Malwarebytes 3.0 Biggest Frustrations

[drdancm]

The Malwarebytes 3.0 update is a wonderful achievement because it offers the integrated protection of Anti Exploit, Anti Ransomware, all of which I have used with the MBytes 2.xx version. I also applaud Malwarebytes for it's VERY GENEROUS, upgrade policy for licensed users of the prior version, and the affordable pricing for unlicensed users in general.

THANKS VERY MUCH - and now for some feedback.

 

KEEPING PRIOR CONFIGURATIONS PROBLEM

Even with the 3.06 update, the dashboard reported NO SCHEDULED SCANS, in spite of the fact that MBytes 2.0xx had them configured and running perfectly.  The interface is frustratingly unclear, should the checkboxes be ticked to have the schedule enabled ????

Turns out the answer is no, but it is terribly easy to miss that there is no starting date or time after the update.  Worse yet when you simply click to get the calendar pop up -you get 1901. You would think today's date would make more sense. Of course, it should work with a 1901 date, but I did not take the chance.  I filled in the time using 24 hour format, and got the message about something being wrong.  Time format looked just fine so, but unclear what the hell AP meant. In any case I put in non 24 hr format and specified PM  -THAT WORKED.

MAKING INTERFACE FAR WORSE THAN  EVER with EXCLUSIONS

The Malwarebytes Exclusions Interface has always been the most TIME WASTING, THOUGHTLESS of any security program I have used, but during the more recent updates of Malwarebytes 2.xx it was quietly improved.  While Avast and some other programs make this SUPER EASY by providing checkbox next to every program for the folder you open (C:\PROGRAM FILES, or PROGRAM FILE (x86), so you simply put a check next to any and every program folder you wish to exclude, Malwarebytes reverted to an irrelevant folder everytime you wanted to add another folder. Huge waste of time when you had 15-20 excluded folders. Over time, they improved so that you got C:\Program Files when you returned, saving keystrokes and time.  Still it was much more work than with the Avast style interface. If you have to do this for 5-15 computers the headache multiplies rapidly. Huge frustrating waste of time.

Now for the REALLY BAD NEWS,  with Malwarebyte 3.0 things have gotten really much worse. It now takes 4-5 mouse clicks to add an FOLDER TO EXCLUDE.  It would be a million times less frustrating and time consuming to do it the way Avast and other smart programs allow you to do this. Use a checkbox interface so once you check off the folders, a single click finishes the ENTIRE JOB.  This is not ROCKET SCIENCE, just good sense. Computer should and often can speed things up and make things easier. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION  we have specified the Interface problem and have suggested the BEST SOLUTION.  Make life easier for you customers.

If you agree with my comments please add your voice to this Feedback.

 

Thanks,

Dan

 

Edited January 30, 2017 by drdancm
Corrections

[dont_touch_my_buffer]

38 minutes ago, drdancm said:

KEEPING PRIOR CONFIGURATIONS PROBLEM

Even with the 3.06 update, the dashboard reported NO SCHEDULED SCANS, in spite of the fact that MBytes 2.0xx had them configured and running perfectly.  The interface is frustratingly unclear, should the checkboxes be ticked to have the schedule enabled ????

Turns out the answer is no, but it is terribly easy to miss that there is no starting date or time after the update.  Worse yet when you simply click to get the calendar pop up -you get 1901. You would think today's date would make more sense. Of course, it should work with a 1901 date, but I did not take the chance.  I filled in the time using 24 hour format, and got the message about something being wrong.  Time format looked just fine so, but unclear what the hell AP meant. In any case I put in non 24 hr format and specified PM  -THAT WORKED.

I don't agree with this, in my view the scan scheduler is clear and simple.

Each time MWB 3.x gets an update a default daily scan, based on installation date and time, added to the scan schedule. If anything, leave the existing scan schedule in place...

