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Malwarebytes causing bad sound?


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Malwarebytes causing bad sound?


I recently(Jan 31st) started the topic 'High memory usage?' at https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/256226-high-memory-usage/,
due to the high memory usage(1.5GB memory), that I thought was causing my audio to be   'sluggish'(mouse moves jerky, audio and video  'sputters'). I didn't mention the bad audio part as I thought it was the high memory usage causing it.


We were able to determine that I had a few Win 7 and Malwarebytes updates not yet installed. I rebooted, and the MBAMService went down to 357,680k(and it is still low today).
The bad sound(thumping, warble, screeching, sputtering) stopped. Within a day, the bad sound started to come back, with soft 'popping', within another day it was as bad as before.


I spent the next two weeks researching and reading various forums to try and find a 'fix'...none of the suggestions worked. Then one day, as I was playing some audio, my internet went down, and the 'bad' audio stopped...no 'popping'. But, as soon as my internet came back, the bad audio started again. So, I researched 'network adaptor--bad sound', and found some ideas, but none worked, except to disable my network adaptor.


Then I found this topic 'Disables Internet', at https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/255758-disables-internet/.


Where I found this 'We're aware of the Web Protection component causing issues with loss of connectivity in some scenarios and are currently investigating further' and 'I had not tried turning off real time protection. I can confirm that turning it off does fix the issue.'


So, while playing some audio, I turned off Real-Time Protection 'Web Protection', then back on...and the sound was good!


But, now after a day, the 'popping' has returned. While I CAN turn off/on Real-Time Protection 'Web Protection' every day, or so,  I think that there's an issue with Malwarebytes Premium 4.0.4


Is this a known issue? If so, how do I fix it?


Thanks!😊

 

 


 
 

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Thanks for the fast response. So, since this a known issue, then I don't need to run the 'support tool' at this time? When a 'fix' is in place, will it just be included in the next update, or will someone in support staff make a post in this thread to let us know to download the update/fix?

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1 hour ago, tkmops said:

Thanks for the fast response. So, since this a known issue, then I don't need to run the 'support tool' at this time? When a 'fix' is in place, will it just be included in the next update, or will someone in support staff make a post in this thread to let us know to download the update/fix?

It may still be helpful to post the logs in case there are other variables involved across the affected systems so I would still recommend providing logs just in case, especially since we have seen past issues which appeared to have the same symptoms but were actually caused by completely separate issues in the software.  To post the logs, please do the following:

  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

If a member of the staff requires any further data they will post here to request it (anything like memory dumps or Process Monitor logs etc.).  I don't know if they will respond to every thread once the issue is fixed so I would recommend keeping an eye on the pinned release topics at the top of this area of the forums to look for new releases and changelogs mentioning this issue being fixed/addressed.

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33 minutes ago, exile360 said:

It may still be helpful to post the logs in case there are other variables involved across the affected systems so I would still recommend providing logs just in case, especially since we have seen past issues which appeared to have the same symptoms but were actually caused by completely separate issues in the software.  To post the logs, please do the following:

 

  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

 

If a member of the staff requires any further data they will post here to request it (anything like memory dumps or Process Monitor logs etc.).  I don't know if they will respond to every thread once the issue is fixed so I would recommend keeping an eye on the pinned release topics at the top of this area of the forums to look for new releases and changelogs mentioning this issue being fixed/addressed.

OK, attached.

mbst-grab-results.zip

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Update as of 9:50am(PDT) 2/19/20...after having good sound all yesterday(after turning 'Web Protection' off/on), the bad sound came back today...started as soft 'pops', then got progressively worse. Cycled 'Web Protection' again this morning, sound is now good. It seems that after cycling 'Web Protection', the good sound lasts about 8 hours before the 'pops' start up.  

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It's more likely some kind of driver issue I suspect, and since RAM in use by drivers can't really be seen through normal means such as Task Manager, tracking a memory leak or similar issue within a running driver can be a challenging task however I am hopeful that the Product and Devs already know the cause and are working towards a fix however I don't know for certain and it may also depend on whether or not this issue is being caused by the same problem causing some lingering net connectivity issues and crashes with Web Protection (a definite possibility as far as I know, though my own knowledge is somewhat general/hypothetical compared to those who have first-hand knowledge of drivers/coding etc.).

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Thanks for the lengthy and detailed explanation. I'll just 'turn off' my internet, cycle 'Web Protection',  turn on internet every day, and wait for a response from your Dev team.  If, after applying whatever 'fix' they develop, doesn't fix my audio, I will then look into other causes.   

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Sounds like a plan, and in the meantime I would also highly recommend installing Malwarebytes Browser Guard.  It is a browser extension that installs on Chrome (and other Chromium based browser such as SRWare Iron and Microsoft's new Edge Chromium browser) as well as Mozilla Firefox and includes much of the same blocking as the Web Protection component in Malwarebytes but instead of operating at the network stack level, it just functions within your browser.  The advantage is that it is also able to analyze the behavior and layouts of the websites you visit for known malicious patterns (such as tech support scam sites, phishing sites and the like) even for new/unknown/previously undiscovered sites within those threat categories and it also blocks many ads as well as many trackers to protect your privacy while you browse the web.

It is fully compatible with the Web Protection in Malwarebytes Premium so whether you keep Web Protection enabled or disabled at any point, you can at least keep your browser shielded from malicious sites via the extension.

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Thanks for that link. I already have in my Chrome browser the following:Anti-Miner, Ghostery, HTTPS Everywhere, ScriptSafe, Disconnect, Password Checkup extension, and WOT Web of Trust.


