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Question About Blocking Malicious Websites


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I have read the FAQs, and I don't see this -exact- question there. I understand that IP blocking is not the same as a firewall. But what about "Malicious Website Blocking"?

The word "Firewall" suggests a wall against bad stuff coming in from the outside. So isn't Malicious Website Blocking a kind of firewall? And is it redundant to a good firewall, which I hope Windows Firewall is?

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Thanks for responding, Wide Glide. Good to know that windows firewall is effective.

Again, I already read the FAQs. My question is not about the IP blocker, it is about "Enable malicious website blocking."

If a firewall protects against outside threats, well, isn't that what "malicious website blocking" does, too? Why have both?

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I am not asking for someone to help me personally. One of your experts is already trying to help me, but he seems stumped.

What I am requesting is that the MBAM developers look at this problem, where a purchaser of MBAM Pro cannot check the "Enable malicious website blocking." box.

This problem seems to be getting more common, and it seems tough for the customer help staff to solve. However, it should be relatively easy for developers to understand what system file has been corrupted or damaged, or at least they should know the places to look. And developers should be able to create a tool to fix this.

Thank you for your attention.

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Thanks for responding, Wide Glide. Good to know that windows firewall is effective.

Again, I already read the FAQs. My question is not about the IP blocker, it is about "Enable malicious website blocking."

If a firewall protects against outside threats, well, isn't that what "malicious website blocking" does, too? Why have both?

No, it's completely different. A firewall merely guards against hackers and port scans, e.g. malicious entry into your computer. Malicious Website Blocking in Malwarebytes Anti-Malware blocks access to sources of known malware, including malicious servers known for hosting it, including those which might be displayed in ads to infect your system with drive-by downloaders, Trojans and exploits when visiting otherwise safe sites, something a firewall doesn't guard against.
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Most of the time this is caused by damage to the system by a rootkit (usually ZAccess and in some cases TDSS/Aleurion). Once the malware is cleaned from the system and the system files and services are restored to normal operation, Malicious Website Blocking should be functional again. In fact, our latest tool currently in beta, Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit BETA has repair routines built in which it runs when it detects an infection on the system known for causing such damage. After cleanup of the infection, the damage is also repaired, thus resulting in a normally working system again, free of infection.

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Thanks, exile, I guess my news isn't new after all. However:

My system was having major problems, and I ran Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit BETA. It ran smoothly and knocked off two rootkits. Now a host of problems has disappeared and my system runs like new, except that I still cannot "Enable malicious website blocking." My MBAM rep and I have been scratching our heads and trying various things for a week and a half.

So maybe there's a third rootkit that Anti-Rootkit doesn't find yet? Or maybe some damage simply was not repaired, and needs to be addressed as a separate problem / repair tool (thus this thread)? Or maybe I should run Anti-Rootkit again (with my MBAM advisor's OK)?

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Yeah, it's likely that there's still some unrepaired damage. Did your helper advise you to run fixdamage.exe, a tool included with Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit BETA, yet? That may solve the problem and it's worth a shot, but ask them about it first and make sure that they give the go-ahead to do so.

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