Is the Browser guard stat screen in the RTP page broken again?

[Badran]

Still a bit hung up on this since yesterday, but before I took those logs, I thought I saw something flash in the taskbar when I booted up my PC. Might be my eyes playing tricks on me, but I hope it’s not CMD or anything like that, because I had a problem previously where it’d flash once a week because of armoury crate back when I had that installed.

[Badran]

Based on the logs, would it be smart to update windows asap tomorrow?

[Porthos]

3 minutes ago, Badran said:

would it be smart to update windows asap tomorrow?

Might as well.

It is patch Tuesday after all.

Will be doing my backup later this evening in preparation.😉

[Badran]

I just updated now, and I found out that windows just installed Remote Desktop connection, despite the fact that I have home edition and cannot use it.

Was wondering if I’d be able to just uninstall it, or if I should keep it. It does give me the option to uninstall.

[Badran]

Also discovered that driver update came out so I’ll install it back when I’m on the computer tomorrow. Might’ve discovered a minor bug with Malwarebytes too, since for a moment two Malwarebytes icons appeared in the system tray, and when I started a manual scan it made some items on my taskbar flicker once.

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Badran

[Badran]

I wish the RTP panel would update with the browser guard statistics for me.

I’m also really tempted to uninstall the Remote Desktop connection app that got installed with the last update, but I’m waiting to see what other people say about it.

[Badran]

Going to bed, but something happened before i tujrned off my PC.

I manually checked for Malwarebytes updates before I was about to power down, and while it was downloading an update, Malwarebytes said the update couldnt download one or more items, but at the same time it prompted me to restart my device for some reason via a notification at the bottom right (which I did) I checked for updates again and everything went fine after the restart.

I'm hoping nothing is broken. It’s strange that Malwarebytes did this for some reason.

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Badran

[Badran]

I guess to follow up, when I got that Malwarebytes notification, I clicked on the restart now button it showed in order to restart (the notification had a remind me button, and restart now button iirc)

The question is, why did Malwarebytes fail to download a portion of an update or something AND display a notification saying the computer needed to restart in order to finish installing Malwarebytes updates? I don’t understand.

Hoping it didn’t break anything. Probably won’t be using my PC over the weekend due to my injury acting up.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Badran

[lmacri]

On 11/16/2023 at 3:57 PM, Badran said:

... I’m also really tempted to uninstall the Remote Desktop connection app that got installed with the last update, but I’m waiting to see what other people say about it.

Hi Badran:

See my post # 2603400 in Susan Bradley's Ready for Thanksgiving updates? in the AskWoody forum about my Nov 2023 Patch Tuesday Updates, including my comments about the Remote Desktop Connection app that appeared at Settings | Apps | Apps and Features.  As I noted in that post, I confirmed that Settings | System | Remote Desktop | Enable Remote Desktop is still disabled on my system so I'm just going to leave that app installed for now until I know why it was installed in the first place.

According to Alex5723's post # 2603430 in that thread the Remote Desktop Connection app might have been pushed out in advance of release of the new Windows App (currently in preview / beta) that is described in the Microsoft Learn support article What is Windows App?.  However, I'm not sure that's correct since the 15-Nov-2023 Neowin article Microsoft releases new "Windows App," GPU support, passwordless SSO, MSIX app attach, more states that "the Windows App has nothing to do with consumer Windows and everything to do with the enterprise."  As far as I know the new Microsoft PC Manager (still in preview / beta) that is intended for home consumers will not require a remote desktop connection.

