Hi CPU usage

[FremontPC]

Chappy -

I noticed that there was quite a lag between my attempt to uncheck Website Blocking and the checkbox actually clearing. During that time the CPU usage was elevated. What kind of system did you try it on?

[JerryIrons]

Follow the same instructions as the others in post # 3 above, it would probably be best to do that, and start your own topic so the helpers do not get confused about who is being helped.

Thanks

Thanks I will do that if necessary, just wanted to let you guys know this behavior was happening with other systems as well and wasn't unique.

-Jerry

[Firefox]

Thanks I will do that if necessary, just wanted to let you guys know this behavior was happening with other systems as well and wasn't unique.

-Jerry

Noted, but as everyone's computer is different, its best to trouble shoot each computer separately to avoid confusion...

[AdvancedSetup]

@chappyware

Please try the following on the computer having the issue with MBAM.

MBAM Clean Removal Process

@FremontPC

Ron -

Here are the reports generated after uninstalling MBAM and restarting twice (Acer Aspire 5251-1005).

Edit:

Removing the Appcompat registry entry made no difference, so I put it back in.

With MBAM removed this computer still has issues that need to be resolved. As for putting in the compatibility entries that up to you but they don't belong there. Most times they are there because Windows thinks an install or program run had an error so it input a compatibility entry in which then the next time you run the program it will be in at least some type of minimized capacity for compatibility when in most cases it was a fluke that the issue even happened.

I would still fix these issues on the box. Running a FULL disk check may help to resolve some minor disk issues.

4/10/2013 7:15:24 AM, Error: Microsoft-Windows-WLAN-AutoConfig [10000]  - WLAN Extensibility Module has failed to start. Module Path: C:\Windows\system32\athExt.dll Error Code: 126
4/10/2013 7:15:16 AM, Error: Ntfs [137]  - The default transaction resource manager on volume \\?\Volume{9b6ae99c-5035-11df-87b8-806e6f6e6963} encountered a non-retryable error and could not start.  The data contains the error code.

Thanks

[AdvancedSetup]

For those having this issue please read the following and let me know your results.

What I think may be happening is that our database size has increased quite a bit and it is probably pushing some of these computers capabilities and thus making it obvious that there is an issue. Most of the newer Windows 7 or those running XP on high end computers may not be seeing this issue.

Inside MBAM try unchecking the Web blocker and and set don't load it on reboot. Then reboot and see if it can load at normal speed. Then after the computer has booted and things have calmed down (you can look at your Task Manager and watch CPU usage and as it goes back to low usage and stable you can go to the next step) Then right click on the MBAM tray icon and enable the Web blocker and see how unresponsive or how long it takes to get back to normal and let me know.

Thanks

[gmiller]

Hello, I came to this forum to find the answer to this problem. I unchecked the web blocking and it seemed to take care of the problem. After reboot I checked the unchecked boxes and my cpu usage locked up again I am running a older compaq with windows xp. My question is ..am I protected enough with security partionly enabled. Thank you

[AdvancedSetup]

Well I don't think anyone is going to say you're protected "enough" with one of the modules not working properly. It is not the main protection but it does add an additional layer of protection from possible infection methods.

For now though we do not have a fix for this. We are actively reviewing what can be done about it. If your computer simply does not work with it running then for now you may need to disable the Web blocker until we do have an update for it.

Thanks

[TonyDee]

Hello Advaned Setup. I've installed (and sold) MBAM on many PC's. This week I reformatted/loaded an XP Home machine. It was working fine until I installed MBAM. It takes a long time to fully boot. The desktop will come up, icons will load, but I can't do anything for a few minutes. I uninstalled MBAM and it's fine.

I've never seen MBAM hang a machine like this before. That's why I came here looking for an answer. I felt some comfort in seeing that I'm not alone. Good luck with finding a fix.

This is an XP Home on a Dell with P4@3 GHz with 2.5 GB RAM.

I'm going to reload another machine today because the hard drive died. I'll see how MBAM performs on that. Let me know if I should start a new thread.

Thanks,

[FremontPC]

FWIW, I haven't really noticed much of any issue with Website Blocking after the initial startup.

[Gator_Jon]

This is my first post to the Malwarebytes forums... I'm experiencing the same slowdown and system hang issues on an XP machine as reported in this thread. Mbamservices.exe goes to 97-99% CPU utilization in the Task Manager upon booting up. For a couple weeks now I've seen much longer startup times. Yesterday, it made the system totally unstable and unusable. I made several different attempts to stop MBAM without success... resorted to hard shutdowns and was finally forced to uninstall Malwarebytes from this machine.

