Malwarebytes Team Does Not Care.

The problem was very platform specific and was not easy to reproduce. You cant start building a workaround for something you cant even reproduce. Had we reproduced this earlier things might have been different, you just were not lucky enough to have a common issue that was easy to reproduce.

Making promises about software not even in public beta yet is unprofessional. I can tell you that it should be fixed but until we have real world testing to catch these corner cases it is premature for me to promise anything, about your issue or any other issue. Obviously when it is public beta time we are going to want your feedback. You also underestimate what is actually wrong here. You don't "just fix" platform specific issues. Hiring dedicated coding teams to create intentionally obsolete code is also a bad use of resources.

We know that you wont be happy until your issue is resolved and it will be. I am sorry it is not happening as fast as you would like. I am not sure what more I can offer you at this point.

 

I don't have a problem with there support either, just that this one issue seems to get swept under the rug like its a big secret or something. "We must not talk of the audio distortions"

With all due respect the Chinese team that ripped off your code and practically re-created Malwarebytes a while back had a much smaller team and did it with much less time. I also think the problem is simple.... it would make sense, maybe just like an AV slowing the system down your software is some how making audio distortions by trying to scan the network traffic in some continuous way and causing delays in network to sound card to user experience. It would only make sense to try making Malwarebytes active scan to ignore audio data and or have a delay so the user gets the audio data and its scanned after the fact to stop any distortions. I don't program Malwarebytes so I don't know, but that would seem like a logical connection.

 

They only replicated a small portion of it and none of the low level code which is in your case the issue. There is no chance that they could have fixed this current issue, it is unlikely any of them would have even understood it.

The simple thing that you are missing is that if you were right everyone would be affected. They are not because it is not our code causing the issue. This is an interaction issue, not a bug. We cant fix this in the sense that you are insisting on.

If you think this would change anything you have not been listening to the explanations. Your specific hardware is taking resources away from your audio processing on a low level because it is not handling our IP blocking correctly.

Please understand that this really is the case here. I know it seems simple to you but it is not. If it was it would have been reproduced and fixed ages ago.

 

We all care. So I say happy birthday Sir Marcin

 

Time to change the title of the thread to "Malwarebytes Team Does Care"

 

Actually he states his birthday is tomorrow (Friday) November 1st.

But still, Happy Birthday Marcin!

 

Yes and it is Friday here CET +1 in Europe (1 AM) wich is why I see it at the bottom of the forum main page.

 

Agreed. True problem analysis is a difficult skill to master, even for an experienced analysts or programmer. It is true that programmer rely on logic to analyze problems and design solutions. Cause-and-effect analysis leads to true understanding of problems and can lead to not-so-obvious but more creative and valuable solutions. If you have experience as an analyst or as a programmer then you should know that an effect may be a symptom of a different, more deeply rooted or basic problem. Trouble shooting surface issues without getting to their root cause would not only be bad practice, but it could cause more problems than it fixes. Based on what I have read, I think the MBAM team is taking the appropriate course of action, as they plan to release a fix for this issue with the next major release, but I do feel they should work on polishing their customer service skills a tad bit.

 

The CEO, the Lead Researcher, the Product Manager and a Support Forum Helper have all taken the time to personally come to this thread and respond and provide detailed explanations (multiple times) of the issues around this.

I doubt there's many companies around nowadays as dedicated to customer service.

 

Happy Birthday Marcin.

 

It was not my intention to suggest that MBAM is handling this process improperly, and I agree with you that they have handled this better than many other companies. What I was attempting to convey, is that there is always room for improvement in how a business handles customer service. Businesses can not make everyone happy and problem resolution requires patience on both sides. As a long time MBAM Pro user, I have recommend the use of this application to a great many friends, colleagues and even to my family. I intend to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. So if my statement has offended anyone, including the MBAM team, I apologize. I meant no disrespect and I certainly value companies that participate in open dialogue.

 

Yes you're right, there's always room for improvement and at least on my side there was no disrespect felt from your post

 

Through the years I have read posts "there is a problem with no fix". I am surprised there aren't more problems with software. Except for two net books, all my computers are built by me and have never had anything but very minor problems and no conflicts that I know of. All Windows versions were from MS. I believe that many problems are do to manufactures tweaking the OS to meet their needs.

 

I have not had any other problems with my systems just this one with Malwarebytes. I use Win7(64) Ultimate, have all up-to-date drivers and should have no conflicts because I'm running no un-needed software.

I guess my main gripe is this problem happens on two of my computers despite being claimed to only effect a few people. I also have the gripe that in two years after me bringing it up a few times in emails/forum nothing had been done.

I also strongly disagree with telling a customer, "You should buy new hardware, your hardware is to blame, go spend your money to make our software work" in a more tactfully worded sense is the right approach. I have two different motherboards/NIC cards on both my computers... whats the chances if its really only a few people that both my machines have the problem, and no its not software related. I did test on a fresh installation (1) and a half years ago.

I could understand if it was just the IP blocker causing the issue, but the full system scan does as well, why? I have no idea and it should not. It gets 75% through the scan and then for the rest of the 25% it causes audio problems.

