1.0.508 - system freeze

[Luuk]

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit Premium with Malwarebytes Premium 3.6.1. and Avast Premier 18.8.2356
On December 7th I received 2 times a pop up of Malwarebytes with the message that the web protection was not enabled. Both messages were incorrect, web protection was on.
At the end of the afternoon my computer froze. I remembered that at the beginning of this year the same problem occurred with Malwarebytes. 
After removing Malwarebytes, the internet connection was restored. 
I have been using Malwarebytes for over 10 years to my great satisfaction, so I hope you can fix the problem.

 

[exile360]

It may be due to a conflict with Avast and the latest version of Malwarebytes.  I'm betting it's more than a coincidence that all of you are running Avast with Malwarebytes and seeing the same symptoms.  This means it's probably an issue that either needs to be fixed on Malwarebytes' side or Avast's side, but hopefully we'll be able to gather enough info for the appropriate devs to find a fix.

Here's what I've been able to gather so far as far as common variables for this issue between the different users affected who have reported these problems:

Windows 7 x64
Avast AV
Malwarebytes 3.6.1 CU 1.0.508

Symptoms:

Loss of internet connectivity
System hangs/freezes
Malwarebytes occasionally reports Web Protection disabled (though sometimes it is not actually disabled)

For anyone affected by this, if you would please do the following so that we can gather more information and hopefully find a fix:

1. Download and run the Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Accept the EULA and click Advanced tab on the left (not Start Repair)
3. Click the Gather Logs button, and once it completes, attach the zip file it creates on your desktop to your next reply
   

Next, please create exclusions between Avast and Malwarebytes.  In Avast, exclude the items listed in this support article, and for Malwarebytes use the exclusions feature as described in the Exclude a File or Folder section of this support article to exclude Avast's program folder under C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) as well as any Avast data folder located under C:\ProgramData.

And finally, it would also help to test by disabling Avast temporarily to see if that eliminates the issue.  This is important because we need to determine if Avast is actually a relevant factor or not as that will aid the developers in determining where in the code to work on to fix the problem.

It may also help to make certain that Avast is fully up to date as they may have released an update that helps to resolve this problem.  To do so, please follow the instructions found in this post (checking for updates isn't enough as Avast does not check for new product versions/builds when updating that way, only databases/signatures).

Please let us know how it goes, and in the meantime, at least until this is resolved, please disable the Web Protection component in Malwarebytes assuming that eliminates the system hang/freeze issue and loss of internet connectivity.

[AnotherConcernedCitizen]

27 minutes ago, exile360 said:

"test by disabling Avast temporarily to see if that eliminates the issue."

Just curious about this...is it enough to disable all 'shields'? Or, would you prefer the service be disabled entirely?

[exile360]

It should be sufficient to just disable the shields, at least that's how it's been with similar issues in the past, but if that doesn't work, it is worth trying to disable its services etc. entirely then restarting the system to see if that eliminates the problem.

If disabling the shields does do the trick, then it would be worth finding out if any one shield or combination of shields is the culprit by re-enabling each one by one until the culprit is found, then try disabling just that one shield to see if that clears up the issue.  If so, that could give both the Developers at Malwarebytes as well as those behind Avast vital information as to where to look in their code to correct this issue, meaning a quicker solution for the users/customers who are using this configuration of software.

[AnotherConcernedCitizen]

Thanks, that was already my chosen approach for the weekend. Just didn't want to waste time.