Prevent Malwarebytes free from starting at PC boot

[Ket]

I have the free version. I have "start malwarebytes at windows startup" disabled and it stills starts with PC boot. Even if I quit the program before switching my PC off, malwarebytes is starting with the computer. This has started the last month. I have the latest version of mbam and have never had this issue in the past. I have been using mbam for over 10 years now. This is a major issue for me and I hope there is a solution. Please advice.

[Malwarebytes]

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[jacobacci]

I have the same issue and I find it utterly disturbing that prior to giving any kind of answer, Malwarebytes wants me to install a support app on my PC. I do not want to do that. BUT I would like an answer to the question (which I assume is well known to Malwarebytes).

I suspect Malwarebytes Free now autostarts so that user behavior can be monitored.

[Ket]

I received the automated reply about the support tool, followed the instructions and have attached the zip.

Just wanted to add that I have already uninstalled completely and re-installed the program before starting this thread. Also, that the issue is not happening every single time, but a lot of times. It certainly happens at windows updates, driver updates, comodo update, SAS update, but not limited to those.

mbst-grab-results.zip

[exile360]

Greetings,

I don't see much in the logs, but of course that's because you recently uninstalled/reinstalled the software.  If the issue occurs again please create a new set of logs and provide them.  I'm trying to see what Malwarebytes shows in its own logs when the issue occurs as that should tip us off as to the reason it's launching on system boot even when configured not to in its settings.

In the meantime, the only item I can think of to check would be the Malwarebytes service in services.msc.  You can change the startup type to Manual which should prevent it from starting automatically on boot, however it will be set back to Automatic again whenever you reinstall Malwarebytes or install any future versions of Malwarebytes as the Malwarebytes installers always reinstall/re-register all of Malwarebytes' components, including its drivers and services.

[jacobacci]

I think I may have found a workaround for this issue

• select "start with windows"
• reboot
• unselect "start with windows"
• reboot

That cured the issue on my PC for the time being

[exile360]

Ah, thanks for the additional info.  If that corrects the issue then the cause is likely that the settings are being overwritten in the configuration files for Malwarebytes when upgrading.  We've seen other settings affected by this recently being reported by other users/customers, so I bet the cause is the same.  I'll be sure to report this to the team.

In the meantime, for anyone still impacted by this issue, if you could get the diagnostic logs requested in the automated reply above while the software is still starting automatically when you've configured it not to, that would be most helpful so that the Developers and QA team know where to look to replicate and resolve this issue.

[LiquidTension]

Hello everyone,

We're aware of an issue with this particular setting not being saved across Malwarebytes installer updates (e.g. 3.6.1 -> 3.7.1) and have a defect filed for it.

However, we haven't been able to reproduce an issue when an installer update is not involved.

When the issue does occur and you find Malwarebytes starts up with Windows despite the setting being set to Off, what happens when you startup the machine again? Does the same behaviour occur or is it only exhibited with one startup at a time?

Have you noticed the issue occur with both a restart (Start -> Power -> Restart) and shut down/power on (Start -> Power -> Shut down -> Power back on) or just one of those options?

Edited February 18, 2019 by LiquidTension

[Ket]

7 hours ago, LiquidTension said:

Hello everyone,

We're aware of an issue with this particular setting not being saved across Malwarebytes installer updates (e.g. 3.6.1 -> 3.7.1) and have a defect filed for it.

However, we haven't been able to reproduce an issue when an installer update is not involved.

When the issue does occur and you find Malwarebytes starts up with Windows despite the setting being set to Off, what happens when you startup the machine again? Does the same behaviour occur or is it only exhibited with one startup at a time?

Have you noticed the issue occur with both a restart (Start -> Power -> Restart) and shut down/power on (Start -> Power -> Shut down -> Power back on) or just one of those options?

In my case. I gave above some examples of when I've noticed it happened (windows updates, antivirus updates, driver updates). Also, it has happened two times in a row, but not every time. After I did the repair with support tool, it hasn't occurred again. If it happens again, I'll take a log and come back. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Ket]

After all this time with mbam not starting at PC boot, it happened again yesterday. How it happened: I restarted my PC with comodo disabled and mbam started up, too. After that I scanned the pc with mbam and removed some PUPs and at restart mbam started again. I exited the program and at restart it did not start. Then I just happened to do some windows update and it started again at reboot. Exited mban and hasn't started since. So, for sure disabled (or updating) comodo and windows update trigger it. I think also use of adwCleaner may be triggering it.

[exile360]

Do you have fast startup enabled by any chance?  The reason I ask is because there are known issues with Malwarebytes (as well as many other applications) when fast startup is enabled.  You can check as well as disable it if it is on by following the instructions in the articles here and here as well as learn a bit more about how and why this new feature tends to cause issues at time.

By the way, I just happened to take another look at the logs you posted originally and just noticed that you have User Account Control partially disabled:

UAC Settings
==================================
EnableLUA:   On
Consent Prompt Behavior Admin: Off

It's possible that this is related, especially if Malwarebytes had removed something prior to reboot that it detected as it runs a cleanup routine on restart (Malwarebytes Delete on Reboot (DoR) technology) and it's possible that if it isn't able to run the cleanup routine normally on reboot due to permissions, that it may result in this behavior (normally in those cases you'd receive a UAC prompt asking you to allow Malwarebytes to run as I recall, though it shouldn't continue running in the background when it works properly; it should just perform its cleanup and then terminate itself).  That may not be related though; it's just a thought I had after recalling how DoR works so it might be worth a look if the issue does return again.