Creating a new one is simple, clicking on "Add" uses the current date and time as starting point for the schedule. I've never seen the date that you mentioned. You can select operation type (by default threat scan), starting date and time and frequency, such as daily, weekly monthly, etc. Within the scheduled option, you can also adjust the behavior of the scan under the advanced settings.

If anything, I missed the biweekly setting, but it's no big deal, just schedule one for the first of the month and the other to 15th.

50 minutes ago, drdancm said:

MAKING INTERFACE FAR WORSE THAN  EVER with EXCLUSIONS

The Malwarebytes Exclusions Interface has always been the most TIME WASTING, THOUGHTLESS of any security program I have used, but during the more recent updates of Malwarebytes 2.xx it was quietly improved.  While Avast and some other programs make this SUPER EASY by providing checkbox next to every program for the folder you open (C:\PROGRAM FILES, or PROGRAM FILE (x86), so you simply put a check next to any and every program folder you wish to exclude, Malwarebytes reverted to an irrelevant folder everytime you wanted to add another folder. Huge waste of time when you had 15-20 excluded folders. Over time, they improved so that you got C:\Program Files when you returned, saving keystrokes and time.  Still it was much more work than with the Avast style interface. If you have to do this for 5-15 computers the headache multiplies rapidly. Huge frustrating waste of time.

I don't know about the previous version, but you do have a point about adding folders and or files. Having a check mark next to the folders/files would be a nice feature.

In reality, there shouldn't be much exception from scanning to begin with, since these exception could become an exploit venue for malware. I do use the exception feature from time to time for files, folders and website on a temporary basis. Once the exception is no longer necessary, most of the times it's just a day, these exceptions removed.

Again, being able to select more than single file or folder, would be a nice feature in case it's needed...

 

[drdancm]

On 1/29/2017 at 7:03 PM, dont_touch_my_buffer said:

I don't agree with this, in my view the scan scheduler is clear and simple.

Each time MWB 3.x gets an update a default daily scan, based on installation date and time, added to the scan schedule. If anything, leave the existing scan schedule in place.

I can understand why you disagree with this, however the dates were blank after updating one of my computers, but it was fine on another one. In the past with v 2.xx  I never saw a single example of date being blank. So, this bug is very special and happens only rarely with update from v2.xx to 3.05, and then to 3.06.

 

Creating a new one is simple, clicking on "Add" uses the current date and time as starting point for the schedule. I've never seen the date that you mentioned. You can select operation type (by default threat scan), starting date and time and frequency, such as daily, weekly monthly, etc. Within the scheduled option, you can also adjust the behavior of the scan under the advanced settings.

I have done this on 30 plus times on my clients machines and it works fine,  the date / schedule problem was a single instance.

I will explain in a separate posting to follow why the scheduling could be made a lot more rational, and easier to set up in the first place.

 

On 1/29/2017 at 7:03 PM, dont_touch_my_buffer said:

If anything, I missed the biweekly setting, but it's no big deal, just schedule one for the first of the month and the other to 15th.

I don't know about the previous version, but you do have a point about adding folders and or files. Having a check mark next to the folders/files would be a nice feature.

In reality, there shouldn't be much exception from scanning to begin with, since these exception could become an exploit venue for malware. I do use the exception feature from time to time for files, folders and website on a temporary basis. Once the exception is no longer necessary, most of the times it's just a day, these exceptions removed.

Again, being able to select more than single file or folder, would be a nice feature in case it's needed...

 

 

[drdancm]

The scheduling could and should be made a lot simpler for those of us who wish to setup a schedule for quick daily Security Scans, and more thorough Weekly Scans all done at the same time of day.  Right now if you were to schedule Hyperscan at 1:00 pm using Daily Schedule, and Threat Scan (stupidly labeled as Normal for some bizarre reason, although it shows up as Threat Scan when you edit this) using Weekly Schedule, there would be a conflict with unknown consequences.

Sure you could schedule the Threat Scan an hour later, but that should not be necessary if the whole scheduling was designed smarter.

