Malwarebytes Issues on HP laptop

It's me again!
With another PC puzzle.
On our HP laptop, Malwarebytes won't open.
Did a scan last night just before shutdown, as well as CCleaner scan.....all was well.

On start up this morning, Malwarebtes [MB] would not open.
Going to the Task Manager it is there, but not really doing anything.
Would not allow an Uninstall.
Would not allow a Download to install from the MB website.
FWIW, we have the paid version.

FTR, there is at lest one bad sector on the HD.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Laptop is about 4 years old.

I am perplexed as to what to try now.......

Any ideas?




UPDATE
Ran the MB tool and it got fixed.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

You could do worse than renaming mbam.exe to something unrelated.

I was asked to look at a problematic machine that did the same thing a while back.

None of the usual apps would open as the malware was actively killing any tasks running with known executable names.

Renamed mbam.exe to b0ll0x.exe and it ran like a dream.

I usually head to www.majorgeeks.com... for the latest certified version.

Fingers crossed Pal.

a reply to: Cymru
Thanks.

Everything else IS working ATM.
We got the latest version from the MB site.
It installation got so far as the box with the update bar...which never starting filling in.
After a time it just said failed install.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Cymru
Thanks.

Everything else IS working ATM.
We got the latest version from the MB site.
It installation got so far as the box with the update bar...which never starting filling in.
After a time it just said failed install.

Reboot (try at least twice).

If that doesn't work, shut down, reset power manager (if laptop, remove battery, then press+hold power button in for 20 seconds, release, reinstall battery, then start up again)...

Windows Update gone bad most likely...

a reply to: tanstaafl

Even if updates are turned off?
We have Updates suspended until the 13th of June....just for this reason.

From what I've read it could be a few things:

- The PC is infected and is blocking malwarebytes from openinng or scanning.

- Malwarebytes is corrupt and thinks all executables are a threat. However, I just saw in your last post that everything else is working.

The bad HD sector could be a problem, but if you know about it then Window's scandisk surely marked it as unusable and won't try writing to it.

Have you tried Malwarebyte's support utility?

support.malwarebytes.com...



ETA: Could also be a conflict with antivirus programs.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: tanstaafl

Even if updates are turned off?
We have Updates suspended until the 13th of June....just for this reason.

MS is notorious for pushing updates in spite of these settings.

Another option is to use System Restore and restore to a few days before the problem started...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Hiya DTOM! How the heck are ya?? (probably not super good on account of your OP, huh?).

Sounds like you've got a piece of Malware which has either renamed or suspended your malwarebytes executable. Same thing happened to me on several occasions. Some of these dirtbags are pretty clever. Here's a couple things you might try:

1. Start up in Safe mode and run MB. Then reboot to regular mode and see if that works. If not, then...

2. Download a fresh copy of MB, re-install it, and run it (either in Safe mode or regular. Safe if it's a really nasty one, regular if it's just some crummy malware).

Hope this helps!

ETA - You can restore too, but as I'm sure you know, you'll lose anything between today's date and the restore date.

a reply to: tanstaafl

Yeah, MicroSHAFT will still push criticals on most machines, despite settings.

I don't think DTOM's issue is a MicroSHAFT issue though.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's the thing.
The computer was turned off all night.
Last thing before it got turned off was running MB and CCleaner, and he can CCleaner twice.

At first start up this morning, MB showed as disabled. Now won't open at all.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Like I said, MB is corrupted somehow. Try the steps I listed and let me know what happens.

CCleaner can jack stuff up too if you're not careful. The computer didn't happen to shutdown before those apps were done running, did it? That's also a way to blow up MB.

a reply to: Encia22

Thuis is why I suggested the runtime version and renaming the executable thus if malware is blocking a blacklist of av products a random name will not be blocked.
Not 100% but a quick test.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

OK, my husband found this MB Support Tool.
support.malwarebytes.com...

It works.
It ran a diagnostic, did some update and MB opened.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I assume you've tried safe mode and tried to uninstall it?

I've noticed lately that the Win10 updates are breaking more and more programs. My laptop, I have it set as a metered network. I also think with no supporting evidence that MS little antivirus defender isn't playing nice with other similar programs.

a reply to: Encia22

Just saw this.
Great minds must think alike as we just found it to use about the same time you post this.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Encia22

Just saw this.
Great minds must think alike as we just found it to use about the same time you post this.

Yep, some kind of serendipity... I'm glad it worked!

a reply to: billxam

It's part of the reason we suspend updates and pick a date 4-5 days later.
And never do updates for both computers the same day.
LOL

a reply to: Encia22

Will that sealed off bad sector impact Windows Updates, it seems they still take forever----hours---to run on the desktop.
I have heard M$ doesn't really make the updates for HDs, so it just takes longer.
I dunno.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Encia22

Will that sealed off bad sector impact Windows Updates, it seems they still take forever----hours---to run on the desktop.
I have heard M$ doesn't really make the updates for HDs, so it just takes longer.
I dunno.

I don't think the marked bad sectors will have any impact on the speed of operation or updates. It is the equivalent of closing off a street in a metropolis... traffic is just redirected elsewhere.

However, this very "bad" way M$ redirects traffic has always been its Achille's heal. From the inception of Windows 95, M$ has been very inefficient in writing data to disk. It has to break up larger chunks of data to fit the sectors on the storage media. But, instead of writing in adjacent sectors, it throws the data all over the place... giving the impression of speed.

The two problems here are: 1) an index (inventory) is kept to remember where all the pieces are when you want to recall and open the data or run a program. If this index becomes corrupt then your data will still be there, but Windows won't find it and throw a fit, spit and lock up. 2) the further apart the data is spread, the slower data recall is... slowing down your PC. This has always been a major problem on mechanical hard drives. I think the effect will be much less noticeable in SSD drives.

All this is why M$ has always had the two utilities, scandisk (to find bad sectors to avoid) and Defragment or Drive Optimizer to clean up the bad archiving job Windows should have done right from the start.

If you still have a normal hard disk, I suggest running scandisk and then Defragment. It could take a while, especially if the disk is a mess. Also, it must have enough space to defrag as stuff is moved around and reorganised. It will warn you if there isn't enough space to proceed.

A bit more technical, but with a new hard drive and pen drives, I like to format it specifying the sector sizes. Smaller if I know the data to be stored is text based, larger if the data will be images, videos, big programs, etc. This helps Windows organise itself better, less defragmentation and less wasted space on disk.

a reply to: Encia22

Thanks for all of that.

When we had the update problem back in December, I think, we ran diagnostics.
I think scandisk was at lest one of them.
We did not run Defrag....TBH I didn't know Win 10 had Defrag.

In Windows 7 and previous, I never noticed any improvement running defrag, and stopped using it years ago.
The desktop has SSD and runs updates MUCH faster.
When we replace the laptop, it will be SSD.