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Running as admin requires entry of an admin password same as UAC does on close.  The inconvenience is the same, it’s just on different ends of the process.  Besides, I almost always have a file explorer open so convenient way for me to start the scans is with the “Scan with Malwarebytes” context menu item.  I don’t know of a way to have that run as admin.

My original question severely hijacked this discussion for which I apologize.  I think I have an understanding of my options with Malwarebytes so we can end this.

Peobody wrote:

FWIW, I posted on the Malwarebytes support forum and the reply received so far confirms that the behavior is as intended.

Hi Peobody:

Malwarebytes employee AdvancedSetup also stated on 01-Aug-2024 in your topic Need help with two frustrations with Malwarebytes that you can avoid the UAC warning when you close Malwarebytes by starting Malwarebytes with Administrator rights.

For example, if you start Malwarebytes from a desktop shortcut then:

• Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties from the pop-up context menu.
• Click the Advanced button on the Shortcut tab.
• Enable Run as Administrator and click OK.

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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4651 * Firefox v128.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24060.7-1.1.24060.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.7.121-1.0.1293 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

3 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, Cybertooth, satrow

lmacri wrote:

That notification is not a generated by Malwarebytes. It’s a standard warning from the User Account Control (UAC) feature of your Windows OS. AFAIK there is no setting in Malwarebytes that will allow you to bypass UAC warnings. I would advise against it, but the MS support article User Account Control Settings includes instructions on how to adjust the UAC notification level, which ranges from Always Notify to Never Notify. The default for Win 10 is “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer”.

Understood.  The issue though is why the heck the process of quitting Malwarebytes triggers the UAC warning.  The root of the problem may be that an on-demand scan is disabling Microsoft Defender which then must be enabled once Malwarebytes shuts down.  If this is the case then I think Malwarebytes on-demand scanning is very poorly implemented.  There is not reason for it to affect the system.  It should scan the target, report, act as instructed, then fully close on request of the windows user who started it to do the scan.

FWIW, I posted on the Malwarebytes support forum and the reply received so far confirms that the behavior is as intended.  I’ll have to decide whether I can live with it.

Peobody wrote:

I simply receive the “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device” dialog whenever I “Quit Malwarebytes” from the system tray.

Hi Peobody:

That notification is not a generated by Malwarebytes. It’s a standard warning from the User Account Control (UAC) feature of your Windows OS. AFAIK there is no setting in Malwarebytes that will allow you to bypass UAC warnings.

I would advise against it, but the MS support article User Account Control Settings includes instructions on how to adjust the UAC notification level, which ranges from Always Notify to Never Notify. The default for Win 10 is “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer”.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4651 * Firefox v128.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24060.7-1.1.24060.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.7.121-1.0.1293 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Peobody wrote:

My issue is that it does not shut down when closed following an on-demand scan regardless of whether that scan was triggered by a Malwarebytes shortcut or its right-click context menu item.

I’ve had that issue for some time, probably a couple of years, it’s possible that
it remains active as it’s supposed to be checking that an alt. antimalware, usually Defender, is present and active (though as I’ve just updated it to 5.1.7.121 from, I think v4, I no longer see where that was mentioned – ‘Critical’ was the top sub-heading it used to be under).

Dashboard > Trusted Advisor (This PC upper right > View details) > Critical Issues > Additional antivirus protection is turned on…

Yes, V5 continues the tradition of having to actively kill the process after closing it via Alt+F4, top left corner of the UI.

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

My Tamper Protection | Limit Who Can Change Your Malwarebytes Settings option is not enabled.  I simply receive the “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device” dialog whenever I “Quit Malwarebytes” from the system tray.

Peobody wrote:

An additional annoyance is that quitting it requires entry of an admin password.

Hi Peobody:

That’s odd. I don’t see a request for a password when I select “Quit Malwarebytes” from the system tray icon.

Is it possible you enabled Settings | Protection | Tamper Protection | Limit Who Can Change Your Malwarebytes Settings (disabled by default) and created an Administrator password to prevent other users sharing your computer from making changes to your Malwarebytes settings or accidentally stopping and/or uninstalling Malwarebytes?

If so, be aware that this “Tamper Protection” is different from the self-protection setting at Settings | General | Windows Startup | Enable Self-Protection Mode (enabled by default) that is normally turned ON to prevent malware from disabling or damaging Malwarebytes.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4651 * Firefox v128.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24060.7-1.1.24060.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.7.121-1.0.1293 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

1 user thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth

I had found that setting and confirmed that Malwarebytes is not started on Windows started.  My issue is that it does not shut down when closed following an on-demand scan regardless of whether that scan was triggered by a Malwarebytes shortcut or its right-click context menu item.

lmacri wrote:

If you click the icon in the top-right corner of the interface and choose “My Subscription” (or possibly “About Malwarebytes”) do you see something like a “Deactivate Trial” button?

