Cynthia says Malwarebytes is one of the good guys again

By | July 30, 2013
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Cynthia received an answer from Malwarebytes

I did received an email from Malwarebytes because I had written to them several times to let them know how disappointed I was that they had changed their protection. They have issued a statement that they are going back to including all the things they took out, and more, in response to popular demand. That’s what the link they sent me said. Just thought I’d mention it.

I have reinstalled my MBAM Pro and the tech who is working with me at EAM said that EAM and MBAM together would provide very robust protection.

Our answer and comments

Yes we read their blog; we are aware of their latest promises. They still have not answered our email.

Did you know that Cloudeight was the only company with the guts to tell the truth about and blow the whistle on Malwarebytes? We gave them three months to respond to us – and we kept them on our recommended list during that time, but still they never had the courtesy to contact us directly. Now, articles based on our research and our testing of Malwarebytes on dozens of computers have now sprung up across the web. But we were the only ones out there three months ago raising flags about Malwarebytes. And we can’t help but think, we are the reason, the only reason, why Malwarebytes is trying to walk back their horrible decision to leave their users in the lurch.

Now the question is – which company are they? Is Malwarebytes the company of the past few months who told users that the PUPS weren’t that bad and easy to remove — and besides, people could easily avoid them — so they took them off their detection list? Or are they company who now urges other anti-malware to join them in their “new” “aggressive” fight against PUPs?

We think if Malwarebytes is really serious, they’ll start calling PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) what they really are — malware — and quit tip-toeing around the word “malware” using euphemisms like PUPs. What about it Malwarebytes? Are you serious enough about your new fight against malware to call a spade a spade?

There is a trust issue now with Malwarebytes — and trust must be earned not given back in response to a PR blog. Let’s see proof. Let’s see facts. Let’s see an apology to all the people they let down. Let’s see an explanation why the left their users with a program that was a shadow of what Malwarebytes used to be. No one should give Malwarebytes their trust again until they prove they’ve earned it – and they aren’t going to earn it by posting nice promising blog about how tough their new tough stance is going to be. Let’s see what they do; make them prove it.

And they have to two more things to convince us they are serious:

1. Apologize to every one of their users whose computers were being infected with malware while Malwarebytes detected nothing and users were trusting their computers to them.

2. Explain why the decided to remove ASK, Conduit, Web Cakes and all the other ubiquitous malware from their definition files in the first place.

We think they need to earn our trust back. And we’ll never trust them again until they prove they’re serious this time — and they do the two things we mention above. They owe all of us an apology and they need to explain honestly why they changed in the first place.

Do we think they’ll ever do this. Not really. We’d be shocked if they did. But if they do, I’d be happy that Malwarebytes — a company we once trusted and admired — is back on the side of all of us who fight so hard to expose the billion-dollar hooligans who make money by tampering with people’s computers — and trick them into installing their garbage. ASK, Web Cakes, Smilebox, Inbox Toolbar, Conduit and most of the others know that you’re not going to install anything they make unless you’re tricked into it — because the things they make are junk program designed for one purpose only – to line their pockets with ill-gotten money extracted from unwary users and from the advertisers they mislead. By hijacking your browser, your default search engine, your browsers start pages, by redirecting URLs, and by injecting ads into your searches, on pages you visit, and even on your own computer — these companies are getting paid for clicks they didn’t earn and ruining your browser and even your computer in the process.

Malwarebytes let us down — but more importantly, they let everyone of their users down. I think the least they could do is apologize and explain why they decided several months ago to leave all their users vulnerable to the things they used to detect and remove — and those were the things that all of you are most likely to be infected with.

Let’s see what they do in the future — and make them earn back the trust we all once freely gave them – the trust they had earned. It’s going to take more than promises and polished public relations blogs. We want to see them apologize to every one of their users who trusted them – to every one of the users they let down. And we want them to explain why they stopped detecting “PUPs” in the first place, and why they answered our readers who wrote them by saying PUPs weren’t all that bad — they were easy to avoid and easy to uninstall — neither of which is true. If it were true, 90% of  the computer we have worked on, most of which were “protected” by Malwarebytes, wouldn’t have been loaded with malware –or as Malwarebytes likes to say, PUPs.