[Ket]

14 minutes ago, exile360 said:

Do you have fast startup enabled by any chance?  The reason I ask is because there are known issues with Malwarebytes (as well as many other applications) when fast startup is enabled.  You can check as well as disable it if it is on by following the instructions in the articles here and here as well as learn a bit more about how and why this new feature tends to cause issues at time.

By the way, I just happened to take another look at the logs you posted originally and just noticed that you have User Account Control partially disabled:

 

UAC Settings
==================================
EnableLUA:   On
Consent Prompt Behavior Admin: Off

 

It's possible that this is related, especially if Malwarebytes had removed something prior to reboot that it detected as it runs a cleanup routine on restart (Malwarebytes Delete on Reboot (DoR) technology) and it's possible that if it isn't able to run the cleanup routine normally on reboot due to permissions, that it may result in this behavior (normally in those cases you'd receive a UAC prompt asking you to allow Malwarebytes to run as I recall, though it shouldn't continue running in the background when it works properly; it should just perform its cleanup and then terminate itself).  That may not be related though; it's just a thought I had after recalling how DoR works so it might be worth a look if the issue does return again.

Hi and thanks for your help. At the moment I do not want to disable fast boot or enable UAC. I just hope that my observations may help in resolving the issue even for the particular settings I have. The startup issue was never there in previous versions of mbam and I have always had UAC disabled. The fast boot info are really interesting. I may give it a go at some point, though it still takes quite some time for my pc to start up. Cheers.

[exile360]

Sure, no worries; and if you do decide to test it out later on please post back with the results just so we'll know in case there is some other underlying cause that hasn't been discovered yet.

Thanks

[Darknes90]

On 3/3/2019 at 6:12 PM, exile360 said:

Sure, no worries; and if you do decide to test it out later on please post back with the results just so we'll know in case there is some other underlying cause that hasn't been discovered yet.

Thanks

I'm having this same problem too.

My MWB didn't boot at startup in the previous version as the option was disabled. Now I updated it, and it enabled again. I disabled it but it still boots up along with Windows 10.

[exile360]

Greetings,

Please check to see if fast startup is enabled in Windows.  If it is, disable it and then restart to see if that corrects the issue.

[Greg_Elmassian]

Same issue, and the "start with windows" function should be in the standard startup location in windows and use that mechanism.

Clearly Malwarebytes does NOT do this. I'm guessing the explanation for THIS will be that it protects you from some other program maliciously turning it off at startup.

Not good...

[Ket]

8 minutes ago, Greg_Elmassian said:

Same issue, and the "start with windows" function should be in the standard startup location in windows and use that mechanism.

Clearly Malwarebytes does NOT do this. I'm guessing the explanation for THIS will be that it protects you from some other program maliciously turning it off at startup.

Not good...

On my side definitely windows updates trigger it. Happened again with the recent windows 10 updates.

[Darknes90]

20 hours ago, exile360 said:

Greetings,

Please check to see if fast startup is enabled in Windows.  If it is, disable it and then restart to see if that corrects the issue.

Hi there. It made no difference.

[Greg_Elmassian]

Nor should it!

The "start with windows" setting should function properly.

[exile360]

Thank you for the additional information.  For anyone still affected by this, please do the following to see if it corrects the issue:

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 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 is done, restart your system one more time and launch Malwarebytes and navigate to Settings>Protection and under Startup Options, click once on the switch under Start Malwarebytes at Windows startup to toggle it to Off, and when you do this make certain that you do NOT click on the switch and drag it (there is a known bug with the Malwarebytes UI that causes settings to not work when the switches are dragged like actual switches).

Once complete, please test to see if Malwarebytes is now honoring the setting or not and let us know how it goes.

Thanks

[Ket]

At the moment I uninstalled completely malwarebytes, because the issue with starting up was affecting the mouse drivers update. The driver updates trigger mbam to start up with windows, and for some unknown reason,  the drivers do not install properly, and I had to restart the computer several times in order for the update to work. Without mbam, drivers install fine.

Just to remind you, in my case, the startup with windows is triggered with windows updates or driver updates or comodo software updates.

[Darknes90]

So...

At first I tried to re-enable the "start with windows" and then again I disabled it, and restarted the PC without any difference.

Then I tried to re-enable the "start with windows", restarted the PC, then disabled the "startup with windows", and restarted again... and now it doesn't start with windows anymore.

It really is ridiculous..

[4Goldens]

Greetings. I attempted to follow exile360's process  by using services.msc and am being denied on modifying Malwarebytes. I have the authority to modify other tasks but something is prohibiting MB from being modified. I had to modify a Windows task recently had no problem then. Even now I selected a minor task changed its start option and then changed it back. 

 

Specifically, I get a popup that says "Access Denied"

Any help would be appreciated.

[Porthos]

7 minutes ago, 4Goldens said:

Any help would be appreciated.

Just right click the tray icon and click/uncheck the start with windows section. Please note you will have to close it from the tray after each manual scan.

 

[4Goldens]

As simple as that. TYVM. I looked in al the usual places such as TaskManager Startup, AppData Roaming startup programs but didn't look at the place that if it had teeth it could nipped my fingers as I moved the mouse!!