Malwarebytes Shuts down after 3 seconds of scanning and won't restart

[Fred D]

Hello,

I've spent hours reading forums and trying things. I've made some progress in getting the computer partially functional so I can try some things; that's the good news. I've apparently had / have windows police pro and a bunch of other stuff that suddenly showed up on the machine. I'm unable to run a scan with Malwarebytes (or Avast or spybot for that matter). The malware first prevented any of these things from running in the first place. What I've done:

- Uninstalled Windows Police Pro

- Installed Malwarebytes and updated to latest version

- rebooted in safe mode, no network connection

- renamed mbam.exe to something else like malwarebytesxyz.com (when I don't change the name, it won't run in the first place)

- Checked task manager for any obvious bad actors running; I don't think I have any

- Launch malwarebytesxyz.com (formerly mbam.exe). console comes up just fine; looks normal, waiting for my selection of default quick scan or full scan.

- Scan begins. runs for 3 seconds. Malwarebytes program shuts down.

- Malwarebytes cannot be run again without uninstalling, reinstalling, and renaming the executable again.

some of the symptoms (described above) suggest that there's a rootkit on this machine, based on other forums.

Also, the good news is that my daugher's machine (probably the source via a thumb drive ) seemed to run Mbam and it found and cleaned these buggers. My machine is in sad shape though. I'm a step away from re-imaging, but I'm very hopeful that someone can get me up and running for another 9 weeks so I can make it to Windows 7 before I re-image.

HELP!

thanks for any help!

[prairie dog]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

First, try the fixes in #5 of this FAQ, If those do not help then read and follow the directions below. Thanks!

Scan and post logs - read note at bottom in green

If you're having Malware related issues with your computer that you're unable to resolve.

1. Please read and follow the instructions provided here: I'm infected - What do I do now?

2. If needed please post your logs in a NEW topic here: Malware Removal - HijackThis Logs

3. When posting logs please do not use any Quote, Code, or other tags. Please copy/paste directly into your post and do not attach files unless requested.

* Please do not post any logs in the General forum. We do not work on any logs posted in the General forum.

* Please do not install any software or use any removal/scanning tool except for those you're requested to run by the Helper that will assist you.

* Using these other tools often makes the cleanup task more difficult and time consuming.

* If you have already submitted for assistance at one of the other support sites on the Internet then you should not post a new log here, you should stay working with the Helper from that site until the issue is resolved.

* Do not assume you're clean because you don't see something in the logs. Please wait until the person assisting you provides feedback.

* There are often many others that require asistance as well, so please be patient. If no one has responded within 48 hours then please go ahead and post a request for review

* NOTE: If for some reason you're unable to run some or any of the tools in the first link, then skip that step and move on to the next one. If you can't even run HijackThis, then just proceed and post a NEW topic as shown in the second link describing your issues and someone will assist you as soon as they can