This app in the Tray should not appear in the ALT-TAB list when it’s not open. When Malwarebytes is actually open/running, then selecting ALT-TAB gives me both the running Malwarebytes App plus the Tray App. This problem was reported in this forum for Malwarebytes versions circa 2017, 3.2.2. It was “fixed” by a minor program update. This computer is only a year old and never had that earlier version of Malwarebytes installed. What I’m looking for is: Is there a way to make the Tray App stop appearing in the ALT-TAB list? Or, can Malwarebytes run in the background without being in the Windows Tray? Thanks for your help.

Followed your directions. After clean, reinstall and reboot, the problem hasn't changed. Went ahead and did it all again, same result. Here's the Logs after the second clean/install/reboot cycle. Thanks mbst-grab-results.zip

Hi, I did all three suggestions and rebooted the computer between each. No change, still get the Malwarebytes Tray Application Icon with Alt-Tab press. Ran the Malwarebytes Support Tool again and attached the results. Thanks again mbst-grab-results.zip

Here you go -thanks mbst-grab-results.zip

Windows 10. When hitting alt-tab to flip between running apps, the Malwarebytes icon is popping up. Selecting the Malwarebytes icon does nothing. It is running in the background, but shouldn't be part of the at-tab selections. How do I turn this off? 4.5.14 Premium thanks