Malwarebytes 5 Hardware Acceleration

[Bulis]

Hi, does Malwarebytes 5 no longer have an option to turn off Hardware Acceleration? This option was very important to me as I turn off Hardware Acceleration on as many programs as possible on my computer for performance reasons, I am very sad to see that it's gone. Are there any plans on bringing this feature back? Thanks!

[Porthos]

13 minutes ago, Bulis said:

Are there any plans on bringing this feature back? Thanks!

Hardware acceleration was always OFF by Default in MB4 so it is to assume in MB5 now there is none to turn on to begin with.

Turning it on wasn't necessary to begin with.

Edited March 7 by Porthos

[Bulis]

9 hours ago, Porthos said:

Hardware acceleration was always OFF by Default in MB4 so it is to assume in MB5 now there is none to turn on to begin with.

Turning it on wasn't necessary to begin with.

That's great I hope it's the case! Hopefully some staff will comment and shed some light.

[Bulis]

Not sure if this is related but it seems like MBAM uses the GPU while completely closed to the windows tray. If this was an issue in MBAM 4 I was unaware. Regardless this should definitely be fixed, MBAM should not be using the GPU at all while the menu is closed.

[ChuckOp]

MB5 will use whatever GPU is available (even a built-in GPU).  The best place to see this is with Task Manager.  Under the Processes tab, I sort by the GPU column.  If not shown, right-click on another column and add GPU to the columns.

You'll see GPU usage as it happens.  Using the GPU is a good thing, as it off-loads drawing operations to the graphics processor and frees up the compute CPU.

Malwarebytes will register itself with the GPU, and even when there are no drawing operations happening, NVIDIA will say "Malwarebytes.exe" is using the GPU, but that does not mean it's actively at that moment using it.  

If you really don't want any application to use a GPU, you can tell Windows to override it's defaults. 

Settings -> Display -> Graphics (Win11) or Graphics Settings (Win10)

Add malwarebytes.exe as an app.  Choose what GPU you would like it to use:

Hope this help!

[Bulis]

7 hours ago, ChuckOp said:

MB5 will use whatever GPU is available (even a built-in GPU).  The best place to see this is with Task Manager.  Under the Processes tab, I sort by the GPU column.  If not shown, right-click on another column and add GPU to the columns.

You'll see GPU usage as it happens.  Using the GPU is a good thing, as it off-loads drawing operations to the graphics processor and frees up the compute CPU.

Malwarebytes will register itself with the GPU, and even when there are no drawing operations happening, NVIDIA will say "Malwarebytes.exe" is using the GPU, but that does not mean it's actively at that moment using it.  

If you really don't want any application to use a GPU, you can tell Windows to override it's defaults. 

Settings -> Display -> Graphics (Win11) or Graphics Settings (Win10)

Add malwarebytes.exe as an app.  Choose what GPU you would like it to use:

Hope this help!

Hi, does this still apply if Malwarebytes.exe is closed? Also, the original question in the thread was about the Hardware Acceleration option being missing. Is hardware acceleration still used? It would be nice if there was an option to disable it if it is. Thank you!

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, Bulis said:

does this still apply if Malwarebytes.exe is closed?

Are you using free or paid?

[Bulis]

9 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Are you using free or paid?

Paid, I've been using MBAM for many many years

[Porthos]

@Bulis When you mean closed do you mean when you have fully quit from the right-click menu here?

 

[Bulis]

1 minute ago, Porthos said:

@Bulis When you mean closed do you mean when you have fully quit from the right-click menu here?

 

Yep, that's exactly what I mean. It seems to disappear from the GPU Activity menu when I do this so I'm assuming yes.

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, Bulis said:

Yep, that's exactly what I mean. It seems to disappear from the GPU Activity menu when I do this so I'm assuming yes.

It is gone and your Nvidia monitor is hung showing activity in error

 

[Bulis]

1 minute ago, Porthos said:

It is gone and your Nvidia monitor is hung showing activity in error

 

No error, it disappears as it's supposed to when I "Quit Malwarebytes" in the menu, it's not hung staying there. Apologies for the confusion

[Porthos]

When not running a scan what does the task manager show as disk gpu load?

