Malwarebytes Causing Outlook Problems

[Travasaurus]

I've been getting reports that Malwarebytes 3.0 Premium (the paid version) has been causing Outlook 2016 Home & Business (not Office 365) to open so slowly as to not be usable and sometimes to quit functioning altogether, after which it wants to be opened in "Safe Mode".  It also seems to be "screening" the POP3 emails so that they take forever to download.  So far 4 of my clients (all who are running Office 2016 H&B on Windows 10 Professional 32-bit and 64-bit version 1709 Fall Creator's Update) and now I'm starting to see the same problem personally.  MB 3.0 seems to be the common denominator here so I'm wondering if anybody has experienced anything similar lately?  This all happened in about the last week or so.  Thanks in advance...

Edited April 1, 2018 by Travasaurus
typo correction

[Malwarebytes]

***This is an automated reply***

Hi,

Thanks for posting in the Malwarebytes 3 Help forum.

 

If you are having technical issues with our Windows product, please do the following: 

Spoiler

If you haven't done so already, please run these two tools and then attach the logs in your next reply:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained is safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

• Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST)
  1. Download FRST and save it to your desktop
     Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system. You can check here if you're not sure if your computer is 32-bit or 64-bit
  2. Double-click to run FRST and when the tool opens click "Yes" to the disclaimer
  3. Press the "Scan" button
  4. This will produce two files in the same location (directory) as FRST: FRST.txt and Addition.txt
     • Leave the log files in the current location, they will be automatically collected by mb-check once you complete the next set of instructions
• MB-Check
  1. Download MB-Check and save to your desktop
  2. Double-click to run MB-Check and within a few second the command window will open, press "Enter" to accept the EULA then click "OK" 
  3. This will produce one log file on your desktop: mb-check-results.zip
     • This file will include the FRST logs generated from the previous set of instructions
     • Attach this file to your forum post by clicking on the "Drag files here to attach, or choose files..." or simply drag the file to the attachment area

One of our experts will be able to assist you shortly.

 

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-The Malwarebytes Forum Team

[nikhils]

Hello @Travasaurus

Can you please follow the forum post below and send us logs from the machine you are experiencing issues with ?

Thank you.

[Travasaurus]

Here is the requested ZIP file...

mb-check-results.zip

[exile360]

It appears you're using version 3.4.4, the last version of Malwarebytes which is known to have several compatibility issues, particularly with the Ransomware Protection component.  If you would, please install the recently released version, 3.4.5 from here or open Malwarebytes and go to Settings>Application and click on Install Application Updates and allow it to download and install the new version.

Once installation is complete, go ahead and restart your system (even if not prompted to do so) then see if the issues are resolved.

Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks

[Travasaurus]

Thanks for the info, but here's my (additional) question:  Both I and my clients have our programs set to "Automatically check for updates every hour", so how is it we all missed out on this?  Plus, I use the "Windows Repair Toolbox" regularly to check for numerous different updates, of which MB is one and it never told me that it was out of date.  How come such an important update had to be discovered as it was (by the analytical programs you had me download) and why didn't it do this automatically?

[exile360]

The company has program updates pushed through the normal updater (the one that checks for database updates) metered in such a way that it is throttled so not every user is offered the new build once it has been released, so it becomes a matter of probability and is somewhat random.  This means that you might be offered it early, or it might take a really long time before it is offered to you, it just all depends.  Basically a luck of the draw kind of deal.

As for Windows Repair Toolbox, I can't speak for that or the way that it determines when updates are available as Malwarebytes doesn't make that tool, but I suspect it uses a database which the program's creators maintain and update as product updates are released for the items it keeps track of so I guess they weren't aware of/hadn't included the new Malwarebytes version in their database yet.  That's just my guess though, so if you want a definitive answer you'd have to ask them via whatever means they offer to contact them (like if they have forums, chat, email support etc.).

I tend to agree that program updates are important and should be handled more consistently for all users, however I also understand to a certain degree why Malwarebytes (and many other companies like them that handle updates this way; they're not the only ones by a long shot) does this.  For one, it makes for a major hit on the update servers when potentially millions of users are downloading the entire installer for a new build for each release.  Bandwidth is costly, and of course when servers pick up too much load it can actually cause network performance issues as there's only so much bandwidth to go around, even on large content delivery networks like the one used by Malwarebytes for delivering updates.  I also understand that even though they do their best to test their products, that if some bug or issue should slip past them and make it into a release, it's a lot easier to deal with if only a limited number of users have the new build yet.  It makes it easier to pull the build to prevent others from getting it, and it makes providing support to users who already have it easier if the numbers aren't massive.  It's sort of like a post-beta RTM (Release to Manufacturing) staging or testing phase.  Believe it or not, a LOT of vendors do this, including many AV/AM vendors.  I've seen it first hand with a lot of products I've used in the past, including AVs from various companies (I used to do product testing for Malwarebytes, so I was always using a different AV for months at a time and when an update would be released, I seldom got it as soon as it became available unless I went to their site and downloaded it directly).  While obviously this update had a fix for an issue that impacted you/your system(s), Malwarebytes still followed their standard policy with regards to staging out product updates in phases via metering/throttling.  Of course, they could always change how they do things if needed for some critical issue (for example something that were crippling everyone's systems or something), but in this case the impact was limited as not all users and systems were affected and the vast majority of issues that were seen weren't devastating and we also had the ability to provide a functional workaround (temporarily disabling Ransomware Protection to perform hindered tasks then re-enabling it once more when done).

Again, I know it isn't ideal, but they currently believe that these policies serve the bests interests of their users and customers to help ensure that everything goes smoothly with the upgrade process whenever a new version is published.