Windows XP sp3.. freezing after updating Malwarebytes yesterday

[Anak]

Hi LPt,

I am in the process of just that right now in the System Security Forum. I will post a reference link. Check your email notifications here in this thread.

 

[gregrocker]

Lady said she was having the System hang as soon as Malwarebytes appeared in System Tray, I assumed she was using the paid real time protection which is the only Malwarebytes that would be in System Tray. Could it be ForceField which was appearing at the hang?

I do not see how the on-demand Malwarebytes scanner could conflict with anything unless it is running, and have never heard of it doing so while running. It is practically a perfect tool.

However we see problems regularly with ZA - mainly the firewall - and I've come to believe it's unnecessary trouble to use any but the Win7 (or XP if applicable) firewall unless you need specific solutions you've found or configured using a third party firewall.

I'm glad that killing these in the Task manager worked for you Lady - often as not hangs cannot be traced to processes which reveal themselves by pegging CPU. So we got lucky.

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

Did you have the paid version of Malwarebytes which stands guard all the time, or was there a reboot requested by the free on-Demand scanner which caused it to be in your System tray?

I would reinstall Malwarebytes to run a full scan. It is one of the best tools we use here. If it has a problem in it's paid version then it was probably ZoneAlarm crapware.

Were you in Task manager Processes or Services.msc as suggested (wisely) by Bill?
I was in Task Manager /Processes ...killing off FF.. I kept killing every instance of it.. ONE kept coming back.. then I was able to grab it again .. kill it off.. then I noticed my mouse pointer was working .. then AVAST had updated I heard the report on it.
There is no reason for a consumer NOT to use the Windows Firewall which is fortified by all those Updates.

TY so much again for your help today..

 

[gregrocker]

One last suggestion. XP MCE is a mess to Repair Install or reinstall (have just done one) so I'd save externally a backup image of your XP now when it's running good so you have an easy option to reimage the HD in 20 minutes if it ever becomes irreparable.

May I suggest Acronis's premium free imaging suite if you have a WD or Seagate HD, or free Macrium to Image your system.
Seagate Acronis cloning free util
WD Acronis free cloning app
Paragon 11 is also good. Make boot disk for your choice.

 

[A Guy]

I would go ahead and use MalwareBytes again. ForceField was trying to block it apparently. Here is addres for Threatfire if you are interested. It's perhaps not necessary, but have a read.

ThreatFire AntiVirus - Behavioral Virus and Spyware Protection

A Guy

Bill I just saw this from you.. I've used Avast for years ... FREE version.. no problems at all, as soon as FF was gone from Task Manager, Avast ran, I heard the report when it completed updating.
YES, have it open now.. I'll go read and save the link.
TY again..:huh:

Not as a replacement for Avast, but as something to replace ForceField if you needed. I too use Avast. I used Threatfire with Avast when I had XP. You don't need to, but just a thought. A Guy

 

[A Guy]

Lady said she was having the System hang as soon as Malwarebytes appeared in System Tray, I assumed she was using the paid real time protection which is the only Malwarebytes that would be in System Tray. Could it be ForceField which was appearing at the hang?

I do not see how the on-demand Malwarebytes scanner could conflict with anything unless it is running, and have never heard of it doing so while running. It is practically a perfect tool.

However we see problems regularly with ZA - mainly the firewall - and I've come to believe it's unnecessary trouble to use any but the Win7 (or XP if applicable) firewall unless you need specific solutions you've found or configured using a third party firewall.

I'm glad that killing these in the Task manager worked for you Lady - often as not hangs cannot be traced to processes which reveal themselves by pegging CPU. So we got lucky.

It's possible MBAM was updating, and FF was blocking, over and over? Either way, it's obvious FF was fighting something. A Guy

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

Lady said she was having the System hang as soon as Malwarebytes appeared in System Tray, I assumed she was using the paid real time protection which is the only Malwarebytes that would be in System Tray. Could it be ForceField which was appearing at the hang?
No Greg.. I had NEVER seen an MB Icon in my system tray until this mess started..When I clicked to use a trial version, bingo there was the MB Icon when I came back from rebooting after doing my Malwarebytes update Saturday, that caused me to think MB as the problem,( I never saw ZA down there .. as is usual for it, even during all the boot ups I did.. I never saw ZA's Icon in task bar) that's when my pc froze the first time.
I do not see how the on-demand Malwarebytes scanner could conflict with anything unless it is running, and have never heard of it doing so while running. It is practically a perfect tool.

However we see problems regularly with ZA - mainly the firewall - and I've come to believe it's unnecessary trouble to use any but the Win7 (or XP if applicable) firewall unless you need specific solutions you've found or configured using a third party firewall.
I think ZA was the problem all along, even tho I did initally think MB caused it.
I'm glad that killing these in the Task manager worked for you Lady - often as not hangs cannot be traced to processes which reveal themselves by pegging CPU. So we got lucky.

Greg on this XP.. that's what worked for me, really well once I could get in, stay long enough to kill off.. all of FF.
I'm going to use your suggestions about using Windows firewall.. I'll try to do the restore CD, I've never done that before. I may need steps.. to get it taken care of.
TY.

 

[gregrocker]

If you had just engaged the trial version of Malwarebytes then it likely started a Service which conflicted with Force Field. They may have been sniffing each other and in a stand off that was hanging the System which you were fortunately able to intercept via Task Manager.

A backup image is stored on an external HD, then if XP ever becomes unbootable you have the option to boot the disk associated with the program to reimage your HD. Much easier than reinstalling XP which is becoming too much trouble with it's age, plus you have it already set up as you like it.

 

[Anak]

Finally finished with my thread here: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-s...es-v1-60-1800-program-update-freezing-xp.html

Did take a while, had to help the DW , and our cat.

