Slow operations - Windows 10 2004

[Winter]

I should probably go ahead and ring in here since I'm not seeing a lot of this issue being reported.

My Surface Pro 4 (Core i7, 16GB RAM--so, a speedy machine) ground to a near-halt about 10 days ago. I ended up doing a complete format and re-install before recognizing the one culprit was Malwarebytes. My troubleshooting wasn't showing Malwarebytes hogging resources, it was showing the Windows System Interrupts cranking up CPU to as high as 96%. Rebooting wasn't fixing the problem. Even when Interrupts ramped down, the slowness persisted.

After the full reinstall I decided to put Malwarebytes on last, and this time, the moment I installed it, everything went right back to awful (as in, 5 minutes or more for a click to get a response from the system).

 I discovered it was the Ransomware Protection that was doing it.  If I disabled that, it would take 10 minutes to happen, but then things would run normally.

I currently don't have it installed on the Surface Pro. I came out here to see if a fix had been pushed out. I can replicate the issue if it would help. It would be painful but I'd be willing to do so if that's necessary.

[exile360]

Greetings,

Please do the following so that we may take a closer look at your system and configuration and hopefully discover why this is happening:

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
   

Thanks

[Winter]

Sorry, I had to handle a lot of other things over the weekend but I will be glad to do this now and share what I find.

[Winter]

Okay - attached.  This likely was a short run of logs, given that I had done a complete reinstall of the system, then put Malwarebytes on, encountered the slowness. and removed it. 

Let me know if you have questions or need me to try anything else - I'd certainly like to go back to protecting this machine as I use it a lot.

mbst-grab-results.zip

[exile360]

Thanks, you mentioned that disabling Ransomware Protection helped, does it resolve the issue completely?  Do you need to disable any other protection modules, or just that one?

[exile360]

By the way, here is some info you may find useful in the meantime to help secure your machine: 

 

[Winter]

1 hour ago, exile360 said:

Thanks, you mentioned that disabling Ransomware Protection helped, does it resolve the issue completely?  Do you need to disable any other protection modules, or just that one?

It was Ransomware Protection that, once I disabled it, performance seemed to pick back up. I also tried disabling Malware Protection just to see if that had any additional impact one way or the other but it really seemed to center around Ransomware protection.

At the risk of possible pain points, I'll re-install Malwarebytes on the device, see if the problem returns, and then test *just* disabling Malware or *just disabling Ransomware to see if I can identify any additional fallout.

[Winter]

Okay - interesting happenings.  On a reinstall it came up with Malware Protection turned off, as if it remembers the last state the app was in. It won't turn it back on, either - it just sits and spins.  I think I need a removal tool to cleanly clear out all the info, then re-install after a reboot and see if I can clean-slate things.

[Winter]

I uninstalled and then ran the support tool to remove all vestiges.  Let the tool re-install, rebooted, and now I'm keeping an eye on things.  the first startup and scan had Malwarebytes appear to stop responding, but finished okay without crashing.

A couple of items I neglected to mention:

1) The original problem was bad enough that it was actually preventing me from powering up the Surface or from rebooting. It would hang and require me to either kick off Startup Repair or dig into the BIOS, which is another reason why I initially didn't suspect Malwarebytes to be the culprit.

2) I make it a rule of thumb to tell Windows Defender to ignore the Malwarebytes folder and tell Malwarebyts to ignore the Windows Defender and Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection folders, just to keep these two from butting heads. That's a holdover from the days when MBAM wasn't as tightly integrated (or Defender wasn't as cooperative?) in WIn 10.

I'll keep running things and maybe after a day or two we'll see if the problem returns. Meanwhile if there's anything I can try to either trigger or log the issue, you're welcome to suggest it.

[exile360]

Excellent, it sounds as though everything is OK now.  Yes, that is a very odd presentation and I suspect there was more going on with the issues you experienced than just Malwarebytes.  Whatever it was, I hope it doesn't return but please let us know if it does.

In the meantime, please feel free to look over the information I linked to above about further securing your system if you haven't done so already.  There's a lot of valuable info in there including many tools to help better protect your data and your privacy online.

[Winter]

Drat, merely a couple of hours later, it was back to its old tricks.  First my browser tabs froze and I couldn't open a new one...couldn't close the existing ones...and then within minutes the start menu froze and I couldn't launch anything.  I had to uninstall it again, but I'm attaching logs from that brief half-day or so that I'd put on a clean install and then saw the issue return.

FYI, I had used the Support Tool to pull down the latest version and install that, so it was current as of Tuesday 4/21.

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Winter]

I also meant to thank you for that link - I did look it over and I always appreciate that kind of advice.

[exile360]

A new beta has been released, please open Malwarebytes and go to settings by clicking the small gear icon in the upper right, then enable the option for beta updates at the bottom of the General tab, then click on the About tab and click the link to check for updates and allow it to download and install the update and allow it to restart Malwarebytes once it has installed.  Once that is done test to see if the issue has been fixed or not and let us know.

Thanks

[Winter]

Okay, I'll give this a try and let you know how it goes.  Thanks (*crosses fingers*)

[Winter]

Drat.  File attached.  Just like last time, after a couple of hours things start to slow down, the browser hangs and crashes, and then the system is ground to a halt again.

