[ RESOLVED ] “New version of malwarebytes is ready to be installed.”

[Mochii]

Hello all,

Currently running MWB Premium 3.6.1. Today, I received a notification from the program that there was a new version ready to be installed “free of charge.” The interface displayed an orange exclamation mark stating that a “new and improved version of malwarebytes is available,” prompting me to install free of charge as well. 

This probably sounds like a joke and I’m aware that this concern is kind of stupid, but I’m normally extremely paranoid about malware / phishing / fraud and the like so I was hesitant to upgrade immediately. Is there a newer version of the program available, or is this the work of something nefarious at play?

I figured it’s best to ask and be safe than to regret making a hasty decision. 

Mochii

 

[Mochii]

I just realized I should’ve posted this in “MWB Support.” If someone could move the thread there that’d be great. Sorry + thanks!

[1PW]

Hello @Mochii and

Your caution is sensible and to be admired.  The release version is now 3.7.1.2839-1.0.538 and was announced at https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/242280-ladies-and-gentlemen-mb371/  You should allow this update.

A request has been made to move your topic.  Thank you.

HTH

Edited February 20, 2019 by 1PW

[Mochii]

Ok. Phew. That’s really great to know. Before I push the update there’s one last question I have.

Initially one of the things I neglected to mention was that the current version of MWB that I have installed (3.6.1) is the last version listed in the “version history” page on the support tag. Is 3.7.1 meant to be there as well? (That was one of the reasons I was suspicious at first.)

Will most likely still upgrade to 3.7.1, but I just wanted some closure. 

Thanks!

[1PW]

Hello @Mochii:

Those bullet points that are presently in the 3.7.1 announcement will in time transfer to https://www.malwarebytes.com/support/releasehistory/

Thank you.

[merrittlayne]

I received message  :"A new and improved version of MB is now available free". Does this mean an updated version of the FREE  MB or does it just mean a free download of the improved pay version?

[Porthos]

46 minutes ago, merrittlayne said:

I received message  :"A new and improved version of MB is now available free". Does this mean an updated version of the FREE  MB or does it just mean a free download of the improved pay version?

It is always the same for both. Update are always free.

[MikeRussell]

I too am extremely concerned about this 'new direction' with Malwarebytes.  They need to be careful, or we will start leaving in droves...

I got ta notification of a 'free upgrade' and immediately, I was suspicious, as I already have PREMIUM, but I was grandfathered into it (and another licence on another laptop) and so I stopped and started researching.  Turns out that while it would keep working, this would remove your existing PREMIUM install and so things like regular scans would stop!

MALWAREBYTES - STATE IN BIG, CLEAR, GREEN LETTERS, "THIS WILL NOT AFFECT YOUR LICENSING OR FUNCTIONALITY IN ANY WAY" FOR EXISTING PREMIUM USERS!  If it won't, of course, but big RED if it does.

Sorry for 'shouting', in caps, but the totally confusing legalese mess and mixed messaged, designed to obfuscate and confuse that you offer as an 'upgrade' should never have been foisted on anyone!  As someone else pointed out, somewhere in my trail of disconnected Malwarebytes forums and support pages, said; "Getting tired of Malwarebytes installing a "free trial" without asking!"  (a forum search can't find that, despite being on the same site and being viewed right now in another browser).  This is the sort of behaviour that I'd expect to see within the Internet Marketing community - shady as hell!

[exile360]

There is no new direction.  Lifetime licenses remain good for life, including free upgrades to new releases.  The only issue is that with the latest release there appears to be a problem with the encrypted configuration files during upgrades, likely due to a bug in the installer, that is causing the software to revert to free mode because it loses the configuration file with the license key.  This same issue appears to be causing some users' customized settings not to be retained following the upgrade which makes sense since those settings are stored within the same configuration files as the encrypted license key for Premium.  There is also a separate issue which is preventing the latest build from connecting to the license validation servers whenever any custom/third party Winsock entries exist on the system.  It is a bug and should be corrected in the next release.

The free trial is will be active each time you install the software because they do not currently provide an option to opt out of it, however deactivating the trial is simple enough that it shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience, at least in my opinion.  We have requested that they offer an option in the installer to opt-out of activating the free trial, however they have not done so yet.