I get peoples unending devotion to Malwarebytes, but think about if your in my position, having a software issue on two of your machines that's lasted for 2 years and the program even went through a GUI/LOGO change before fixing the problem, which in my view is less important then bug fixing.

 

If they can't reproduce the problem then it maybe hard to fix. But on the other hand I don't know how much they tried to reproduce it. The obvious way to do it is simply ask users for specific hardware that they use and by exactly same computer and see if the problems shows up or not. The trick is if only certain percentage of those computers get affected... Then would it be reasonable for them to buy 20 new computers so they can find the one that is affected and solve a problem that affects few people and that doesn't seem that critical?
Althou 2 years is a long time for a problem not to be solved.

Despite all of that I think to say that "MBAM Pro team does not care" was kind of too strong...

 

I agree! Sometimes in the heat of the moment we say things that maybe aren't maybe the "right" way. I've been known to do that and wished I hadn't later.....lol!

 

It's pretty clear by now what the problem is and why you are unhappy, and also why Malwarebytes isn't going to fix it. Both sides here have good reasons, sometimes things don't go the way you'd like, especially with something as complicated as software interactions with hardware and other software. I think the suggestion by Page42 is a good one if you don't want to upgrade the problem hardware, ask for a refund.

IMHO the title of this thread would be more accurate if it were "Malwarebytes pays attention to their customers' concerns but they have to prioritize where they put their resources. A few are always left behind in that scenario." But that wouldn't be very interesting or controversial, it's just the way things are for every company that wants to stay in business.

 

I wonder why people even use the pro version, it uses way to much system resources and the web filter is too aggressive...if they would fix those problems I may give it a shot again.

 

The OP responded to my refund suggestion thusly...

At which point I arrived at the decision that he is incapable of being appeased.
They can't or won't fix the problem and he doesn't want his money back, so a very dead horse is subjected to further beating.

 

Seriously, if MBAM Pro offered to give money back but he doesn't want them then Im sorry but this thread and it's title is just giving a bad name to a good company. As much as I don't think threads should be deleted or contents changed in this situation I believe that the moderators should at least change the subject of it which is simply misleading.

Because a lot of people have fast computers and they care more about extra protection than resource usage. I for one have installed Forticlient + MBAM Pro on my family's computer. It runs a little bit slower but at least I have a peace of mind that other solutions don't offer.

 

If i followed this thread correctly i think the title and issue would been better served if the specific problem could have been the primary focus for public display.

What puzzles me is that if indeed true, a matter of a software program of any sort is grossly affecting normal audio performance it should be easily resolved as a rare and seemingly isolated issue.

Of that, that customer's frustration is completely reasonable bar none.

 

With all due respect, it's a tough sell that this problem can't be reproduced by your team. It's a very common problem with real-time AV's, namely those that demand considerable resources and have various resident protections. I remember when it used to happen with Avast when you ran it with all shields on. I'm convinced that it happened to everybody that ran it that way, just people were either oblivious to it, didn't take the time to post about it on forums, just dealt with it, or just swept it under the rug and pretended it didn't exist. Because it occurred on every PC I ever put it on, which was a lot. So I trimmed back some of the useless shields, which is most of them.

Sure, that experience was with another product and not yours, but these latency issues are a "birds of a feather" type deal with demanding real-time AV's. It's one of the many reasons I don't use them anymore.

Someone noted that it doesn't happen with the million+ people using the free version as evidence that this persons experience is an isolated incident. Of course it doesn't happen with the free version. It has no real-time components. And for the record I use and love the free version. But I've heard nothing but trouble about the Pro version, from these latency issues to compatibility problems, despite it's claims of being able to co-exist with other resident AV's... actual results don't support this claim.

You don't have to look too hard to reproduce this issue. Stick MBAM Pro on a box with all protections on, alongside AVAST with all it's shields running full blast. Then listen to something through your speakers. If you (honestly) don't experience these latency issues I'd be very surprised, and wager you'd be the exception and not the norm.

 

This is completely unrelated to this topic. So what 1 person or 10 people had good experiences. The OP has not had a good experience and neither have the people who have raised the issue. Multitudes of good experiences doesnt erase the fact that many others also have had negative experience.

If this is such a rare case then how was the OP able to recreate the issue on 2 PC's both with different specs while the MBAM team hasnt been able to recreate it internally? If its so rare then why are their posts going back 2 years for the same issue?

I keep seeing corner cases brought up. Did someone complain about the logo? Seems like a nonissue in the grand scheme of things as there are always bigger fish to fry. Resources are better used in other areas. Like posting on Wilders Security forums?

So many things simply dont add up in this case. I know if I was a customer and was told that resources are better used elsewhere after I paid for a product I would get my money back and find an alternative. That shows me that this customer isnt important to them.

 

No matter how you slice it, I say it goes back to a company that can't (or won't) fix an issue, and the customer has been informed of this quite a few times.
The customer, however, continues to complain.
The company should offer the customer a full refund.
The customer then can decide if he wants to take the refund, or continue posting about the problem.
If he continues posting about a problem that the company can't (or won't) fix, after being offered his money back, one would have to question the motives of the customer, at that point.