 

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Winter]

19 hours ago, MostHated said:

Not sure if I should make a new thread or not, if so, please do let me know.

Replying to this because I am having the exact same issue. I just bought a subscription the other night, activated the software, all of the real-time protections turned on and then after about 10 minutes or so my entire PC started to become inoperably slow. I tried opening the logs but it took 3-5 minutes of it doing nothing then MMC errored out unable to load snapins, task manager would not load any items on any tabs but the initial one, I could not sort, etc, etc, and my System Interrupts were using an abnormally high amount of CPU but nothing else I could see.

I restarted and it was the same deal starting from before I could even log in, so as the OP of this thread did, I started to try and disable the protections, which took somewhere between 5-10 minutes, but as soon as I did, everything went back to normal.

OS: Windows 10 Pro x86_64

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X (32) @ 3.493GHz

Memory: 25694MiB / 65483MiB

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070

Host: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. X570 AORUS ELITE

Kernel: 10.0.19041

Uptime: 1 day, 1 hour, 59 mins

Packages: 18 (scoop)

Shell: bash 4.4.23

Resolution: 2560x1080

DE: Aero

WM: Explorer

WM Theme: Roamed

 

 

Thanks,

-MH

mbst-grab-results.zipUnavailable

I'm sorry to hear you're having this issue too...but I also am a bit thankful because if this were limited to ONLY the Surface Pro 4, it'd be a lot harder to replicate. You have an AMD processor, I have an Intel, so that also helps narrow the focus I think.

 

[Winter]

Hey kids - just to clarify, I'm still having the issue - my post from Saturday had a file attached. 

 

Just checking in - any news or suggestions?

[exile360]

Please try another clean install now that the new version has been released:

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's done, check to see if it still crashes on you, but hopefully it won't.  If it does, please ZIP and attach your memory dumps (they should be under C:\Windows in a file called MEMORY.DMP as well as within the C:\Windows\Minidump folder.  Copy the files to your desktop, then create a ZIP file containing them and either attach them here, or if they are too large, upload them to WeTransfer.com and select the option to send the file as a link then upload the ZIP file and post the link to the download in your reply.

Thanks

[LiquidTension]

Hi @Winter,

Are your current issues still being caused by the Ransomware Protection component? To confirm, when this is disabled, there are no issues exhibited?

[Tsunami]

Hi Exile, Winter, and Liquid Tension:

My computer is again fine. I did download and run an Adcleaner?? first recommended by MWB. Then took it off my system, did the adclean again. Reinstalled MWB. PUP issues were still noted. Ran cleaner again. Turned system off and back on - now fine. Been into task Manager seems to all be operating "normal" again - but was stubborn. All the Real Time Protection features are now running. I then put a password on these selection features such that it cannot be altered...don't know if get some virus issue they can get into MWB and turn off protection features - seems this was the case with a PUP issue??

 

[exile360]

It sounds like something more severe than a normal PUP may be at play here, I would recommend following the instructions in this topic, skipping any steps you are unable to complete, then creating a new topic in our malware removal area by clicking here and a malware removal specialist will guide you in checking the system for any remaining threats and aid you in removing any that are found just to be safe.  It is possible that the issue is completely resolved, but I'd advise allowing them to double check just to make sure.

[Tsunami]

Hi Exile360,

Yes...good point here. Something may "be lurking". I will plan to follow-up with this.

 

Regards.

[exile360]

Sounds good, I hope there is no further malware, but it's best to be sure.

Good luck, and if there is anything else we might assist you with please let us know.

Thanks

[Tsunami]

For sure...I appreciate your points here. Thanks kindly!

Yes, I will plan to follow-up if I find anything new or "any revelations" become apparent.

Cheers.

[Winter]

On 5/1/2020 at 7:55 AM, LiquidTension said:

Hi @Winter,

Are your current issues still being caused by the Ransomware Protection component? To confirm, when this is disabled, there are no issues exhibited?

Thanks @LiquidTension - I have discovered that I can disable Malware Protection and the issues go away also.  Worth noting that if I try to disable either one, it's immediate if I do so right after install, but while the performance problem is happening  it can take as much as 20 minutes for the switch to flip after I click on it (patience is a virtue!).

I'd had it suggested to me to try disabling Scanning (temporarily) but that didn't appear to prevent the issue. 

New updates (and file attached):

After a clean install, delete scheduled scan, allow Beta, check for updates, reboot...on the reboot, Windows Hello (face-recognition login) was disabled and I had to log in manually.

The desktop took several minutes to load on reboot, but then worked normally...until the next reboot, where the problem was immediate. I captured the attached file before using the clean tool, I'm now reinstalled and I'm going to try the following, to help confirm things for you:

1) Run the machine with just Ransomware Protection disabled

2a) If the problem returns, disable Malware Protection also

2b) If the problem *doesn't* return, re-enable Ransomware Protection then disable Malware Protection

I'll continue to update here to help troubleshoot - I look forward to seeing MBAM up and running again on one of my favorite machines!

mbst-grab-results.zip