Once again Avast does this a lot better (see the attached image), although Avast keeps changing the some of the top level interface layout for no good reason.

 

Any of the scans can be set for Daily Scheduling, so it is easy once you have the Quick Scan (equivalent to Hyperscan) scheduled for every day at the same time except Sunday, you can then set the Heavy Duty Scan (equivalent to Threat Scan) using Daily Scan the same way, but you check only Sunday.  Malwarebytes method of scheduling is not all that bad but simply fails the elegance test because it fails to take the viewpoint of the user rather than focusing on the  convenience of the programmer.

[dont_touch_my_buffer]

It's a question of preference and you are correct that the current scheduled scan interface does not meet your needs. On the other hand, it's more than sufficient for my needs. 

One could argue that frequent scanning of the system isn't really necessary, when the real-time protection is enabled. Real-time protection should prevent any malware from running and if it does not, scheduled scan will not find it either. After all both of them rely on the same database.

This is one of the reason why I schedule scans twice in a month only. At times, it does find malware/PUP on the system, mainly in emails that had not been red or in the backup. In another word, the execution of them did not take place and the real-time protection did not catch them.

The other is the wear and tear on SSD dives. While it doesn't matter as much as at the early stages of the SSD drives, why wear them down unnecessarily...

[MallyMcMalware]

I came here looking to find a way to exclude a false PUM "no drives" and still don't know how to do it.  Why the hell can't I right click the quarantined item and just add it that way.  The manual adding of exclusions won't accept pasting and I have no idea how to exclude things that keep popping up aside from being able to select it from the interface which show me how registry entries are chosen please.

The constant "Real time protection is turned off" after reboot, then when I open the program, magically it IS enabled after all.  Tried the suggestions, nothing stops it.  I've uninstalled and reinstalled 3.06 fresh, same thing.

My machine is W10 set to 125% so I can see, I'm required to drag boxes, 5-6 times to see the full line of whatever is detected, excluded etc.  The interface is just BAD in several areas and feels like it's going to continue to be ignored and explained away.

These are daily annoyances I could do without and would appreciate a solution instead of an explanation.  I'm not a security expert, which is why I pay for this product, it worked and was easy to use and stayed out of my way.  Now, it's in my way and aggravating to use.

[mem]

16 minutes ago, MallyMcMalware said:

I came here looking to find a way to exclude a false PUM "no drives" and still don't know how to do it.  Why the hell can't I right click the quarantined item and just add it that way.  The manual adding of exclusions won't accept pasting and I have no idea how to exclude things that keep popping up aside from being able to select it from the interface which show me how registry entries are chosen please.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/support/guides/mbam/

Look at PUP's and PUM's under Scan on the left and then scan results on the right may help.

Edited February 3, 2017 by mem

[Ried]

Hello mem

Change the PUP and PUM settings to 'Warn user about detections'  This can be done via Settings > Protection panel

Run a scan, and when that PUM is detected, make sure the box next to it is unchecked, then click the 'Next' button

In that next window, choose 'Ignore Always' , then click Finish and it will no longer be detected.

[drdancm]

Why can't  adding the file or folder to the Exclusion List do this ???????

That's how it works in other security software.

I have had extensive discussion with a tech support person, but they never answered this question ?

Edited February 22, 2017 by drdancm

[drdancm]

In Malwarebytes 2.xxx there was a menu where you could specify what drives to include in a scan for each scan type. I'm having trouble finding it in the 3.06 version.

 

[Ried]

If you're referring to the PUP and PUM that you want to keep, you could add the folder or file to the Exclusion list BUT - if registry keys are also involved, no security software has provisions for adding registry keys to any type of exclusion.  This is why I say to change the settings to Warn and let it scan and detect them - this way you can be certain that ALL related entries for a particular program are actually excluded.

Regarding your 2nd post - Custom scan is still there.  Click the Scan link on the left hand side of the Dashboard, then select Custom Scan, then Configure Scan