Win 10 - 2 Malwarebytes icons in tray

[DaveG75]

I have 2 Malware icons in my Windows 10 tray at the bottom of the screen. The tooltip for the v. 3.0.6 says "Updates: up to date." But the tooltip for 2.2.1.1043 has an exclamation point (!) on a red triangle and constantly opens a box telling me there is a newer version.

How do I get rid of the icon for 2.2.1.1043? 

[Aura]

Hi Dave

Do you by any chance, still have Malwarebytes 2.2.1 installed?

[DaveG75]

The only Malwarebytes in my Settings > Apps & Features is 3.0.6.1469.

Meanwhile, Task Manager shows several MWB - one mbam.exe for 2.3.173.0, one for mbamscheduler.exe 3.1.7.0,  one for MBAMService.exe 3.1.0.415, mbamtray.exe 3.0.0.912. 

It would appear that I'm not actually running mbam.exe for 3.0.6....?

So I looked on my Win 10 system disk and found that I have 2 mbam.exes in 2 program files directories.

The mbam.exe in Program Files (x86) is v. 2.3.172.0, dated 3/10/2106.

I do have another mbam.exe in Program Files (NOT x86, i.e., 64-bit programs) that is 3.0.0.912, dated 1/20/2017.

I saw a message that MalwareBytes would delete a previous version (or was it "all previous versions") when I was installed the 3.0 version. Apparently, it did NOT delete the earlier one. 

Since the v.2 doesn't show up in Settings > Apps & Features, how do I uninstall it and all its ancillary stuff? Without screwing up my license and overall protection?

More to the point, even if I can do that, how do I get MWB 3.0 to run?

 

[Telos]

Hi Dave, I had this when I installed v3 over v2. I uninstalled v3 (deactivate paid license first) followed by uninstalling v2 using MBAM's v2 clean uninstaller. After a reboot I deleted any MBAM presence under /ProgramData, /Program Fines, and /Program Files (x86). Then another reboot followed by a CCleaner registry purge of MBAM related items. After a 3rd reboot I installed v3 and all was well (moderately speaking), and only one tray icon appeared. Hope this helps!

[Aura]

Deactivate your licence (in both Malwarebytes if you're able to), then proceed to uninstall every instance of Malwarebytes listed in your Control Panel (under Programs, Uninstall a program). From there, reinstall Malwarebytes 3.0.6 from the link below, and let us know if you still have 2 tray icons running.

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/195049-malwarebytes-306-released/

 

[DaveG75]

Aura, thanks, that seems to have done it.

Telos, I'm hoping that Aura's fix did it. I don't have CCleaner...I see at the Piriform site that there's a free and a Pro version - will the free CCleaner do the trick? (I have Piriform's Recuva, which has saved a couple of USB thumbdrives in the past).

[Aura]

You shouldn't use any kind of Registry Cleaners. Even Microsoft advise you not to use them, and they don't support them as well. If the instructions you followed did the trick, I would leave it at that (unless another problem arise)  

[Telos]

18 hours ago, Aura said:

You shouldn't use any kind of Registry Cleaners. Even Microsoft advise you not to use them, and they don't support them as well. If the instructions you followed did the trick, I would leave it at that (unless another problem arise)  

 

In general, I would agree, however, CCleaner is fairly benign and I would only rid myself of anything MBAM-related registry entries (as I stated). After all, if MBAM fully uninstalled there should be no MBAM keys remaining in the registry, If there are, they only add risk to the upgrade installation.

When things are as dodgy as the V3 upgrade, I would leave few stones unturned.

@DaveG75 Yes, The free CCleaner version is adequate. Use its default settings. It will offer to save your registry edits so that they may be restored. Do that.

[Aura]

After a proper uninstall, there should only be one Malwarebytes key left in the Registry and it doesn't get in the way of future installations. Plus, asking someone to use a Registry Cleaner when that person doesn't know his way around the registry is also a recipe for disaster.