OK, I went ahead a let it finish startup, and yes, a “Deactivate Trial” button is there.  Clicking it deactivates all of the premium features.  I did a test scan and then closed it, which then reminded me of its annoyance of continuing to run in the background until it was quit via the system tray.  An additional annoyance is that quitting it requires entry of an admin password.

2 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, lmacri

lmacri wrote:

P.S. – Just out of curiosity, do you remember if you selected the “Maybe Later” option to choose Malwarebytes Free during the initial setup when the setup wizard asked if you wanted to activate a subscription?

I selected it.  The only option in the resulting dialog is “Start Trial”.  I kill it at that point so have never let it set itself up to run.

Thanks for the other advice.  I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and let it run for 14 days to see what happens.

Peobody wrote:

I just installed Malwarebytes and can’t find a way around being forced to accept the 14 day trial of Premium….

Hi Peobody:

I’m not sure how to disable the 14-day trial anymore since the instructions at Deactivate Premium Trial in Malwarebytes for Windows v4 are no longer valid for MB Free v5.x. If you click the icon in the top-right corner of the interface and choose “My Subscription” (or possibly “About Malwarebytes”) do you see something like a “Deactivate Trial” button? From my Malwarebytes Premium interface:

If that doesn’t help just be sure the setting at Settings | General | Windows Security Center | Always Register Malwarebytes in the Windows Security Center is OFF as shown in the image in my post # 2691644. This will ensure your antivirus (MS Defender or a third-party AV like Bitdefender, McAfee, etc.) will continue to protect your system as your primary AV while Malwarebytes is running in real-time protection mode.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of any other on-demand malware scanner that compares to Malwarebytes Free. ESET’s Free Online Scanner at https://www.eset.com/int/home/online-scanner/ is another reputable product but it can only be used for a one-time scan.
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P.S. – Just out of curiosity, do you remember if you selected the “Maybe Later” option to choose Malwarebytes Free during the initial setup when the setup wizard asked if you wanted to activate a subscription? See Step # 8 of the Malwarebytes Desktop Security Quick Start Guide if you aren’t sure which prompt I’m referring to.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4651 * Firefox v128.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24060.7-1.1.24060.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.7.121-1.0.1293 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

2 users thanked author for this post.

Peobody, Cybertooth

I just installed Malwarebytes and can’t find a way around being forced to accept the 14 day trial of Premium.  Worse though is that once you hit that dialog your options are to either accepts it, or to use task manager to kill it.    The download was via this Download Now button.

I understand the “free” is never free, but to state “Virus scanner and free antivirus for Windows” then force the use of a trial premium product rubs me the wrong way.  An option for the trial would have been acceptable.  I’m hopeful someone will suggest an alternative.

I was definitely using Malwarebytes Free and not a trial version.  It was an old version though.  The setup file I have in my downloads was v1.75 from 2013.  An unknown is whether this is just an installer that retrieves and installs the current version.  Whatever version I had running, it contained the option to not load at startup, which was enabled.  It also updated its definitions almost every time I used it so I don’t think it was an updater running in the background.  I did always close it from the system tray once I was done.  I may just try it again knowing that MBAMService.exe is its updater.  I can live with that running.

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Peobody wrote:

On my previous laptop I had used Malwarebyte to do on-demand scans of the excluded directories but was annoyed that task manager always showed something associated with Malwarebytes running in the background even though it was used for on-demand only.

Hi Peobody:

I haven’t used Malwarebytes Free for a few years but AFAIK if Settings | General | Windows Startup | Launch Malwarebytes in the Background When Windows Starts is OFF as shown below then Malwarebytes Free should not load into memory until you manually launch the program.

I currently use Malwarebytes Premium and start the real-time protection automatically at Windows startup, and when Malwarebytes is running in the background I can also right-click the system tray icon and choose “Quit Malwarebytes” and all Malwarebytes-related processes like Malwarebytes.exe and MBAMService.exe will unload from memory. If you launch Malwarebytes Free to run an on-demand scan then clicking that “Quit Malwarebytes” option in the system tray should work the same way.

Has the latest Malwarebytes Free v5.x added a new feature that requires a process like MBAMService.exe to always load at boot-up (e.g., background updating of virus definitions), or is it possible you were using the 14-day trial of Premium features like real-time protection when you first installed Malwarebytes Free?
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4651 * Firefox v128.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24060.7-1.1.24060.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.7.121-1.0.1293 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Thanks Deanna.

On my previous laptop I had used Malwarebyte to do on-demand scans of the excluded directories but was annoyed that task manager always showed something associated with Malwarebytes running in the background even though it was used for on-demand only.  Is there a portable AV tool for on-demand scans that is effective but does not use system resources for no reason?