MalwareBytes 3.6.1-Premium Trial: Real Time Protection wotn turn on

[eliuri]

Hi:

I recently installed Malwarebytes 3.6.1 Premium Trial for 14  days on Windows 10 64bit desktop

It doesnt allow me to turn on RealTime protection items , except for Exploit Protection. The other 3 items wont respond to pushing the slider to "Yes".

 

On reboot, MalwareBytes keeps alerting me to realtime protection being off and directs me to turn it on. But i'm unable to. It's really hard to test this free trial premium edition if the features that Malwarebytes Premium provides wont turn on.

 

Suggestions?

Thanks

-eliuri

Windows 10 Home Edition

Malwarebytes 3.6.1 Premium Trial

 

 

[Malwarebytes]

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[eliuri]

Seems my PC security controls isnt letting me create that .zip file of the logs being requested above..Somethnig about "Controlled Folder Access.."

-eliuri

[exile360]

Greetings,

It sounds like it may be a problem with User Account Control.  Please try right-clicking on the Malwarebytes Support Tool you downloaded and select Run as administrator and then click Yes if prompted.

Please let me know if that worked or not and if it did, please attach the ZIP file to your next reply.

Thanks

[eliuri]

I ran both files as Administrator.  The FRST.eng.exe  did run but as it was zipping those logfiles. it was stopped with "Unauthorized Changes Blocked" by Controlled Folder Access. And a note to notify malwarebytes of this.

I do not get such notifications when I try to enable Real Time protection. The slider to toggle on and off simply wont budge to the green, except on one of those items. I think after I first installed it, i was able to enable all of those..Though not certain.

-eliuri

 

[exile360]

OK, please try disabling Controlled Folder Access to see if that resolves the issue.  Instructions on doing so can be found here. 

Edited October 8, 2018 by exile360

[eliuri]

I tried by adding those files to the exceptions list in Windows Defender. It still refuses to create that zip file being asked for

[exile360]

Did you try disabling Controlled Folder Access completely as I suggested?  I ask because it sounds like that component is what is causing all of this.

[eliuri]

Hi Exile:

 

Heres that zipped file folder. I did disable Controlled Folder Access.

BTW: I am finding that feature of Windows Defender very annoying...Seems it doesnt let me install most harmless programs

mbst-grab-results.zip

[exile360]

OK, thanks.  Now that you've got it disabled, please do the following to see if it corrects the issue (it appears as though Malwarebytes wasn't able to install some of its drivers which is why those protection components aren't working, and the drivers were probably being blocked by Defender):

1. Download and run the Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Accept the EULA and click Advanced Options on the main page (not Get Started)
3. Click the Clean button, and allow it to restart your system and then reinstall Malwarebytes, either by allowing the tool to do so when it offers to on restart, or by downloading and installing the latest version from here
   

Once that's done, try enabling protection again and see if it now works properly.

Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks

[eliuri]

On 10/8/2018 at 8:32 PM, exile360 said:

6 hours ago, exile360 said:

OK, thanks.  Now that you've got it disabled, please do the following to see if it corrects the issue (it appears as though Malwarebytes wasn't able to install some of its drivers which is why those protection components aren't working, and the drivers were probably being blocked by Defender):

 

1. Download and run the Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Accept the EULA and click Advanced Options on the main page (not Get Started)
3. Click the Clean button, and allow it to restart your system and then reinstall Malwarebytes, either by allowing the tool to do so when it offers to on restart, or by downloading and installing the latest version from here

 

Once that's done, try enabling protection again and see if it now works properly.

Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks

 

You were right about that!..I  have  now enabled all the 4 components of MBAM realtime protection. For now, I'm leaving "Controlled Folder Access" by Windows Defender: OFF..because it seems to prevent much needed activity. It's somehow under their Ransomware Protection. Seems Malwarebytes has its own such realtime protection. So maybe this will be ok...

=======================

My goal here is to have Malwarebytes running without interefering with-or in any way disabling- with the RealTime protection of Windows Defender. Was told this might be a good combination. That way I can avoid installing a whole new security suite.. In terms of achieving this, would you advise starting a different thread in this forum on this, since its a different issue? Or continue on with this in this thread?

Thanks again:

eliuri

Windows 10 64bit  Version 1803

 

[exile360]

Generally you should be able to run the two of the together.  We have many users who do so.  However this Controlled Folder Access feature is fairly new and it sounds like in your particular case it is guarding locations it isn't supposed to or at least it is way more aggressive than it is supposed to be (it is definitely not supposed to prevent software from installing at all).

I would suggest posting a new topic in our General PC Help area about the Controlled Folder Access issue.  You can start a new thread in that area by clicking here.  If you aren't able to find anyone to help with the issue, then you can contact Microsoft Support directly or post on their support forums to seek assistance with it because it definitely sounds like this feature is not behaving normally on your system.

[eliuri]

Other than the Controlled Folder Access issue:

Am I right that yuore saying Windows Defender would maintain its level of real time protection and not lower it on account of RT Malwarebytes? The way it disabled itself when Mcafee was installed? Would it help accomplish this if I tick in the open of never registering Malwarebytes with Windows Action Center, or does that pertain merely to notifications I receive from them and not to actual protection?

I will post there about that Controlled Folder Access  issue after keeping an eye on it a while . Offhand, I dont get why its under Ransomware...but

 

[exile360]

Yes, Defender should function just fine alongside Malwarebytes (other than this issue with Controlled Folder Access, obviously).  Keep Malwarebytes set to "Let Malwarebytes apply the best settings" or "Never Register with Action Center" otherwise Defender will turn itself off because it does so if any product registers as AV protection in Action Center.

It's under Ransomware Protection because it is supposed to protect certain specific files/folders from being encrypted by ransomware but it sounds like it is either being way more aggressive than it is supposed to be, preventing new files from being created in certain locations and/or protecting folders it is not supposed to (ransomware doesn't attempt to encrypt files located under C:\Windows\System32\drivers for example, which is where Malwarebytes places its drivers like any other software that uses drivers, but in your case it appears that Defender is doing just that and I don't know why).

Edited October 10, 2018 by exile360

[eliuri]

Thanks for this, Exile.

I was gonna ask about the CFA feature in the MS Windows Defender , but I saw reference to several articles there saying its overly protective as you put forth here. They do show way to allow certain programs (whitelist) but hard to do if the program isnt even yet installed. So it was said there that when its doing that to simply disable it. Another suggestion is "audit mode" where u monitor what its doing and get a sense of how it operates. But it seemed like way too much work--at first glance. I couldn't even get my printers software installed, until i disabled the Controlled Folder Access...as well as a bunch of other installations of benign programs I was quite familiar with

Yes. I ticked in to "Never Register with Action Center" in the Malwarebytes settings. So that Defender remains my primary realtime protection and MBAM protects in background  as fallback. And I'll see how that goes ..

Thank you for taking time...It's been very vexing

[exile360]

Sounds good, please let us know if any problems come up but hopefully that fixed it for good.