"Malwarebytes has encountered an error and has to close" message

[JohnnySokko]

Hello,

I have two questions. The first one pertains to an error message that I frequently receive after initiating the MBAM scan, and my other question is just a general question.

FYI: I am running the free version of MBAM, and my operating system is Windows XP.

My first question. . . .

Frequently, several times a month, shortly after initiating MBAM, I will get an error message a few minutes into the scan and the program will then close. The error message is from Microsoft and it says, "Malwarebytes has encountered an error and has to close." After I close the program and re-initiate the scan, it works fine.

Any idea what could be causing this?

Now on to my second question. . . .

When I am downloading a product, such as one of yours (or any product, for that matter), what is the difference between selecting RUN or SAVE when prompted in the download dialogue box? They both appear to do the same thing, but there has to be a difference or the choice between the two wouldn't be given. Can you briefly explain what the differences are?

I have never been able to fully understand what the differences are between the two options. I tried asking the question on another forum and even tried looking up the answer online, but I only became more confused.

I received the following answer on a differnt forum. . . .

"When you click RUN, it downloads the installer file and instead of placing that folder in a downloads directory, it keeps it in a temporary folder."

That answer wasn't very helpful to me, so I went online and found the following answer from the website Ask Leo! The author, Leo A. Notenboom, states the following (which is basically the same as the other answer). . . .

"One important thing to note about using RUN: the file is downloaded into a temporary location, and it may eventually be deleted. In fact it almost certainly will be deleted if you wait long enough, or when you clean out your temporary files. That's why SAVE exists. Use RUN when you only need the download once, such as a song or video you only plan to listen to or watch once."

Okay, none of that makes any sense to me. I'm sorry. All of my software that I've ever downloaded has been downloaded using the RUN feature, not SAVE. And I have used all of them more than once. Many programs, like MBAM, I use daily. All of them are on my hard drive. They are not in temporary folders, and despite what Leo (and the other guy) says, they are not deleted when I clean my temporary files (which I do every day since I am a heavy computer user).

Every program that I have ever downloaded using RUN is in a folder somewhere in my C drive, and they can only be removed if I specifically choose to manually delete them. So I do not understand any of this talk about temporary locations and the like. UGH!!!!!!!

Please clear this up for me, if you can. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[noknojon]

Hi -

Any installed program may be slightly corrupted or altered, so a Clean Uninstall / Reinstall is the easy part.

So - For the first part of your question please follow these procedures as outlined below.

•Download and run this utility. mbam-clean.exe

•It will ask to restart your computer (please allow it to).

•After the computer restarts, Temporarily disable your Anti-Virus and install the latest version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from Here

Launch the program and set the Protection and Registration, if using the Pro Version (Not required in free version).

Then go to the UPDATE tab if not done during installation and check for updates.

Now setup any file exclusions as may be required in your Anti-Virus/Internet-Security/Firewall applications and restart your Anti-Virus/Internet-Security applications.

In regards to your second part -

"One important thing to note about using RUN: the file is downloaded into a temporary location, and it may eventually be deleted.

In fact it almost certainly will be deleted if you wait long enough, or when you clean out your temporary files.

That's why SAVE exists. Use RUN when you only need the download once, such as a song or video you only plan to listen to or watch once."

""All of them are on my hard drive."" - How can you be sure ??

The above is correct. To keep a program fully installed "long term" always use the Save option -

The RUN option is to only keep for a short time and may be removed by a Temp File Cleaner eg. CCleaner or TFCleaner

It can / should be saved in My Documents if you wish to keep it, and uninstalled / deleted, once you no longer wish to use it -

Thank You -

[JohnnySokko]

Hi -

Any installed program may be slightly corrupted or altered, so a Clean Uninstall / Reinstall is the easy part.

So - For the first part of your question please follow these procedures as outlined below.

•Download and run this utility. mbam-clean.exe

•It will ask to restart your computer (please allow it to).

•After the computer restarts, Temporarily disable your Anti-Virus and install the latest version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from Here

Launch the program and set the Protection and Registration, if using the Pro Version (Not required in free version).

Then go to the UPDATE tab if not done during installation and check for updates.

Now setup any file exclusions as may be required in your Anti-Virus/Internet-Security/Firewall applications and restart your Anti-Virus/Internet-Security applications.

In regards to your second part -

""All of them are on my hard drive."" - How can you be sure ??

The above is correct. To keep a program fully installed "long term" always use the Save option -

The RUN option is to only keep for a short time and may be removed by a Temp File Cleaner eg. CCleaner or TFCleaner

It can / should be saved in My Documents if you wish to keep it, and uninstalled / deleted, once you no longer wish to use it -

Thank You -

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I haven't been able to get back to you on this until now.

The problem that I experience with MBAM stopping mid-scan only happens occasionally — but on a somewhat regular basis. I would estimate that it does it, maybe, once out of every ten scans. After closing the program, after I get the error message, it always works fine on the second attempt at running it.

Being that the problem is so intermittent, does this still sound like an "altered" or "corrupted" install to you? I would think, if it were, that the problem would occur pretty much every time that I launch it. Would it not?

[daledoc1]

Hello,

Until noknojon returns, please follow his excellent advice to cleanly reinstall MBAM.

