But in the not-too-distant past (Fall 2018), there were some serious connectivity conflicts between Malwarebytes and Avast. (See Avast Users Having Internet Issues & Malwarebytes Conflicts After Upgrade<\/a>.) Perhaps some similar conflict is at the root of your current problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You also said you’re using the free version; the trouble could be as simple as the free version timing out at the end of its two-week trial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Either way, this general-purpose, clean-start might help: Completely uninstall Malwarebytes, reboot, run a reputable Registry cleaner, reboot again, reinstall Malwarebytes, see what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if the problem isn’t something that simple to resolve, you might want to rethink using Malwarebytes altogether: Independent third-party tests<\/a> show that Malwarebytes Pro is among the worst-performing<\/em> <\/strong>of the major third-party anti-malware suites, ranking a lowly 12th in a crowded field behind AhnLab, Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if a full-on, from-scratch reinstall of Malwarebytes doesn’t fix your problem, you might consider ditching it. Why struggle to fix something when much better options are available?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s especially true with Win7 — a version of Windows that’s in its final months. (Win7 support ends in Jan 2020.) When you move to Win10, you’ll automatically get the free, built-in Win10 version of Windows Defender, which those same independent tests (mentioned above) usually rank about the same as Malwarebytes Pro — and so is almost certainly better than<\/strong><\/em> Malwarebytes free!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, a Malwarebytes problem might be worth a quick fix. But if I were you, Sheldon, I wouldn’t invest a lot of effort in it from here on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=2169<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n COMMENT \/ QUESTION<\/strong> on THIS ITEM?<\/strong> See the<\/em> Comment box<\/strong> at bottom of this page!<\/em> Reader Sheldon Doskie asks: “Hi Fred, Great to see you back! Are you aware of a problem when trying to update the latest virus signatures of the Malwarebytes free version? I keep getting ‘unable to access update server,’ then after a minute or so, the current date followed by a 2-digit number is displayed as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-yZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":161,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/22\/a-reader-asks-which-uses-more-ram-windows-10-or-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":2169,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: Which uses more RAM, Windows 10 or 7?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-22","format":false,"excerpt":"Q. Which uses more ram, Windows 10 or 7? (Question sent via\u00a0Quora) A:\u00a0Win7 requires: 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) (source:\u00a0https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en...) Win10 requires: New device: 2 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 64-bit Update: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit (source:\u00a0Windows 10 Specifications\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2602,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/16\/a-reader-asks-why-am-i-not-able-to-reset-my-pc-or-reinstall-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":2169,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: “Why am I not able to reset my PC or reinstall Windows?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-04-16","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by\u00a0Reese Lynn.) The most common problems include obsolete drivers (check your PC vendor site for updates); too-aggressive third-party software (e.g. anti-rootkits\/anti-malware); and disk errors (run chkdsk ). For some general how-to fixes, see this text; it mentions Win7, but the general fixes discussed there work on any Windows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/13\/a-reader-asks-what-is-windows-doing-when-it-takes-so-long-working-on-updates-during-a-restart\/","url_meta":{"origin":2169,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: What is Windows doing when it takes so long “Working on updates” during a restart?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-09-13","format":false,"excerpt":"Q. What is Windows doing when it takes so long \"Working on updates\" during a restart? (via Quora) A: Software that\u2019s in use and actively running cannot be updated or replaced on the fly. The in-use software has to be shut down, then replaced, then restarted. When Windows Update needs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/14\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-check-which-net-version-is-installed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2169,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: How can I check which .Net version is installed?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-14","format":false,"excerpt":"Q*: How can I check which .Net version is installed on a Windows 7 PC without administrative rights? A: There are many ways to check, regardless of Windows version or Admin status. Most only take a few seconds. For example, try this: Open Windows\u2019 built-in Registry editor (RegEdit), and click\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/registry-net-version-12-12-2018-9-49-22-AM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/registry-net-version-12-12-2018-9-49-22-AM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/registry-net-version-12-12-2018-9-49-22-AM.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2565,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/09\/a-reader-asks-is-it-dangerous-to-do-frequent-factory-resets\/","url_meta":{"origin":2169,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “Is it dangerous to do frequent factory resets?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-04-09","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Ron Ashrovy\u00a0wonders if frequent factory resets are dangerous. No: PCs, phones, TVs, or whatever, should not be damaged by frequent factory resets, beyond the measure of extra wear and tear that such resets cause. (A system undergoing reset typically works very hard for a while as it sets itself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/18\/a-reader-asks-can-i-install-x86-based-microsoft-office-pro-plus-in-a-32-bit-os-x64-based-processor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2169,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: Can I install x86-based Microsoft Office Pro Plus in a 32-bit OS, x64-based processor?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-10-18","format":false,"excerpt":"Q. Can I install x86-based Microsoft Office Pro Plus in a 32-bit OS, x64-based processor? (via Quora) A: Almost surely, yes. You usually can run 32-bit software on 64-bit hardware. In your case, you want to run a 32-bit (\"x86\") version of Office on 32-bit Windows, itself installed on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2169"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2188,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions\/2188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"[seperator]\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEPERATOR-short-grey.png?resize=104%2C6\")
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