[SOLVED] MBAE icon spontaneously vanishes from security tray

[tNtftb]

Hello:  I purchased the AE product some months ago, and have found almost from day-one that it goes away at the drop of a hat.  Specifically, if I uninstall MBAM or delete/ modify various unrelated files, the icon disappears from the taskbar tray and I have to go and dig it out of my program files to reinstate it.  All too frequently, I don't even know that it vanished or for how long, yet the app states that it's "running," when I call it up and it's active in task manager. It may be "running" but it's not functioning as it should--recently I had a Java exploit blocked on a news webpage by my firewall of all things, with nary a peep from MBAE. It wasn't in the security tray at the time, why I don't know.  I've uninstalled and reinstalled AE several times with the same result.  Shouldn't AE's software be completely independent of other PC functions?  I hope the latest version addresses the vanishing act, because I need a reliable product. Or, is something up with my PC?  Both?  Thanks for any help.

Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit.zip

[pbust]

Welcome to the forum @tNtftb and thanks for posting.

 

You attached the wrong directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit instead of C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit).

 

Once MBAE is installed on your system, does the icon show up after a reboot and then disappear? By default MBAE (and all system tray icons) get "hidden" by the OS. You have to click the up arrow next to the clock to see all the icons. This is not what you mean, is it?

[tNtftb]

Thank you for responding, Mr. Bustamante, here is the correct (I hope) log, sorry about that.  If that's still not right, please tell me what I need to do.  Very quickly, within the past 3 weeks, a full hardware scan, 2 sfc/scannows (one yesterday), your proprietary check of AE with the calculator, and numerous malware scans all reveal zip.  Yes, I click on the arrow where you had indicated.  Even a simple action like shutting down my machine and restarting it the next day will result in AE's disappearance.  Does it need to be enabled in start-up?  No?  AVG is also in the tray, is that why MBAE vanishes--lol!  Thanks for any advice.

mbae-protector.xpe.zip

[pbust]

Thanks for the logs. I don't see anything weird in them.

 

Questions:

 

#1 - If you reboot does the MBAE icon show up in the system traybar right after the reboot?

 

#2 - If the MBAE icon does show up right after reboot, what happens right before it disappears? Is your Explorer (i.e. Desktop) crashing and recovering by any chance?

 

#3 - If you click on the up arrow of the system tray and choose "Customize" which option is selected for MBAE?

[tNtftb]

reply to #1: No, it never shows up unless I remember to manually reinstate it.

reply to #2: No, IE never crashed on me thus far. Nothing happens. MBAE never shows up upon reboot.

reply to #3: I wonder if you've solved the issue. It reads "only show notifications." Should the

"show icon and notifications" option be checked? It seems AE only notifies you when you

open your browser if the icon is physically in the tray. When you're notified, that's

reasonably certain the program is then capable of blocking exploits, right? Sorry, not

at all savvy about these issues, so I appreciate your patience.

[pbust]

Re #3, change it to "Show icon and notifications" and click OK.

 

Does it show now?

[tNtftb]

This is the blurb I get when I changes the setting--

[tNtftb]

Wow, I hit "post" instead of "preview", the screenshot was too large. The blurb reads "This

notification icon is not currently active. It will be shown the next time it becomes active." How do you activate the product? I thought it was active already. I fiddled with it but it won't move into the tray. Do you recommend uninstall/reinstall again? This was not as easy as I thought.

[pbust]

According to the logs and the screenshot it shows MBAE tray icon as running.

 

Are you sure that the MBAE icon is not showing in your system tray area after a reboot? Even if you click the up arrow?

 

Try the following test:

1- Download and run the mbae-test utility from here

2- When running mbae-test, do you get a balloon notification from the system tray area?

3- After running mbae-test, click the Exploit button. Do you get an alert from MBAE?

[tNtftb]

OK, this is what I did and it seems to be a partially satisfactory solution: I enabled AE in start up and rebooted several times. Now, after about a minute, the icon appears on the taskbar and the notification appears normally after opening IE. The Action Center flag also appears and then duly migrates into the security tray, but the AE icon stays put on the taskbar. A little irritating but at least it seems to be there. I used your test already and the blocked exploit is showing in the log.

You know something, this is speculation, and I joked about it earlier but I'm aware of a less-than-agreeable dynamic between AVG and Malwarebytes and I'll give some examples: Junkware Removal Tool routinely removes AVG components and several MB representatives have expressed some opinions and statements about AVG that make you think. Likewise, I had to use AVG remote access and one of the first things the technician did was to highlight MBAE (and only MBAE) in red and advise to remove it, saying it was an unnecessary program. When I declined, he persisted! In general, you wonder how personal issues between two corporations influence how their software interacts with one another. Kind of intriguing in a way. Anyway, the issue is as solved for now as it's going to be, so thank you very much for your advice and input.

[pbust]

I enabled AE in start up and rebooted several times. Now, after about a minute, the icon appears on the taskbar and the notification appears normally after opening IE. The Action Center flag also appears and then duly migrates into the security tray, but the AE icon stays put on the taskbar. A little irritating but at least it seems to be there. I used your test already and the blocked exploit is showing in the log.

Ahh, so you probably disabled it at some point in time (or some other software disabled it).

 

Re: AVG, no comment. Their own comments speak for themselves.

[tNtftb]

Sigh...yes, another software inhibits MBAE from showing itself and then moving into the security tray, but it couldn't have done so without my having messed with something to begin with, what exactly, I don't know. I'm afraid to go rummaging around trying to find out. I was glad to be able just to summon the icon from the murky depths of my machine and get it to stay there. As long as it works, albeit visibly, that's good.

Thanks again, tNtftb working off Davy Jones Locker