If you still experience freezes or crashes after that, then please see the FAQ - Section L for some suggestions on how to resolve this.

Thanks!

daledoc1

PS: Please use the button instead of other ones when you reply here and at the other forums, so that it will be easier to read.

[JohnnySokko]

daledoc1,

Thanks for your reply.

I guess there's no harm in doing a clean reinstall — even if the problem is only intermittent. I'll try that later this afternoon and see how it works from there.

What's the point, though, of using the mbam-clean.exe utility? Please tell me that. Can't I just uninstall it using Add/Remove Programs and then reinstall it after that? What's the difference?

On a separate matter, you told me to use the Add Reply button when I reply, instead of the other options, because it will be "easier to read."

I have no problem following whatever the preferences of this forum are, but I have to admit, your recommendation is a little confusing to me (and is the exact opposite of how I've been instructed to post elsewhere), so I'd like to clear this up. (I like things to make sense to me. I hope you can appreciate that.)

I've always been instructed, elsewhere, to use the Reply button (not the Add Reply button) because doing so will automatically quote the material that one is responding to, and it will make it easier to follow along and read. (Because you can easily see what a person's comments are in reference to.)

In light of those reasons, which make perfect sense to me, how does doing it the way that you suggested make it easier than that?

[daledoc1]

Hi, again:

Yes, please follow noknojon's advice.

The steps to do a clean reinstall, including running the cleanup tool, will enhance the likelihood of resolving any minor corruption issues.

It will only take a few minutes - please be sure to reboot the system after it runs.

As far as the reply preferences, there's really no need to use the "quote reply" for routine topics. It merely duplicates the previous post, taking up space and bandwidth and making it harder to follow. Anyone reading a routine topic will have no trouble reading the consecutive replies to follow a thread. If there is a particular section of a prior post to which you would like to call attention, then feel free to include a quote snippet. But there is no routine need to use the "quote reply" button. The "add reply" button should be more than sufficient.

Let us know if the clean reinstall resolves your original issue.

If not, please refer to the FAQ section to which I referred in my original reply.

Thanks!

daledoc1

[JohnnySokko]

daledoc1,

Thanks for your reply, and thanks for explaining about the way to reply.

Two quick questions. . . .

The MBAM cleanup tool (mbam-clean.exe), I assume that is only needed/used when one needs to uninstall a corrupt or incomplete installation to make sure nothing at all remains of it that might possibly interfere with the reinstallation. Is this correct?

And it would not be used to uninstall the program if one simply wanted to remove it for some reason that had nothing to do with it being corrupted. In that case, using Add/Remove Programs would be sufficient. Is this also correct?

If either statement is incorrect, please let me know where I'm mistaken.

[AdvancedSetup]

It is not the normal removal method as sometimes someone simply wants to remove and retain their registration. If you really want to fully remove the product then using the mbam-clean tool would be a better choice.

Please do the following:

• Download and run mbam-clean.exe from here
  
• It will ask to restart your computer, please allow it to do so very important
  
• After the computer restarts, temporarily disable your Anti-Virus and install the latest version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from here
  
  • Note: You will need to reactivate the program using the license you were sent via email if using the Pro version
    
  • Launch the program and set the Protection and Registration. Then go to the UPDATE tab if not done during installation and check for updates.
    Restart the computer again and verify that MBAM is in the task tray if using the Pro version. Now setup any file exclusions as may be required in your Anti-Virus/Internet-Security/Firewall applications and restart your Anti-Virus/Internet-Security applications. You may use the guides posted in the FAQ's here or ask and we'll explain how to do it.
    

[JohnnySokko]

Thanks. I will run the removal tool (as instructed) and reinstall MBAM.

If you don't mind, I would like to ask just two more questions (for future and general reference).

1.) If someone needed to completely remove MBAM (as in the case of a corrupt install to ensure a clean re-install), and they removed it by doing a standard uninstall using Add/Remove Programs, could they still run the removal tool(mbam-clean.exe) afterwards to clean up any remaining remnants of the program? Or is it too late (at that point) to run the tool?

2.) Would using a program like Revo Uninstaller (set to advanced — for the most thorough uninstall) be basically the same thing as using the MBAM removal tool, and can it be used instead? Or does the MBAM removal tool still do more than even what a program like Revo would do?

[Firefox]

1.) If someone needed to completely remove MBAM (as in the case of a corrupt install to ensure a clean re-install), and they removed it by doing a standard uninstall using Add/Remove Programs, could they still run the removal tool(mbam-clean.exe) afterwards to clean up any remaining remnants of the program? Or is it too late (at that point) to run the tool?

Yes you can still run the mbam-clean tool even it you have already uninstalled from the add/remove programs. Or you could just skip the add/remove programs and just run the mbam-clean tool and it will do it all. If you uninstall from the add/remove programs feature, it leaves things behind like your registration information for example. The mbam-clean tool removes it all.

2.) Would using a program like Revo Uninstaller (set to advanced — for the most thorough uninstall) be basically the same thing as using the MBAM removal tool, and can it be used instead? Or does the MBAM removal tool still do more than even what a program like Revo would do?

As for Revo, I can not really tell since I never have used it. I just prefer the mbam-tool myself.