 

[Anak]

Tying up loose ends on my part:

LPT, this will not solve your current situation, but I wanted to relate what I went through.

I looked through your thread, and saw the reference to XP, and MBAM and the trouble your having with your XP OS, and updating MBAM.

On my XP Pro SP3 machine I went to upgrade to the new version today (1.60.0.1800) through the program, and it generated a program crash report. Task manager could not end it because it was not listed.

I then un-installed it, downloaded a fresh copy, re-installed, and it generated the same report.
Researched "Mbam xp crash" Found this: https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=103207

I finally just removed it, and will wait until MBAM figures it out.

Interesting coincidence, Anak. LPT seems to be pretty sure Malwarebytes is connected to this hang. We only see good Malwarebytes performance in Win7 but since this is XP it may need to be rooted out.

See if you can kill the Malwarebytes Service in Task Manager Services tab first thing, then kill any running Processes related to MB.

Perhaps one of the Malwarebytes developers here will help with a line command to run from booted XP CD Repair console to kill it's processes altogether if this fails.

Since you refer to it being in your System Tray, do you have the paid Real Time Shield?

To answer your question, no.

Greg, I hope i did not mis-lead you, but I do not see where I mentioned I had Mbam in my system tray , although it is there now.

You will have to read my System Security thread.

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

I'm a firm believer now this was caused by ZoneAlarm/ ForceField .. .. those instances of it in TaskManager convinced me.. when I was trying to kill it off... they kept re-appearing over and over.. finally I was able to grab the last few to kill off.. then I heard my AVAST start scanning.. heard it when completed.. NOTHING showed up on any of those logs as a problem.
My reasoning, MB was the culprit.. was the MB icon in my tray items near the clock, I had never seen that before as long as I've used Malwarebytes / when it appeared , after I updated MB, rebooting, that's when my problem began.
Thanks to you all for your wonderful help on this ..thank you for hanging in there when nothing was working for me, all your hard work paid off.. I'm now rid of ZoneAlarm, never to use again, I've cleaned my pc using MB cleaner provided by Anak, with a new version of MB on my pc.. it's humming along beautifully. I'm a very happy camper again.

 

[A Guy]

Makes me smile

A Guy

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Being a happy camper does that mean you are preparing/providing Hot Dogs, Burgers, marshmellows and all the beer we can consume?

Anything worth while is worth the effort so we are all glad this came to a happy and successful conclusion.
Now it's off to bed and snuggle with my teddy bear and Donna.
Dennis

 

[gregrocker]

Let us know if you need any help saving a backup image of XP in case it's ever needed. Do you have an External HD?

One last suggestion. XP MCE is a mess to Repair Install or reinstall (have just done one) so I'd save externally a backup image of your XP now when it's running good so you have an easy option to reimage the HD in 20 minutes if it ever becomes irreparable.

May I suggest Acronis's premium free imaging suite if you have a WD or Seagate HD, or free Macrium to Image your system.
Seagate Acronis cloning free util
WD Acronis free cloning app
Paragon 11 is also good. Make boot disk for your choice.

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

Dennis .. on man .. YES ~~~.. not on a rainy day...

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

Let us know if you need any help saving a backup image of XP in case it's ever needed. Do you have an External HD?
Greg Would this be like.. HP Simple Save - 320 GB- Instant hands free BACKUP ? if so I have one.

One last suggestion. XP MCE is a mess to Repair Install or reinstall (have just done one) so I'd save externally a backup image of your XP now when it's running good so you have an easy option to reimage the HD in 20 minutes if it ever becomes irreparable.

May I suggest Acronis's premium free imaging suite if you have a WD or Seagate HD, or free Macrium to Image your system.
Seagate Acronis cloning free util
WD Acronis free cloning app
Paragon 11 is also good. Make boot disk for your choice.

Greg I want to add 512 MB of Ram ( from Crucial ) as soon as I can read up on.. I have it already, was planning to install it Saturday when this mess began. Wouldn't it be better to get the new ram in first ? or if not, tell me what's best. I've been seeing a icon pop up , my virutal memory is low, warning recently.

 

[gregrocker]

Always good to max out your RAM. Here's the best video I've found to show how to install it if needed, plus you can check your work spec'ing it out to make sure it's the right RAM:



What's most important is to touch the case while touching the electronic parts so you're grounded, and don't work on carpet.

While in the case check your HD to see if you have WD or Seagate so you can use their superior free Acronis True Image backup imaging programs linked above - the Manual is on the Downloads pages, look for Backup Imaging in Contents.

If not use free Macrium from the tutorial link also above. Paragon 11 freeware is also good.

Save the backup image to the external. Make the boot disk so you have a rescue method if XP stops booting again and is irreparable. Just boot the disk and Restore from image in 20 minutes.

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

Greg I used Crucial to find the kind and size Ram I should use..
I took their suggestion to add the 512 MB ..
I only have 2 slots of RAM.. one being used when I bought this PC.. 512 MB
( 1 empty to use..)>>>> Today adding the 512 BM from Crucial.
I viewed the above video you sent me .. just before installing the 512 Ram , I followed all the safe tips as indicated in the video..
First .. I used Air duster before doing anything else today on the inside of my tower.
I had to try twice before getting it seated..
1st try, after rebooting .. the new ram didn't show.. so knew you said it would.
2nd time .. I could see clearly it was seated in perfectly.. I saw and heard the clicks as it was meant to do.
Rebooted again.. then I saw 1 GB of Ram, on my PC from clicking the PC Icon then properties.
View attachment 192215

 

[gregrocker]

As long as it registers close to 1gb RAM now at Computer>Properties then it's being recognized and you've got plenty of RAM for XP.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

Greg here are screen shots of the Click Free I was asking you about.
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