I've already tried a full reinstallation using mbam-clean.exe without any success. I also tried complete removal of Microsoft Security Essentials along with MBAM, removal of any orphaned registry entries, defragging the registry, resetting the page file, wiping the free space and defragging the hard drive BEFORE reinstallation of both products and still no luck.

I've been running Malwarebytes in parallel with MSE (and ESET NOD32 prior to switching to MSE) for several years without any previous issues. All proper exclusions are set in both programs. I have had no recent similar issues whatsoever with other PC's running various flavors of Vista and Windows 7. In my opinion, it's almost definitely a problem isolated to Windows XP.

This particular machine is older, but is very well maintained and not a weakling given its age. It’s a Dell Precision M70 mobile workstation with a 2.0 GHz Pentium M processor, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB nVidia Quadro FX graphics card, etc. I'm not running ANY unnecessary junk at startup. It has Windows XP Professional SP3 with all updates. Also in my attempt to resolve this issue, I ran SFC, checked the logs, ran F-Secure and Sophos online scanners (no infections found), etc. This “High CPU utilization” issue also appears to have caused various other random errors in the system event log at startup which have all disappeared since removal of Malwarebytes.

Based on the other posts and my situation, I'm convinced that some recent change to Malwarebytes has "broken" the product for the Windows XP operating system. Are you guys pulling out your support for XP a full year before Microsoft does? In all seriousness, I'm hopeful you guys are giving this issue the attention it deserves, will discover the cause of the problem and issue a fix for it very soon. Thanks!

[Doppelganger]

Considering just how many people including myself are having the same issue, there must be a single cause. Running PRO was fine until very recently. I have removed the PRO version and gone back to the free version because waiting 20 minutes to use my computer is not on and life is too short!

When a solution is eventually found, then I may try the PRO version again…

[AdvancedSetup]

Understood and we are actively looking into the root cause and seeing if we're able to correct. As soon as we have a fix we'll let you know or possibly even push out an update to automatically fix it but in either case we'll post about it too.

Thank you for your patience. At this time if your computer is severely affected by this then disabling the Web blocker until it's resolved should correct the issue. The file protection module should still be working and protecting the computer.

Thank you again

[TonyDee]

Thanks.

I disabled

- malicious website blocking and

- Start malicious website blocking when protection module starts.

The machine seems to be working properly now.

Note: The machine had Avast free AV which included WebRep. Just mentioning WebRep because I think it does the same thing as MBAM's website blocking. Maybe there's a conflict?

[MikeRepairsComputers]

I just had all three more XP computers with 100% CPU on mbamservice.exe MBAM Pro at the local animal shelter.

I disabled

- malicious website blocking and

- Start malicious website blocking when protection module starts.

Problem goes away.

I had to do this in Safe Mode because with 100% CPU, it was impossible to open MBAM or anything else.

[AdvancedSetup]

Thanks Mike,

Yes we're still working on trying to locate the real cause and see if we can get this fixed up.

Sorry for the trouble with this everyone -

[FremontPC]

Thanks for diving into it, Ron!

[btcomputerrepair]

I run a small computer repair service. I am seeing this same problem with older single core XP SP3 systems, on boot up with Malwarebytes Pro v 1.75.0.1300. CPU goes to 100% and system is effectively locked up for 10+ minutes. This is with website blocking enabled. So far this is happening on two different customer's machines and only started with this new version of Malwarebytes. To test this on the one machine I took the hard drive and did a full format on it, reinstalled XP SP3, put on all the MS updates, loaded Office PRO 2003, MSE. System runs just fine but then load Malwarebytes PRO and whammo...BIG problem on rebooting. Nothing else loaded. It is mbamservices.exe that is chewing up the CPU resource according to Taskmanager. Eventually mbamservices drops back down to a normal cpu load and stuff starts working again. The free version does not have the problem. Until this gets fixed I can no longer recommend using the PRO version (and it was my favorite recommendation.

[FremontPC]

Yeah, MBAM has been a pretty easy sell for home users, with the lifetime license. The Website Blocking is a great feature and certainly helps to keep the drive-by and malvertising vectors sealed up (along with Chrome and Flash Control or the like). Looking forward to the fix on this one!

[memoemc2]

Gooday mates

I have the same high CPU consumption problem (Win XP Pro SP3) as I posted here

What I did:

• I run separately dds.scr and dds.com and I submitted CheckResults.txt, DDS.txt and Attach.txt; no errors were found.
  
• Then I uninstall MBA 1.70 with mbam-clean-1.60.2.0003.exe following instructions in guide.
  
• I booted; I run Ccleaner and I run Tune up Utilities Registry Cleaner.
  
• I booted again.
  
• Then I reinstall MBA 1.75 following instructions and exclusions for Security Essentials.
  
