I updated the database this morning and ran another full scan and the same file comes up. Should I ignore it?
Hi, I'm one of many who is keeping MBAM on their desktop and also keeping Norton as my active security product. I've seen the reason that the false positive is being displayed and I'm hoping that Malwarebytes and Norton can work out a solution. The free version is a great second opinion scanner and I run it about weekly. It does find things that NIS doesn't so I feel like I have a more secure environment to play in.
I take it you mean why MBW for treatment of suspected infections rather than their Forum which I did not know existed in parallel with bleeping computer type operations?
I've seen MBW recommended when worried and have done so myself here and on Compuserve and I've never run into Can't rebootreports. Doesn't mean they don't happen -- think Norton Power Eraser .... -- but is it because it removes what malware has put in place in the system but cannot replace damaged files?
Any recommendation should at least come with a warning. We lost the one on this forum as well. The user had to reload his operating system. MBAM used to be fairly harmless, but as they try harder to get more results, this is going to happen more often. And yes, the NPE is another good example.
So what is the plan. If they can't boot, just send them to the MBAM forum for repairs?
@Krusty: If it was only recent happenings, we could assume it would be fixed in the next patch, but actually it has been around for a while. There was a real cluster of losses in April of last year.
I still don't see this as a problem since any advice we give here has to be taken "at risk". Have we had more than one here (do you have a link to the one you refer to?)
The most recent of the ones at MWB that you linked to answered the client who feared MWB had broken his system with << Being that you are probably infected and most likely that cause of the freeze and BSOD .... >> so why are we blaming MWB?
Note also that in this case the user carried out some brutal hard restarts that themselves may have broken the boot procedure.
<< So what is the plan. If they can't boot, just send them to the MBAM forum for repairs? >>
Personally, if someone has a computer that will not boot I would try to find out why it is not booting unless there is specific evidence that it is broken through infection which seems missing in some of the examples.
<< MWB removed some objects and the PC won't boot >> But what objects?
Does not the MWB log indicate if there is infection there? If so it makes sense to send the customer to the best malware removal site rather than to the site of the tool that revealed the infection.
So why are people still recommending Malwarebytes?
[...]
The short answer is that Malwarebytes’ remediation successes far outweigh its failures.
The real question here though is: why do Norton users need to install Malwarebytes at all in the first place?
Forum members typically recommend installing Malwarebytes when the thread indicates that a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) is involved. This is one area of detection where Norton products fall flat. If we liken Norton products to an insurance policy, then end-users think they are getting comprehensive cover. It’s only when they go to make a claim for what is generally considered a common event that they discover that there comprehensive policy doesn't cover them for this event (PUP detection and removal). A third party program then needs to be used to provide coverage for the detections that their Norton product doesn't provide coverage for.
The following post from the Malwarebytes forums sums things up nicely:
Symantec should implement PUP detection based on the above criteria. Symantec should also adopt a similar policy where the onus is placed back on the PUP vendor to make a PUP Reconsideration Request if their software is legitimate. If Symantec do this, then the odd system failure caused by Malwarebytes becomes a non-issue for most Norton users.
As Krusty13 stated, some of the threads are quite old and not many of them have ever been seen through to being totally clean - so did MBAM cause the situation or not?
FWIW, I do not see any specific comment in regards to a definite answer from a malware removalist that MBAM specifically casued any of the situations referenced.
I do agree that perhaps Norton might revisit their thinking on PUPS - but that needs to be done in other areas also - which include the Local Vault and thenew ID S Interface.
I would suggest that if the machine was running prior to the MBAM scan which removed "some things" and failed to restart after a required reboot, then it is logical to believe that at least one of the "things" removed was crucial to the operating of the machine.
Yes, I realize that being cautious with recommendations is unpopular on this forum. It always has been so. It is also common when something unfortunate happens, the person making the suggestion never returns to the thread to help fix that problem or apologize to the user. After all, suggestions on this forum are to be taken "at your own risk" so that seems to relieve all responsibility.
I am merely suggesting that recommending any particular fix, particularly a fix that has just recently caused a boot failure should come with a warning.
@Hugh:
If MBAM removed something and the machine failed to restart, definitely send them to Malwarebytes for repair. They probably have a good idea what it did or what they changed to cause the problem. They have quite a good forum.
If MBAM removed something and the machine failed to restart, definitely send them to Malwarebytes for repair. >>
Given that I've been recommending free Malwarebytes for years here and in the Compuserve Forums and never had this happen to me or to anyone I've recommend it to, whereas countless times they have come back and reported it found and fixed this and that malware problem, I will continue to recommend that people use the free Malwarebytes if they are worried that Norton may not have picked up an invasion..
Any recommendation anyone makes here for remedial action is subject to an implied caveat emptor and we even offer a refund of the fee we receive as gurus.
As Quads has said this is not a suited place for removing malware under controlled conditions but if we start saying that we should not run a program that tells something is wrong and may point to what it is then we might as well stop supplying Norton products in their present form.
So far as I am concerned this present discussion is a storm in a teacup ......
<< Yes, I realize that being cautious with recommendations is unpopular on this forum. >>
had it here the other week where after given instructions here the user had MBAM restart the system and Windows would not boot correctly.
Malwarebytes caused a problem by doing the restart and removing or trying to remove something and it went wrong. One may have been a PUP, but known what the other detection by Norton was for. NO LOGS or logging. Is unknown what is on the system at eany stage, to know if MBAM is OK to use (turned out not) or due to other things, no not a good idea.
User just did a clean install of everything. But what a way to remove a possible PUP etc.
<< Yes, I realize that being cautious with recommendations is unpopular on this forum. >>
And on what and to whom do you base that slur?
It could possibly be based on the reaction to this thread, I suppose, as well as many others in the past. Why would anyone take a suggestion to issue a warning to a user when recommending a product that is not even a Symantec product, be taken personally
<< Yes, I realize that being cautious with recommendations is unpopular on this forum. >>
And on what and to whom do you base that slur?
It could possibly be based on the reaction to this thread, I suppose, as well as many others in the past. Why would anyone take a suggestion to issue a warning to a user when recommending a product that is not even a Symantec product, be taken personally
That is not how you started the thread but
<<So why are people still recommending Malwarebytes? >>
Yes it happens, but when it happens with us Ran MBAM (or Combofix etc.) and Windows does not load properly, we have alreay logged or can have a log created after the problem to find the problem. and FIX.
"Just turning on my computer can cause it to crash ..... but doesn't stop me from doing it! <g>"
Yes, but that is your own system so what you do is your own problem if it occurs.
Compared to if you tell someone run a program, and a problem occurs. then you told the users to do so, then you FIX