I should also mention that it’s not unusual for my Patch Tuesday updates to pause for long periods of time on my Win 10 Pro v22H2 machine , especially when the monthly cumulative Quality Update is downloading or installing. I always check at Settings | Update & Security | Windows Update and confirm that every update that requires a re-boot to complete the installation has a status of “Pending Restart” before clicking the “Restart Now” button, and my Patch Tuesday updates often take over 40 min to run to completion.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3693 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23100.2009-1.1.23100.2009 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6.294-1.0.2189 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690 * Firefox v119.0.1 * Microsoft Edge v119.0.2151.72 * Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.13

Edited November 18, 2023 by lmacri

[lmacri]

On 11/16/2023 at 3:57 PM, Badran said:

I wish the RTP panel would update with the browser guard statistics for me....

Hi @Porthos :

Is it possible an over-the-top installation with the full offline installer at https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb4_offline that AdvancedSetup recommended for NewTricks in Malwarebytes and Windows Update Glitchy could also solve Badran's problem?  I don't have sufficient privileges to view Badran's mb-grab-results.zip file so I don't know what Windows OS and Malwarebytes version they are currently using.

Quote

... I’m also really tempted to uninstall the Remote Desktop connection app that got installed with the last update, but I’m waiting to see what other people say about it.

Hi Badran:

Gunter Born’s 04-Nov-2023 Tech and Windows World blog post Windows 10 22H2 Preview Update KB5031445 Installs Remote Desktop Connection as Feature notes this RDC feature was added to the KB5031445 Win 10 v22H2 Preview build of 26-Oct-2023 (OS Build 19045.3636) without any documentation but goes on to say:

"... First of all, it’s no harm to have mstsc.exe on your system, because it’s just there, but not active. But it’s not the best idea – in my view – to add an entry “Remote Desktop Connection” to a system, when it’s not required ..."

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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3693 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23100.2009-1.1.23100.2009 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6.294-1.0.2189 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690 * Firefox v119.0.1 * Microsoft Edge v119.0.2151.72 * Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.13

[Badran]

Yeah, I typically keep windows up to date, as I do with Malwarebytes.

I don’t know if there’s something wrong with my installation of Malwarebytes though as I’m still perplexed as to why it failed to download an update, yet prompted me to restart in order to install Malwarebytes updates. I’m really confused.

[Badran]

I’ve not used my PC since I uploaded those logs in that post on Thursday

mainly waiting for what people have to say since I’m not keen on using my computer if there’s something wrong with Malwarebytes and or my pc 

[Badran]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:16 PM, Badran said:

Going to bed, but something happened before i tujrned off my PC.

I manually checked for Malwarebytes updates before I was about to power down, and while it was downloading an update, Malwarebytes said the update couldnt download one or more items, but at the same time it prompted me to restart my device for some reason via a notification at the bottom right (which I did) I checked for updates again and everything went fine after the restart.

I'm hoping nothing is broken. It’s strange that Malwarebytes did this for some reason.

mbst-grab-results.zip 10.2 MB · 0 downloads

I hope this was worded correctly, since I was tired when I wrote it

[lmacri]

On 11/16/2023 at 4:16 PM, Badran said:

manually checked for Malwarebytes updates before I was about to power down, and while it was downloading an update, Malwarebytes said the update couldnt download one or more items, but at the same time it prompted me to restart my device for some reason via a notification at the bottom right (which I did) I checked for updates again and everything went fine after the restart.

Hi Badran:

Are you certain it was Malwarebytes prompting you to restart your machine?

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates start rolling out on Patch Tuesday on the second Tuesday of each month, and once the monthly cumulative Quality update has been downloaded and installed by Windows Update you should see a prompt in your system tray notification area to restart your computer to finish the installation.  I captured the image below on 16-Nov-2023 on my Win 10 machine.

Check your Windows update history (Settings | Update & Security | Windows Update | View Update History on my Win 10 machine) to see what day your November 2023 Patch Tuesday updates were installed.

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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3693 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23100.2009-1.1.23100.2009 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6.294-1.0.2189 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690 * Firefox v120.0 * Microsoft Edge v119.0.2151.72 * Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.15

[Badran]

Yes, I’m sure it was Malwarebytes, as it was a Malwarebytes notification (the design of the notification was that of the Malwarebytes one, and not a windows notification) I already updated windows asap on the 14th when patch Tuesday rolled around.

