Use of system restore corrupts MBAM 1.60

[imbart]

I had occasion to use System Restore which restored my Win XP SP3 computer to a point about 8 hours previously which purported to be successful. I have had free MBAM 1.60 on my computer since it came out which wouldn't work initially and I did the mbam-clean reboot download and reinstall solution which worked for me except my ignore list disappeared once but now hopefully OK. I realise a lot of people had these problems and hopefully they will be analysed and solved in due course. However this seems to be another one.

I have had the previous versions of MBAM for many years and it was never before affected by the use System Restore. Today however immediately after restoring I thought I had better check that MBAM was OK only to find that it would not load and I got a message to the effect that the MBAM database was missing or corrupted and would I like to download a new copy. I didn't wish to get any more involved playing around with it so I undid the System restore back to the present and all seems fine again.

I would be grateful if MBAM staff could add this problem to others that they are sorting out with MBAM 1.60.

Many thanks.

[AdvancedSetup]

Unfortunately by using System Restore you also reset keys in the Registry that are different in the new 1.6 version compared to the 1.5 version. By going back and forth and using System Restore keys that are needed no longer matched.

If you're not using Zone Alarm the following should correct it for almost all users. If you are using Zone Alarm please send me a Private Message and I will work with you for a possible fix.

Thank you.

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.
    

[imbart]

Many thanks, AdvancedSetup for your very prompt response and assistance.

I don't have Zone Alarm and my current free MBAM 1.60 is installed after using the mbam-clean reboot download and reinstall solution advocated which I thought cleared out version 1.5. As a result my current free MBAM 1.60 has been installed since 28th December 2011 and was on my machine prior to and during my system restore point today (2nd January 2012). Both the restore point and the actual restoration were the same date (different times).

At present I am OK having undone the system restore but wouldn't the registry details still have been for 1.6 in view of the above?

Why would it still have 1.5 elements in System Restore to affect it after the "mbam-clean, reboot, download and install 1.6" operation and will this happen every time I used System Restore?

[exile360]

It may have replaced some of 1.60's configuration files as well, which could have caused the issues. Those files are updated/replaced each time you update your database.

[imbart]

Thanks exile360.

I did actually update between times with 1.6 but previous versions usually loaded after System Restore although updates reverted back to whatever they were at the restore point and had to be re-updated but it was all very smooth.

In the case of 1.6 it didn't load and I got the message that I mentioned in my first post above about the database. I wonder now that if I had clicked "Yes" instead of "No" whether it would have just updated to the latest database and MBAM would have loaded afterwards. At the time I thought a complete new 1.6 download was involved.

[exile360]

I wonder now that if I had clicked "Yes" instead of "No" whether it would have just updated to the latest database and MBAM would have loaded afterwards.

Yes, that's a new function in 1.60. When it detects that its database has been corrupted, it automatically prompts you to download a fresh database rather than simply throwing an error like 1.51.2 and previous versions did.

[imbart]

Thanks again exile360.

The previous versions didn't indicate an error after System restore. As I mentioned it took the database version back to the restore point - it looked and acted perfectly normal otherwise and all I needed to do was run update again in the normal way to get the latest database version.

However if MBAM 1.6 will load on its own after clicking "Yes" to the message that the database is corrupted or missing and do I want to download a new copy I shall try it next time but I have to say I prefer the way the previous versions of MBAM worked in this situation.

[exile360]

Thanks again exile360.

The previous versions didn't indicate an error after System restore. As I mentioned it took the database version back to the restore point - it looked and acted perfectly normal otherwise and all I needed to do was run update again in the normal way to get the latest database version.

However if MBAM 1.6 will load on its own after clicking "Yes" to the message that the database is corrupted or missing and do I want to download a new copy I shall try it next time but I have to say I prefer the way the previous versions of MBAM worked in this situation.

Yes, my guess is that one of the configuration files that contains the metadata that is used to verify the database's integrity is perhaps getting corrupted or replaced by System Restore, causing a mismatch between what MBAM thinks the database should be and what it actually is. It's a pitfall of using rollbacks with System Restore (programs like Acronis TrueImage or Macrium Reflect are far more thorough, though more time consuming than System Restore). The old version of MBAM had no database integrity checking, so that meant if a situation did arise where the database was corrupt, MBAM would just throw an error instead of trying to right itself.

You've obviously found an issue with it, however I'm certain that you can agree, aside from this particular scenario, having such functionality in our product is important so that each time the program launches, the database is verified as being valid.