[Bulis]

5 minutes ago, Porthos said:

When not running a scan what does the task manager show as disk gpu load?

0%

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, Bulis said:

0%

So I assume then when you are gaming or running GPU-intensive apps you are not trying to run a scan correct? 

[Bulis]

5 minutes ago, Porthos said:

So I assume then when you are gaming or running GPU-intensive apps you are not trying to run a scan correct? 

Correct, it is still interesting that it "registers" itself with the GPU while not in use, you can visualize this using Process Explorer as shown here. It's not actually utilizing it as we've determined but I wonder if it affects the performance in some way by taking up "space".

 

[Bulis]

Just now, Bulis said:

Correct, it is still interesting that it "registers" itself with the GPU while not in use, you can visualize this using Process Explorer as shown here. It's not actually utilizing it as we've determined but I wonder if it affects the performance in some way by taking up "space".

 

To add on to my previous comment, if it wasn't clear, these are some of the only programs on my computer that take up "GPU System Bytes" and the other two "GPU" related slots behind it, everything else is mostly blank as shown here.

 

 

 

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, Bulis said:

I wonder if it affects the performance in some way by taking up "space".

I doubt it, but let's see what @ChuckOp might have to say.

 

[Bulis]

39 minutes ago, Porthos said:

I doubt it, but let's see what @ChuckOp might have to say.

 

I doubt it too, we'll see!

[icolcear]

@Bulis You can rest assured it's not using any GPU resources.

The reason the Hardware Acceleration option is mising is because it's not needed anymore. In MB4 it was there for the reason that some users had rendering issues with it on or off, and switching it helped them.

However, MB5 does not have those issues, and HW Acceleration is always on when available, but our new UI framework is really good at using GPU resources efficiently and only when it needs to draw something new. So this means specifically when opening a new page in the app, or while animating something. This is a good thing for the user as CPU rendering is more ineficcient, especially if the CPU is older or slower, could cause things to feel sluggish. Meanwhile even a weak iGPU can render much faster.

When you run MB5 with the main window closed (tray icon only), there is 0 GPU usage, because we don't do any draw calls for anything.

PS: Nice GPU, don't worry about this 😄 (I have the same)

[Bulis]

26 minutes ago, icolcear said:

@Bulis You can rest assured it's not using any GPU resources.

The reason the Hardware Acceleration option is mising is because it's not needed anymore. In MB4 it was there for the reason that some users had rendering issues with it on or off, and switching it helped them.

However, MB5 does not have those issues, and HW Acceleration is always on when available, but our new UI framework is really good at using GPU resources efficiently and only when it needs to draw something new. So this means specifically when opening a new page in the app, or while animating something. This is a good thing for the user as CPU rendering is more ineficcient, especially if the CPU is older or slower, could cause things to feel sluggish. Meanwhile even a weak iGPU can render much faster.

When you run MB5 with the main window closed (tray icon only), there is 0 GPU usage, because we don't do any draw calls for anything.

PS: Nice GPU, don't worry about this 😄 (I have the same)

That makes sense, appreciate the help! Would it be possible for the Hardware Acceleration option to be added back anyways? I don't think it would bother anyone if you hide it away as an "Advanced Setting" that shouldn't be touched by normal users... I am very particular and have it off on as many applications as possible so it would be a shame if MBAM is the only one I can't do it on... Would appreciate it haha, also very nice that we both have 3090s... :)

[Bulis]

Just now, Bulis said:

That makes sense, appreciate the help! Would it be possible for the Hardware Acceleration option to be added back anyways? I don't think it would bother anyone if you hide it away as an "Advanced Setting" that shouldn't be touched by normal users... I am very particular and have it off on as many applications as possible so it would be a shame if MBAM is the only one I can't do it on... Would appreciate it haha, also very nice that we both have 3090s... :)

Oh and forgot to mention, the new UI looks stunning! It's very clean and modern. I appreciate that after all of these years MBAM is not bloated and still maintained flawlessly. I've been using MBAM for at least 10 years if not longer. Thank you for that!

