The new version of MBAM is a step back in user-friendliness

[no_contento]

Hi All,

 

I'm not one to post at forums all that often but this one time I decided it's worth the effort.

 

The new version of MBAM is so lacking in user-friendliness and there is a certain "iffyness"
to its behaviour that I've wondered why MalwareBytes would release such a flawed product?

The "iffy" behaviour is the most annoying since you never really know what the application is
doing, heck, it can't even check for updates without having problems!

A BIG QUESTION for MalwareBytes:

Why are you subjecting your installed user base to this terrible release when it makes you look
like a third rate company?

This release is something you would expect from a company without much experience, not from
a provider such as MBAM.

This look so bad for your company and I am speechless as to why you've done this !!!

 

 

[questions]

I am also interested to hear why MBAM would release such a "flawed' product...

[DougCuk]

I totally agree

- all these issues with MBAM v2 are damaging the high reputation of this program

- and the company within the tech support community.

 

I felt so fired up about this that a week ago I attempted to email the CEO and a few other senior execs at Malwarebytes - not easy as they only publish a Press Office email address - so I did some creative guesswork on possible email addresses. Most of the emails just bounced - as expected - but I did get a response from Rebecca Kline (Chief Marketing Officer) asking for specifics regarding my concerns - which I provided - but as yet I have had no response.

 

Here is a copy of my initial email - voicing my concerns re the damage to Malwarebytes reputation

 

I would like to draw your attention to an issue that is damaging the reputation and image of your flagship product Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. 

The support forums are very active with users reporting issues with v2 of the product 

- covering a range of issues including installer, scheduler, database updates, real-time protection startup, and various levels of lockups and crashes. 

 

But no-one from the Management is coming forward and saying yes we recognise there is a problem and we are fixing it. 

Ok so one strategy is to keep quiet and hope the issues get fixed 

- but in the meantime Support Engineers like myself (25 years now) are losing faith in this new version.

 

I always trusted MBAM - but with all the issues with v2 I am beginning to worry that the core functions may also be compromised. 

I will not risk a malware cleanup trashing my customers systems due to unresolved bugs in the malware removal process. 

You need to do something quickly to address this lack of trust.

 

The response on the support forum "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Help"  is getting embarrassing 

- with a stock boiler-plate response posted by AdvancedSetup, Firefox and 1PW - the post says

1. Do a clean removal and reinstall - (how many times do we have to repeat this fix again and again?)

2. Post you diagnostic logs

3. Read the FAQ 

 

 

 

 

Doug Collins - Computer Support Engineer - London UK  

[lenny13]

I too uninstalled it completely after it kept crashing when I upgraded it.  I guess some companies never learn from other companies mistakes and shoot themselves in the foot.  Such is the case with this new release.. did it need this stupid upgrade or was someone trying to justify a new release just because..

[justbrae1]

This is nothing new. We were a reseller of malwarebytes up until a year ago when they refused to believe their path exclusions was affecting network drives even though it was "excluded".

 

We still have hundreds of users who upgraded to V2 from the old licenses we sold them, and at least once a day we get a call about how the database reports its out of date, and the "Fix now" button does nothing. Rebooting or reinstalling is usually the only fix. No excuse

[AdvancedSetup]

If you're looking for support please create your own topic and provide detailed information on what the issue is and also post back some diagnostic logs and we'll do our best to try and assist you.

 

Please read the following and post back the requested logs.
 
Diagnostic Logs
 
Thank you
 

 

[RubbeR DuckY]

Hey everyone, just wanted to make a comment.

 

With over 25 million users that use the product each month, we obviously can't make everyone happy, but we're trying! We realize we took some steps back in terms of user-friendliness with 2.0, but we also made major leaps forward. The last few months have been spent doing nothing but improving the product we've built; there is still progress to be made!

 

2.0.2 was released to address most of the crash issues and bugs users have been experiencing. The next version will focus on some UI tweaks and additional bug reports.

 

If you have concrete ideas of how to improve the products, please post them here and we'll happily consider them if they make sense. If you have issues with the product, please let me know here and we'll help debug them.

 

-mk

[DougCuk]

Many thanks for your reply.

I'm sure the occasional post on these forums would do a lot to reassure us all that bugs and UI problems are being identified and addressed.
 

The staff and volunteers on the forum do a great job of dealing with the individual problems.
But where a pattern of problems indicates a more general bug fix is required

- the "reinstall, post your logs, and read the FAQ" response can be frustrating.
 

The occasional thread (or response) on the forums by yourself - or someone from development - giving an overview of development progress would go a long way to retaining the high reputation of MBAM in the tech support community - especially during this transition to a new version.  