• I booted again.
  
• The result: MBA clogged again CPU laptop.
  

The Fix:

I have to wait 10 minutes until CPU was free; then I open MBA and I unchecked/disconnected all services in protection module; I booted again and my machine was superfast. I will leave it like that until a reliable fixing is available.

On the other hand, I did the same to my daughter desktop and my wife laptop; both run Win 7 64bit, 4GB RAM. In these MBA was not clogging the CPU but they were pretty slow, but after I stopped the protection module its speed blew up, amazing!

Additionally, at weekends I am the IT guy in my suburb; I fix and speed up the machines of my neighbors (for me is fun and you know lots of people; and the extra cash is always welcome); and 90% of them have bought MBA thanks to my advice. Unfortunately all of them are experiencing slow machines with MBA Pro installed. Machines vary among XP, Vista and Seven; 32 & 64Bit.

Therefore, currently it seems MBA is a resource eater. I have been with you since 2008 and I have tried everything (Trendmicro, Comodo, Norton, etc… all Pro versions, all of them a waste); the feature that I like, admire and respect of MBA was: high effectiveness and low resource consumption, it equals: peace of mind. Maybe the current approach is not right; have you consider a cloud based service/engine like Immunet Antivirus? If MBA can deploy something like that then MBA will be on top years light away of their competitors.

I will not uninstall MBA, I will wait. And I will keep my classic XP machine (it’s kind of Ford Mustang 68 in IT terms) because I cannot stand the hesitation and questioning about every procedure and decision, i.e. UAC.

Thank you, and I hope you can find a reliable and feasible solution; but no hurry, just do it right.

Memo

[FremontPC]

Memo -

You can leave Filesystem Protection enabled, just make sure both the checkboxes for Malicious Website Blocking are unchecked for now. BTW, I haven't noticed any delays with MWB enabled after the initial boot delay.

[computercare]

THANK YOU posters for validating this issue. I was beginning to think it was me. And supreme kudos to the Malwarebytes team for looking into this. I'm sure it's something silly that can be tweaked in an update. Full protection in XP worked fine up until about the first week of March. We were still on 1.70 then. I don't recall a version update other than 1.75 the other day. BTW -- interesting fact, 30-40% of the PCs we have seen this year are still running XP.

[plodr]

I thought I's add to this thread. I started having problems when I updated to v 1.75.0.1300 on an XP computer (not the only XP running the Pro version).

One out of five computers has the 99% CPU Usage for mbamservice.exe.

I went through the uninstall, cleanup, reboot, clean install routine and it made no difference. The computer is unusable for 3 - 6 minutes after a cold boot or a reboot.

I then used Revo to uninstall, rebooted, ran the cleanup tool and installed the previous version 1.70.0.1100. No change. It too now gives me the 99% CPU usage.

I turned off both instances of blocking malicious web sites and that calmed it down.

I sure hope you discover what the problem is because I do like the malicious web site blocking turned on.

[computercare]

Just had three beers. I am much more calm now.

[calintexas]

Just to add another voice: I have a Dell I600M laptop with a 1.8 Centrino cpu and 1.5 GB ram and a workstaion with an AMD Athalon 64 X 2 Dual Core 4600+ and 2 DB of ram. Both are 2004 or so vintage and are running XP Pro Sp3 with all the updates. The laptop really struggles for several minutes after startup and also struggles for several minutes after the mbam database is updated with task manager showing mbamservice as using nearly 100% of computer resources. The workstation does much better showing about 50% cpu use for mbamservice after startup and after database updates only slowing it down a bit.

Turning off website blocking appears to have solved the problems with both machines. MBAM isn't alone with XP problems. Norton recently had an XP only problem which took them a while to recognise that it was their problem and then to resolve. I think this is only going to get worse over time as suppliers pay less and less attention to XP. I do appreciate Malwarebytes response to this issue.

[luppapup]

Add me to the list of affected Windows XP SP3 users with 100% CPU utilization for 10 - 12 minutes after IP Protection starts. I have the Update scheduled to run daily. If you look at the log file, after the database is updated, the main service and the IP Protection are stopped and restarted.

The interesting thing to me has been that after I first installed v1.7 the time to start IP Protection was 4-5 minutes. It has steadily grown longer over the past two or three weeks. It's increasing little by little each day and it was up to 12 minutes today. I updated to v1.75 yesterday and there is no difference in the CPU consumption.

Same as the other posts here, the machine is completely unusable during the time the CPU is high. After the CPU eventually calms down all is fine, I don't have any utilization issues at all until the next update.

I've had a case open with Tech Support since the first week of March on this issue. I noticed it immediately after my initial installation of MBAM. I hope there will be quick resolution.