[ChuckOp]

5 hours ago, Bulis said:

That makes sense, appreciate the help! Would it be possible for the Hardware Acceleration option to be added back anyways? I don't think it would bother anyone if you hide it away as an "Advanced Setting" that shouldn't be touched by normal users... I am very particular and have it off on as many applications as possible so it would be a shame if MBAM is the only one I can't do it on... Would appreciate it haha, also very nice that we both have 3090s... :)

A few more thoughts:

• You seem determined to prevent Malwarebytes from using your highly capable GPU.  Using the GPU has many advantages - it has more memory available and compute power for drawing.  That means your regular memory and CPU is not being used for drawing operations.  That improves the overall performance of your computer - both Malwarebytes and other applications. 
  • There is one scenario where you would NOT want to use a GPU and that is when you are solely using battery power.  Because GPUs are powerful, that memory and compute power sucks up battery and creates heat.  Now, unlike a modern game, Malwarebytes will not stressing the GPU, because our drawing operations are relatively simple.  But that is why Windows offers the Graphics Setting option to not use GPU when running on battery.  It will slow down everything else, but will prevent battery drain when you are not plugged in.
• We do not have the option in Malwarebytes to disable Hardware Acceleration for the reasons @icolcear mentioned earlier.  Also, we do not have the option in Malwarebytes because Windows gives you the same option to not use the GPU.  I described that above.

[Bulis]

53 minutes ago, ChuckOp said:

A few more thoughts:

• You seem determined to prevent Malwarebytes from using your highly capable GPU.  Using the GPU has many advantages - it has more memory available and compute power for drawing.  That means your regular memory and CPU is not being used for drawing operations.  That improves the overall performance of your computer - both Malwarebytes and other applications. 
  • There is one scenario where you would NOT want to use a GPU and that is when you are solely using battery power.  Because GPUs are powerful, that memory and compute power sucks up battery and creates heat.  Now, unlike a modern game, Malwarebytes will not stressing the GPU, because our drawing operations are relatively simple.  But that is why Windows offers the Graphics Setting option to not use GPU when running on battery.  It will slow down everything else, but will prevent battery drain when you are not plugged in.
• We do not have the option in Malwarebytes to disable Hardware Acceleration for the reasons @icolcear mentioned earlier.  Also, we do not have the option in Malwarebytes because Windows gives you the same option to not use the GPU.  I described that above.

I have my Intel iGPU disabled on my CPU, so I actually can't use the solution provided as I don't plan on re-enabling that. But this isn't that big of a problem so I won't bother you guys about it anymore. I appreciate all the responses and the care that's been put into MBAM over all these years, I plan on continuing use for many more years. Thank you :)

[mrcrowley]

On 3/8/2024 at 2:29 PM, ChuckOp said:

A few more thoughts:

• You seem determined to prevent Malwarebytes from using your highly capable GPU.  Using the GPU has many advantages - it has more memory available and compute power for drawing.  That means your regular memory and CPU is not being used for drawing operations.  That improves the overall performance of your computer - both Malwarebytes and other applications. 
  • There is one scenario where you would NOT want to use a GPU and that is when you are solely using battery power.  Because GPUs are powerful, that memory and compute power sucks up battery and creates heat.  Now, unlike a modern game, Malwarebytes will not stressing the GPU, because our drawing operations are relatively simple.  But that is why Windows offers the Graphics Setting option to not use GPU when running on battery.  It will slow down everything else, but will prevent battery drain when you are not plugged in.
• We do not have the option in Malwarebytes to disable Hardware Acceleration for the reasons @icolcear mentioned earlier.  Also, we do not have the option in Malwarebytes because Windows gives you the same option to not use the GPU.  I described that above.

Hi am a recent adopter of Malwarebytes, having dipped my toe in and out for years. I did not come here to criticise but given the fact I just realized the option to use hardware acceleration is back (if it went away). It seems rather curious it has come back when you have said the option went away because it wasn't needed. Furthermore it was disabled by default. So why disable by default if there was no need to have the option to start with??? What has changed?