As for the issue with the forum search engine, yes, it's pretty bad.  No one is hiding anything, the forum search engine in IPS is just really lacking and it's something I deal with every day (I've learned to use a web search engine instead and use the "site:malwarebytes.com" command to specify that it should only check on Malwarebytes' site, including the forums here and that typically does the trick).

Edited February 22, 2019 by exile360

[merrittlayne]

On 2/21/2019 at 3:42 PM, Porthos said:

It is always the same for both. Update are always free.

Guess what, Textbench---I clicked on update and got exactly what I thought I would. 13 free days of the paid edition! I thought that I was very clear when I asked you whether it was an update of the Free Version or just a "free DOWNLOAD"  to the pay version. You need to read a little more carefully.

[exile360]

The free version and the Premium version use the same installer.  There is no standalone free-only installer, it simply runs in free mode when you either disable the trial or once the trial runs out after the 2 week period.  If activated with a license key it converts into the Premium version and activates all the Premium features.

[anon743]

I'd like to share similar views on this matter, but with MBAM v2 instead.  By default the program is set to check for program version updates, and I've left that on.  When v3.x came out I received a pop-up message in my v2.2.1 asking me to upgrade or not.  The only options are "Yes" or "Later"

However, when I declined and pressed "Later," the next time I start up v2.2.1 the same pop-up prompt would appear again -- this time even after I've turned off the "check for.program version updates" under Settings.  This is very annoying and the only remedy to this would be to fully uninstall, then reinstall with internet connection disabled while disabling the "check for program updates."

I believe the same thing happens to v3.x as well, which is just as annoying.

[exile360]

I can't recall what the options are in 2.x, but in 3.x you can control whether program version updates are downloaded and installed as well as whether you receive notifications about them:

If a new version has already been downloaded and you're receiving the prompts in 2.x then you can exit Malwarebytes then delete the installer which should be somewhere under the Malwarebytes ProgramData folder and I believe there's also a registry entry about a pending upgrade/update under the HKLM\Software\Malwarebytes registry key (it would be HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Malwarebytes on x64 systems).  You'd need to delete or edit the value to set it to 0 in the registry and then launch Malwarebytes again, and as long as you set the option for it not to check for/download new program versions it shouldn't notify you again, assuming you want to remain indefinitely on the older version that you have.

One thing to be aware of though, especially with 2.x builds, is that the Research team has migrated to using primarily the newer database syntax/heuristics structure that has been developed over the lifetime of Malwarebytes 3.x so a very high number of threats, PUPs and other items that Malwarebytes would normally detect would be missed since older versions don't know how to read the new syntax (Malwarebytes has been built in such a way as to ignore signatures/definitions that it does not know how to read/interpret to prevent issues as new syntax is implemented in later versions based on the work of the Research and Dev teams as they find ways of targeting new threats as well as covering older threats more efficiently and effectively).  This means that even though you may have the same database version, the program won't be capable of detecting all of the same threats as the latest version of Malwarebytes and generally speaking, they tend to update the database syntax/structure with virtually every release as new threats emerge and new countermeasures to target those threats are developed.

[SPDIF]

On 2/22/2019 at 11:33 PM, merrittlayne said:

Guess what, Textbench---I clicked on update and got exactly what I thought I would. 13 free days of the paid edition! I thought that I was very clear when I asked you whether it was an update of the Free Version or just a "free DOWNLOAD"  to the pay version. You need to read a little more carefully.

Very very strange...I manage here more then 10 subscriptions, they all always did update without any problems. Premium stays Premium!

What happening to you now also occurs when the older version was an hacked version, as you can read here in the forums. Don't get me wrong, i do not say you have one, but it is possible.

Even  i have 2 subscriptions in Windows 7, they all did update and stayed premium.

[SPDIF]

Just to be sure, look inside your Windows hosts file, it should be empty. Then you can be sure you have a clean version installed.

You find it Windows folder.

[SPDIF]

This windows 7 version just did update its older version to 3.7.1, still is Premium as you can see.

[Porthos]

Closing this topic as it's been resolved.