Problem with MBAM 1.65 replicated with 1.70

[trfh]

Folks,

I have a Win 7 x64 PC running both MBAM Pro and ZoneAlarm Extreme Security. I have MBAM set to automatically update both the app and database, and when v1.65 came out in late October 2012, I immediately hit a problem of the PC freezing on startup. This was eventually solved by setting the MBAMService to "Automatic (Delayed Start)" startup mode. All has been fine since then - until yesterday when MBAM 1.70 arrived.

Starting the PC this morning gave me a similar problem after 1.65 arrived - with Windows freezing shortly after the desktop opened - to be more accurate the cursor did its never ending circle when over the taskbar and nothing responded to mouse clicks whatever. The only recovery was a forced power down. Since I also got an error message saying the MBAM database was more than 14 days out of date (which is pretty unlikely for a PC which is on the net every day) - I did wonder whether I had picked up some infection that was successfully strangling MBAM.

Starting in safe mode (i.e. without MBAM or ZoneAlarm) allowed me to access the previous emails, read up on the solution, and re-apply it. So far - I seem to be back to normal.

Its a shame that having flagged the issue so clearly in 1.65 that it couldn't have been fixed in 1.70.

To add to the confusion, I found on trying to access the original topic headed "Problem with latest MBAM release?" on this forum (started 26/10/12), that it appears to have entirely disappeared. I even found that my own username and email address had been completely removed. I have had to re-register to be able to post this - with exactly the same details as before.

I notice that my original thread did attract some criticism of the 1.65 release from other users having similar problems. My own issue was fixed by private mail (Support ticket #284856) so I suspect the solution was never made public. Rather than just removing all evidence of criticism when problems occur, would it not be more helpful to post the final solution (which was extremely simple in the end) so that anyone can find it and apply it?

Richard

[AdvancedSetup]

Hello Richard,

Except in a case where there is private or abuse posting we do not remove postings (unlike most sites seem to do). If your post is no longer here then it could possibly have been posted during a time when we had a server failure. We did lose quite a bit of posts during that period but it was due to a hardware failure and not due to removing any posts of criticism.

I'm the one that assisted you on the help desk and due to the nature of having to run tools to scan and/or remove infections is why the posting is not carried out in the General forum. You can certainly do it in the HJT forum if you like but it will more than likely take much longer to complete than it would from the Help Desk as the HJT forum is on a voluntary basis from our trained experts.

In our analysis we feel that it is actually the internal coding from ZA that is the cause and though we do try to work around their coding its not always successful.

As you've been through this before my guess would be to do a complete full removal of both products, then reinstall ZA first and update it and get a couple reboots in. Then reinstall MBAM and let ZA learn and allow MBAM (normally it should do so on it's own but if not then you may have to manually set some allows)

Here is the clean removal process for MBAM and you should hopefully still have it for ZA (if not let me know).

Please do the following and let us know if this corrects the issue for you or not.

• 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
    You can also look up your ID and Key from the Registry and copy and paste it to a Notepad document before running the mbam-clean utility.
    
    Location for Windows x86
    
    
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    
    
    Location for Windows x64
    
    
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    
    If you cannot locate your registration in the Registry and no longer have access to your order number you can contact Cleverbridge to obtain information about your order and registration information.
    Cleverbridge customer service
    
  • 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.
    

[trfh]

Ron,

well its good to hear there is a perfectly mundane explanation for the missing posts and my apparent disappearance from the forums.....<grin>. Glad to hear you don't edit out posts too.

I should emphasise that right now I have my PC working normally again - with both MBAM 1.70 and ZoneAlarm happily co-existing - having set the MBAMService to delayed start - which was the solution we thrashed out a couple of months ago.

You may also recall that we went through all this removal and re-installation procedure while tackling the problem with v1.65 - and none of it worked back then.

So are you saying that:

a) there is some advantage to having MBAM start normally (i.e. not delayed start),

and

b) that you have done something in v1.70 to make it likely that MBAM and ZoneAlarm can start at the same time?

I don't want to spend an hour or more running through this procedure if the answers to the above aren't positive. On the other hand, if you have done some work to correct the problem, and would like me to test it out, then I will be happy to give a try.

Richard

[AdvancedSetup]

I don't believe there has been anymore specific work done with regards to ZA. There has been in general though for many other av apps. The delayed start is okay but in rare instances it can be beneficial to get an earlier start but unfortunately ZA appears to not like a fast start of MBAM and can conflict as you're aware.

If all is working okay then I'd go ahead and leave things alone.

Ron