This happened after I manually searched for Malwarebytes updates, as when I did that, it said there was an error when it came to download one or more files, yet Malwarebytes displayed a notification saying it needed to restart to install updates with the option to restart now, or remind me in x amount of time.

Thats why I submitted those logs on the 16th, as I was worried that something may have broke after I restarted.

[lmacri]

Hi Badran:

Is there any evidence that your Malwarebytes Premium is not working correctly, other than that odd glitch you reported in your original post about your Malwarebytes Premium v4.x realtime protection statistics showing a count of "0" for Ads/Trackers blocked by Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.x? As I said before, I don't have sufficient privilege in this forum to view your mb-grab-results.zip file, but even if I did there are multiple Malwarebytes and FRST (Farbar Recovery Scan Tool) files and diagnostic logs bundled inside that .zip file, and I would need to know exactly what was broken in Malwarebytes so I  had some idea where to start looking in those diagnostic logs.

Please provide a status update on your original problem. Do you have the latest Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6.294-1.0.2189 (rel. 09-Nov-2023) and Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.15 (rel. 15-Nov-2023), and when you look at the 30-day statistics for your Malwarebytes v4.x realtime protection does it still say that Malwarebytes Browser Guard blocked "0" Ads/Trackers?

If your only obvious problem is that the count of your Ads/Trackers doesn't match in the 30-day statistics of Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6 and Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.15 then you'll have to decide for yourself if you want to try a clean reinstall of one or both programs to try to get them back in sync.  A clean reinstall would require you to re-configure all your custom settings, and I personally wouldn't bother for such a minor glitch.  As I said in my 08-Nov-2023 post <here>, the number of blocked Ads/Trackers in the 30-day reports doesn't provide any useful information and is just a marketing gimmick as far as I'm concerned.

Since I posted my last set of images <here> on 08-Nov-2023 both my Malwarebytes Premium and Malwarebytes Browser Guard have received updates, but as of today I still see a huge discrepancy in the number of Ads/Trackers blocked in the 30-day statistics for those programs.  Here are new images captured today from my Win 10 laptop for Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6 ...

... and for the Malwarebytes Browser Guard for Firefox v2.6.15 in my default Firefox browser.

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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3693 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23100.2009-1.1.23100.2009 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6.294-1.0.2189 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690 * Firefox v120.0 * Microsoft Edge v119.0.2151.72 * Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.15

[Badran]

I guess aside from that thing I talked about, it’s mainly the RTP counter not going up. Maybe it’s because I don’t do a lot of browsing, and like you said there’s a huge discrepancy between what the browser guard says, so I’m not sure.

[Porthos]

26 minutes ago, Badran said:

it’s mainly the RTP counter not going up.

I have never worried about those and have turned off summaries on both programs.

I also do the same on all of my client's machines. I think the summaries just cause unnecessary worry and anxiety.

I do not need any false alarm calls from clients since I have never had an infected client that was set up by me. (MB, Defender, and the 2 ad blockers I install on every browser)

[Badran]

In my opinion, I think it shouldn’t display trackers and ads blocked within the RTP menu. Only in the browser guard itself.

I’ve not had the computer on since that bug last week, as I’m hesitant to update, since you’re normally not supposed to update stuff after you submit logs.

[digmorcrusher]

Badran, you posted logs 8 days ago and as far as I can see no one has responded to them, if they haven't done it by now I'm pretty sure they aren't going to. Just use your computer, don't worry about small glitches that every program has once in a while.

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, digmorcrusher said:

Badran, you posted logs 8 days ago and as far as I can see no one has responded to them, if they haven't done it by now I'm pretty sure they aren't going to. Just use your computer, don't worry about small glitches that every program has once in a while.

This 1000%

Stop worrying and overanalyzing your computer.

Let MB just work and let MS just update automatically.

