Notification Window font size is suddenly huge

[crrider13]

Hello everyone,

I apologize if this has been asked before. I tried searching for it, but I couldn't find anything that was dealing with the same issue.

I'm hoping my problem is caused by some simple setting that I just need to change, and that someone can just direct me to wherever that setting is. I've been using MBAM for years without any real issues but, starting just this morning, the notification window somehow became way too big. And I can't seem to figure out how to change it back. 

As you can see from the screenshot, it's taking up almost a quarter of screen. And it's font size doesn't match my system font size, which is the font size seen on the taskbar.

(Up until this morning, the font for MBAM notifications was the same size).

 

In trying to troubleshoot this, I did find one other post where someone mentioned that their system scaling and DPI settings were causing the MBAM application window to be too big or too small, but I'm not sure that's the same issue that I'm having because my MBAM app is still using the same font size as my system.

Like the example in the first screenshot, It's just the notification window that is too big.

I'm not sure if the cause is something I changed, or some kind of recent update, or something else altogether.

I realize that it's not a major issue, it's just kind of a mild annoyance. Regardless, I would be grateful for any advice that anyone has.

Is this something that other people have encountered? If so, how did you go about fixing it?

 

[Malwarebytes]

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[crrider13]

Thank you for your prompt response to my question.

I'm sorry that my reply then ended up taking me so long (I'm kind of in the middle of a family reunion this week, and I got a little side tracked).

 

I ran the tool that you asked me to run and I've attached the logs that you requested.

 

mbst-grab-results.zip

[exile360]

Greetings,

I took a look at your logs and while this may not be related, it would be a good idea not to have explorer.exe set to run as admin:

C:\Windows\explorer.exe                                      [~ RUNASADMIN]

To change this, go to C:\Windows and find explorer.exe then right-click on it and select Properties then go to the Compatibility tab and uncheck the box next to Run this program as an administrator under Privilege level and click Apply then OK.

As for the issue with your Malwarebytes notifications, the only thing I saw in your logs that might be causing it would be the Custom Scaling setting under your display settings which you should be able to access by right-clicking your desktop background and choosing Screen resolution then clicking on Make text and other items larger or smaller and changing it to 100% (from its current 125%) and if not fixed after that, then perhaps adjusting the DPI setting which should be accessible in the same window via a link on the left side that says Set custom text size (DPI), clicking it, then changing the setting in the window that opens to 100% (from its current 120%).

Alternatively, if changing those settings makes text too small to read then you can change them back and instead open C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware and locate the file called mbamtray.exe (or just mbamtray) and right-click on it and select Properties, then click on the Compatibility tab and under the Settings section check the box next to Disable display scaling on high DPI settings and then click Apply then OK.

Once the change is made, restart your system and test to see if notifications and other text display acceptably now.

Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks

[crrider13]

Thank you for your suggestions. 

You mentioned that having explorer.exe set to run "as administrator" might be an unrelated issue.

I specifically changed explorer to run as an administrator as a workaround for the flaw in Windows 10 that sometimes doesn't allow drag-and-drop to work between explorer and an application when one has administrator rights and the other doesn't. I realize that it has the potential to cause other problems as well as potentially make my system less secure. But, to me, the hassle that it fixes is worth the possibility of those other issues. So, unless you think that it is actually contributing to this particular problem, I'd rather not have to change that one back.

 

As for the DPI settings. I followed your instructions to set custom DPI settings for mbamtray.exe. Even after restarting my computer the notification size is still too large. (I also experimented with applying those settings to the other .exe files that are related to MBAM, and then restarting. But, no luck).

 

Do you happen to know if this issue is related to a recent update or something like that? Am I the only person that is experiencing this problem? The only reason I ask is because It worked flawlessly up until a few days ago; and I haven't installed anything or changed any settings (in MBAM or my system) during that time.

If this is something caused by an update, and something that the MBAM team is aware of, then I'm happy to wait until they release a patch. 

If not, and if I'm the only one who is having this issue, then I guess the next thing for me to try is to completely remove and reinstall MBAM. And see if that takes care of it.

Unless you have any other suggestions that you think might resolve it?

[exile360]

The trouble with running explorer as admin is that it passes its permissions on to every process launched by it.  This means that every time you run a program by clicking a shortcut or double-clicking an executable, it automatically runs with administrative privileges.  This includes your internet browsers and other web facing apps.  There are two major issues with that.  First, the vast majority of software has been designed to function with User Account Control (UAC) active since Windows Vista, meaning it was designed generally not to run with administrative privileges, so compatibility issues and anomalous behavior may occur.  Second, which you already touched on, is the massive security hole it creates, not only for explorer.exe itself, but every program you run through it, including the example I gave of your web browser(s) meaning in a very real way you're reducing your security level to that of Windows XP, meaning these modern threats that were designed to attack systems protected by UAC which would normally install with lowest/local user privileges to avoid UAC prompts as a firewall will now be fully active as administrative processes giving them free reign over all files, folders, processes and registry hives on your system, including those which would normally be shielded by UAC and would normally be used as a means of both protecting the system by isolating the malware to less privileged locations as well as providing tools and functions a user could utilize to actually stop and remove such threats.  I would strongly advise against keeping it this way, and if the drag and drop issue is really that important, instead use an alternate shell expressly for those particular cases where you need to do so which you configure to run as admin such as the portable version of UltraExplorer or some other alternative shell program which you can run whenever you need to do such a thing (besides, in an admin account with UAC active Windows typically just gives you an extra prompt to get through via UAC, it shouldn't generally block you from dragging and dropping files to/from privileged locations save for a select few which are deliberately set to have DENY permissions for security reasons).

As for Malwarebytes, I'm really not sure but so far I've seen no other reports of this issue that I can recall, so it is possible that this or some other setting in your system is affecting it.  I doubt a clean install would fix it, though the recently released beta might.  You can install the beta by opening Malwarebytes and going to Settings>Application and scrolling down the tab to the Beta Application Updates section and enabling the option there, then scrolling back up near the top and clicking the Install Application Updates button which should initiate the download and installation of the beta.  Once it completes (which you can verify by looking at Settings>About and verifying that the Component package version: field shows 1.0.418 rather than 1.0.391), reboot the system and see if the issue is resolved.

[crrider13]

Thank you.

After uninstalling MBAM and then re-installing (and installing the beta) and performing a reboot it seems like the issue is gone.

 

Is there something that I need to do to mark this issue as "resolved"?

Edited August 14, 2018 by crrider13

[exile360]

Great, I'm glad to hear it

Nope, as long as it's working you're all set.  They usually just leave threads as they are for the sake of others who might come along, but don't generally mark them differently once resolved (though they do occasionally mark the best solution/answer, but not always).

If there's anything else you need just let us know.

Thanks