Um -- I really appreciate the hard work you put into making these forums useful, but I don't think you read my post carefully. I was able to restore the systems infected to complete health, and Malwarebytes back to full function, but it took some work on identifying the infectious agent, crippling it, and THEN I could properly install/update/run MWB and other tools. That was kind of my point, along with posting the exact error here so that someone might find the solution if they google the term. Other threads on this forum where the topic was broached have been closed, unfortunately, but with the typical threats such as touchpoint and SoftCop, it can be handy to see how they directly go for Malwarebytes and how to get around them.