[Badran]

I just get easily concerned when these things suddenly happen, and I questioned whether or not Malwarebytes is working correctly. Windows seems like it’s fine right now. I’m just hoping that Malwarebytes prompted restart never broke anything.

Another reason I’ve been avoiding my PC is because of really bad arm pain, so I’ve not turned my computer on for the last week.

[Badran]

Ended up updating some software last night, since Malwarebytes and the browser guard had an update pending. For some reason my taskbar still flashes occasionally and I don’t know if that’s due to automatic software updates or not.

Still need to update my GPU driver but I have to download it from their website, so it’s a bit of a hassle. I imagine there’s some other software I forgot to update as well.

[Badran]

I got my monthly summary and no trackers and ads appeared in it.

On another note, what are these issues?

im afraid I don’t understand.

[lmacri]

7 hours ago, Badran said:

On another note, what are these issues? im afraid I don’t understand.

Hi Badran:

Click the "more information" icons (circle with "i" inside) as shown below. The support article Trusted Advisor in Malwarebytes for Windows v4 notes the Trusted Advisor feature had nothing to do with blocking or removal of malware and just gives general suggestions about how you can improve the overall security of your system.  Those suggestions are for information only and you can ignore (dismiss) them if you want.

For example, if I click the "See Details" button on my dashboard next to my Trusted Advisor score I can see I have dismissed the Trusted Advisor suggestion to turn on automatic product updates in my Malwarbytes settings.  I have deliberately turned OFF this setting in Malwarebytes at Settings | General | Application Updates | Automatically Download and Install Updates (just a personal preference - I like to wait until release notes are published before I install a product update) and don't want Trusted Advisor nagging me to turn on this setting so I've just dismissed this Trusted Advisor warning.

7 hours ago, Badran said:

I got my monthly summary and no trackers and ads appeared in it.

As others have noted in this thread, discrepancies in the Ad/Tracker block count between Malwarebytes Premium and Malwarebytes Browser Guard is a long-standing issue.  It's a minor glitch that doesn't affect your system security (Malwarebytes Web Protection and Malwarebytes Browser Guard will continue to protect your system while you're browsing the internet, even if the block counts differ between the two products) and finding a fix isn't a high priority for Malwarebytes.  For example, the support article Duplicate Blocks in Firefox with Malwarebytes for Windows v4 integration with Browser Guard states "No current resolution at this time as we continue to investigate this issue".

As I said before, these monthly summary reports are just a marketing gimmick, and you can see your detection history any time you want by clicking the Detection History panel on your main dashboard - see the support article View Reports and History in Malwarebytes for Windows v4 for more information.  If you need detailed information about blocking of malicious / suspicious web sites (which is not the same as the blocking of relatively harmless ads and trackers) you can click the Notification (bell) icon in the top-right corner of your Malwarebytes user interface as shown below to see the  IP address of the blocked site and the date the block occurred, but again, that's not something you need to check unless you suspect that your Web Protection module isn't working correctly.

 

If you turn off your monthly reports (see my images below) you'll continue to see important notifications pop-up in your system tray if Malwarebytes blocks or removes a threat.  If you aren't comfortable turning off your monthly reports then you can try a clean reinstall of Malwarebytes as instructed in the Uninstall and Reinstall Malwarebytes Using the Malwarebytes Support Tool (be sure you have written down you product activation key before you start if you're going to try this) and hope this gets the Ad/Tracker counter working again in your monthly report, but a clean reinstall is not something I would advise for a minor glitch like this.  You can also can submit a formal support request at https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/requests/new and see what Customer Support advises if your inaccurate Ad / Tracker block counts are really bothering you.

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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3693 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23100.2009-1.1.23100.2009 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.6.6.294-1.0.2189 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690 * Firefox v120.0 * Microsoft Edge v119.0.2151.93 * Malwarebytes Browser Guard v2.6.15