 

Having worked as an installer and trainer - reporting back bugs and UI problems to a development team - I fully realise how the process works - the time it all takes and the conflicts that can arise. Keep your supporters in the loop and you will keep their confidence - leave us in the dark and discontent festers - or you grow mushrooms. 

[questions]

Hi RubbeR DuckY,

 

I am happy to see that MBAM is open to suggestions in order to improve the product as well as the MBAM's image.

What do you say about this:

 

1. an official announcement that MBAM v.2 wouldn't be available for download until further testing , improvement.

2. official return to v1.75, (good, stable) till v2 is being "fixed".

3. convert all new "1 year licenses" bought till now in "life time licenses" as a gest of  good will for users who bought an 1 year license and are already 4-6 months into their subscription with a defective product.

 

This combination is a win-win, you retain the 25 mil. users, gain some more time to fix v2,avoid all negative publicity and avoid a possible disaster using a "not so well tested" version of MBAM ( remember when a bad definition update crippled thousand of pc's}

 

There is no rush in launching v2, v1.75 is working quite well .

 

Thanks!

[Brendt]

Good day all.

 

my 2 cents worth (both as a user and a developer myself) i think the new interface is fantastic and a BIG step in the right direction. its clean and completely user friendly and the responsiveness while running

other tasks (such as scanning or updating) is way ahead of the old 1.X version. i find the GUI to be a lot more appealing than most over AV gui's out there at the moment, ads are kept to a minimum and the use of colors indicate exactly what state the the current installation is in (eg, out of date, or up to date).

 

why should there be an announcement that MBAM is not available until further testing? there is NO software product on earth that is 100% without bugs (heck, any OS that you are running is still under active development, even Microsoft as big as they are, are always releasing updates and bug fixes to every single one of there applications that are still in their life cycle)

 

i took part in the active testing of the beta versions and i must say that the support and attentive response from MBAM staff have always been fantastic. people need to remember that no matter how much testing takes place in house, in the wild there are thousands or different variables (especially taking into account the state of some peoples hardware and software configurations)

 

MBAM dev's and staff have done a fantastic job thus far in maintaining and bring cutting edge solutions to the game.

 

Well done MBAM..

[AmarildoJr]

Is v1.75 still being officially updated?

[Jekko]

Hello everyone,

 

QA Engineer from MBAM here.  I understand that you all feel that you are in the dark and I want to reassure you that we are doing are best to keep track of all issues reported (through support tickets, emails, forum posts like this, and our own set of tests in house).

 

If anyone has any issues to report, please send me a message and I will work with you or send you to the right person for the job.

 

As DougCuk pointed out, the process takes time, there are various conflicts that arise, and we have to fix the bugs as well as address new improvements, but rest assured we are doing our best to make MBAM 2.0 the best it can be.

 

To address the concern about MBAM 2.0 being able to still remove malware, we do various testing with live infections as well and you do not have to worry.  Please know that we do test against infections that we see commonly online but we mainly concentrate on the latest malware rather than every malware known to man.  That is part of the reason we ensure our software is compatible with other Anti-viruses to be a good complement for multi-layered software security.

 

Again, please know that we are doing our best to make MBAM 2.0 the best it can be and please PM myself if you have an issue.

 

Alternatively, you can open a consumer support ticket:

• http://www.malwarebytes.org/support/consumer/contact/
• or email us at: support@malwarebytes.org

[lateralex]

The new design is so horrid I setup an account to post here. It appears to be a giant billboard prompting users to buy the premium version, but will ultimately backfire because it is leveraging the same scare tactics of real adware to prompt purchases.

 

Here is the contructive critism that you may be interested in: I have personally told over 30 people to install Malwarebytes and about 5 of them to buy it for auto-scanning because they were relatively computer illiterate. That's not going to happen anymore because I personally can't stand the new design, and it looks like a brutal up sell to those who have the free version installed, and simply confuse those I don't want to confuse. 

[daledoc1]

Hi, @lateralex:

 

>>Disclaimer: I am just a home user and forum volunteer. I do not work for Malwarebytes.

 

This is actually the *support* area of the forum for MBAM for users who need help with installing or running the program.

There is a "Comments and Suggestions" section here.

 

I have replied to your other, similar post here.

We would be more than happy to assist you there with any specific problems or issues you might be experiencing.

 

Thanks for your understanding and for your feedback,

[AdvancedSetup]

As this topic has been answered and any user requiring assistance has already been asked to create their own new topic I will go ahead and close this topic.

Thank you again everyone.