Malwarebytes corrupted system file (SysWow64.dll).

[PaulSample]

I have just installed Malwarebytes on my brand new WIndows 7 laptop (64-bit). I ran a quick scan and shortly thereafter it hung while scanning a system file SysWow64.dll. Not only that it hung my entire system and the only recourse was a hard-kill. Unfortunetely this corrupted this file and now I cannot boot up the OS at all. I get a BSOD on start up.

Advice to all who may think about using or buying this product. DO NOT. It is worse than the malware it is supposed to remove.

[exile360]

Greetings and welcome

There is no valid Windows system file by the name SysWow64.dll, so I suspect that the file being scanned was itself actually an infection, and it is likely the cause of your woes.

Aside from your report above, I am not aware of anyone else ever reporting a system being rendered unbootable or a file being corrupted simply by scanning it with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

I would highly recommend that you do the following to get your system checked for infection (including resolving the BSOD issue that you're seeing):

Greetings

We don't work on malware removal in this part of the forums.

Please read and follow the directions here, skipping any steps you are unable to complete. Then create a NEW topic here.

One of the expert helpers there will give you one on one assistance when one becomes available.

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If you are unable to do all or any of the steps in the link to the directions above, just post your problem into the forum I gave you a link to anyway and someone will be able to assist you.

If you prefer to be assisted via email you may contact Consumer Support and one of our support staff members will assist you directly.

Thanks

[PaulSample]

Well maybe that wasn't the exact name of the file but it was in the SysWow64 directory. This is a brand new laptop that had just been taken out of the box not long before. And it obviously was a valid system file that Malwarebytes corrupted because I can no longer boot up. And this isn't the first time I have had problems with Malwarebytes hanging on a scan and freezing the entire system. It happened on my previous laptop as well (Vista OS) so I stopped using it there. Luckily it didn't ruin my system like it did with my new laptop. But I was stupid enough to give it another try... And from reading your forum apparently I'm not the only one who has problems with Malwarebytes hanging on scans. It seems very common. Maybe thats something you'll might want to consider fixing instead of forcing your users jump through 10 hoops just to get a 'workaround' that doesn't seem to work. Just a thought anyway

[exile360]

There's a huge difference between a freeze during a scan and a system that won't boot.

We have done a lot of diagnostics on freezing issues with our scanner, and in the majority of cases the cause came down to one of two things:

• File corruption, usually due to a bad sector on the hard drive or a failing hard drive.
  
• An active rootkit infection locking up the system while Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is scanning.
  

Again, I have never seen a user report that a scan caused the system not to boot. That being said, I have seen cases where a system would not boot after having Malwarebytes Anti-Malware remove a threat, but those issues have been corrected long ago.

It is still my suspicion that new or not, your hard drive itself has an issue. I would recommend running a hard drive diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your computer's hard drive if I were you, but obviously it's your decision to accept my advice or not.