Do I need the Malwarebytes Browser Guard? What kind of memory footprint does it have? I already have 24 Chrome.exe's running, using a average of 50k memory each.


If it's compatible with the extensions I already have, and isn't a memory hog, and you think that it would add another layer of protection, I'll download it. 

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Yes, Malwarebytes Browser Guard will still augment your protection, particularly because of its behavior based capabilities.  I haven't really checked the RAM usage of the individual extension over time or anything, but right now I've got 12 tabs open, many of which are rife with content being blocked by my many extensions (including tons blocked by Malwarebytes Browser Guard; it's tracker protection is also an excellent addition to tools like Ghostery, Disconnect and others in this vein) and the extension is currently using about 73K of RAM which is right around the middle of the stack for RAM usage according to the Task Manager built into Chromium (I'm using SRWare Iron) and far lower than several of the individual webpages themselves are using and less than HTTPS Everywhere, Ghostery, and uBlock Origin.  I use a lot of add-ons and tools to help safeguard my privacy when surfing, not to mention stop as much of the garbage, malware, and ads as possible so adding Malwarebytes is a no-brainer for me, and I highly recommend at least giving it a try to see how you like it.  If it ends up anything like my experiences then you'll hardly even know it's there unless you happen to try to visit a page that it blocks (where it will show a nice redirect page explaining why the page was blocked) or you happen to look up at the browser toolbar where the icon rests by default, showing its little number representing the number of objects/connection attempts it has blocked on the current tab/page.

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Yesterday i visit his website  and download only image from this site but my avast start giving warning i uninstalled it and install malwarebytes even i delete the image but it still causing bad sound why is that can any one help me with that. 

Edited by AdvancedSetup
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Greetings @jackswag1,

Please read and follow the instructions in this topic, skipping any steps you are unable to complete, then create a new topic in our malware removal area by clicking here and one of our malware removal specialists will assist you in checking your system for threats and removing any that are found.  It sounds like your system may have been infected so that is the first place to start before trying to troubleshoot any issues with Malwarebytes.  Our malware removal specialists will guide you in what to do to get your system clean which will most likely fix the other issues you are experiencing.  If it does not, then once they are done and give you the all clear that the system is clean of any infections you may return to the Malwarebytes product support area for assistance with troubleshooting Malwarebytes if necessary.

Thanks

Edited by exile360
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Thanks for the lengthy and detailed explanation of the Malwarebytes Browser Guard's function.

Does it perform the same functions as the browser extensions I'm using now(Anti-Miner, Ghostery, HTTPS Everywhere, ScriptSafe, Disconnect, Password Checkup extension, and WOT Web of Trust)?


Or, maybe it would replace some of those? If I download the Malwarebytes Browser Guard, will I be able to uninstall some, or all of my current extensions?(which would free up some memory)


When I asked in another forum 'Is it a known issue that the most current Win 7 update 'Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4532945)' installed on 2/9/20, affects the 'network adapter'(Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller)? 


I got this response:'don't know if this will help fix your audio problem but regarding the Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller device, the latest version of that driver for Win7 is v7.129.1118.2019 dated 11/18/2019.  Get the latest Realtek PCIe GBE LAN driver from Station drivers (https://www.station-drivers.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=352&func=fileinfo&id=4264&lang=en) (that driver is also available on Realtek's web site (https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/network-interface-controllers-10-100-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-pci-express-software) but you have to type in a valid email address just to actually download the drivers on the Realtek site).


Two issues here:
1) My current Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller 11/23/2011  version:7.50.1123.2011
When I tried to 'update driver' via device manager, it came back 'The best driver software for your device is already installed', 'Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date'      


2) The response said that 'latest version of that driver for Win7 is v7.129.1118.2019 dated 11/18/2019.' My sound issues started about Jan 15th, 2020. If it is a driver issue, why did it wait two months to affect my audio?

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It's more like each of the browser extensions you use have their own block lists and capabilities.  I wouldn't remove any of them, I'd just add Malwarebytes Browser Guard to them to augment my protection, because whenever you come across a site, tracker, ad or other element that would be blocked by multiple extensions, the first extension up in your browser's loading process will simply block the element and the other browser extensions will either be unaware of it or will log that they weren't able to do their redirect thing (logging an error because it was already blocked/redirected by one of the other extensions).  These 'errors' are completely harmless and do not impact browser performance or the effectiveness of the affected extensions (I know from first-hand use across multiple browsers with MANY extensions installed (way more than you have ;)).

Updating the driver manually will do that.  You probably need to manually install the driver using its installer package or selecting the option to browse for the driver and select the folder where the driver files are stored for the new version (you'll need to extract them; they can't be within a ZIP archive or installer package) and it should then find and install the newer driver.

The issue may be the result of a recently installed Windows update or a newly released version of Malwarebytes which triggered the issue to emerge.  Hopefully updating the driver will resolve it, but definitely let us know if it does not.

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  • 1 month later...

This is an old topic but I am having this issue. Took weeks to figure out it was Malwarebytes causing it. I am running the registered version 4.1.0.56. As with everyone above, on a reboot everything is fine for a few to several hours then the popping and stuttering in the sound starts. Slowly at first then very pronounced. Finally tracked it Malwarebytes. If I close MWB, the stuttering stops. Reopening it all is well for a few hours. I'm thinking memory leak also. I didn't think about turning off the web protection and then turning it back on to fix it temporarily. I've been using MWB forever without issue. This is new. Any updates on this? All my drivers are up to date.

 

Thank you.

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