 

 

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18 thoughts on “Cynthia says Malwarebytes is one of the good guys again

  1. Phyllis

    Hmmmm, if I were a cynical person, I would say MalwareBytes put out that PR release, in response to the massive uninstall wave that hit them, when we all switched to Emsisoft. Oh heck, I am cynical, and that is exactly what I think this is………PR bullcrap. I’m with you, they will have to do a lot to regain my trust. And as well as Emsisoft, works, I don’t think I really need them anymore, anyway. They had their chance, and they blew it.

    Reply
  2. Pete Karczmarczyk

    I’m one of your “silent” users that’s been reading and saving your site since I found it in the early 90s. Anything that you have written about, to me, has steered me toward not getting my self into too much trouble. There is another site I go to from a gentleman on the Pacific Coast also. Both of you have really saved my butt numerous times. I only wish I could be more computer savvy.

    Reply
  3. Holly H C

    I switched to EMSISOFT and staying there, they do ALOT more than MAlWARE ever did! I go by what Cloudeight says almost all the time. I still hang up their Direct Computer Care notices at the mailboxes of where I live and that is 184 condo’s 🙂

    Reply
  4. Vivien~Phyllis

    Yesterday ,Malwarebytes found 5 PUPs I could not believe it what a coincident, something I haven’t had for yrs.
    So I downloaded the free version of Emsisoft and ran it found 5 related to weather bug and that was it. It removed all but one in the Reg. and I had to remove it! And it ran very good with my antivirus Kaspersky, which I have had for years. SUPERAntiSpyware , Malwarebytes, and 60 second virus scanner also was on. I know you are all thinking Over kill!!but have been running a computer for thirteen years with no serious problem thanks to TC and EB. As of now I will keep Malwarebytes as I have not had any problems with their support.\
    You are the greatest TC and EB, thankyou!!

    Viven~Phyllis

    Reply
  5. Lee Owens

    Hey, lets not throw the baby out with the bath water. This company and many others have to walk a fine line. If they are truthful, they can be sued by companies, who have deep pockets. Therefore, the easy choice for them, was, to dump it back on the users. Save them a bundle of money, and the average user is not any wiser about the junk, they have allowed on our systems, in order for them, to save court costs.

    Reply
  6. YvonneInBetween

    I’m not switching back to Malwarebytes. I wrote them 4 times trying to get them to return to their original policies. I did receive ‘replies.’

    In my last email I told them as soon as I found a better product I would be switching. They told me I would never find a better product…. Well; here’s mud in their eye. They will find out that consumers rule.

    Reply
  7. Edith Porter

    I see it this way: As long as these malware programs can be hand operated and no not interfere with the main virus detection program on a computer, I feel you can’t have too many of them. This is because they don’t all catch the same computer cooties. It’s like certain antibiotics will only kill certain bacterial infections and not touch others. So, use different antiibitoc malware programs to kill the malware cooties. I’ve got two or 3 of them I run. What one does not get the others will get.

    Reply
  8. Gay

    I agree with the other commenters. Malwarebytes had their chance, and pretty much blew it by showing that they cared more about their bottom line (or whatever; they won’t say what was more important than our trust). And, we are all SO pleased with Emsisoft (I have it on both of my computers)that I’m not sure I would ever use them again regardless.

    Reply
  9. Janice M

    I’ll NEVER go back to Malwarebytes! In short, they lied by not doing what they claimed to be doing! THANKS AGAIN CLOUDEIGHT, if not for you, I’d still be in FALSE SECURITY LAND–at least I KNOW I can TRUST TC & EB!

    Reply
  10. Jerry Massey

    Malwarebites, Listen up! Emisoft is THE program and does it’s job hands down…Thanks to TC & EB for their solid recommendations! Good Job Cloudeight and company!

    Reply
  11. Ed Gardner

    I’m not going back to Malwarebytes – ever. I sent them three emails for support and one email for a refund of the three license keys I bought for my computers. Guess what, no refunds after 30 days. I don’t trust them any more. TC and EB have all my trust and I’m staying with Emsisoft. Thanks for watching out for all of us who owns a computer connected to the world. Keep up the great work.

    Reply
  12. nick

    NEWS BULLETIN: David (TC & EB) Inflict Serious Damage To Goliath (Malwarebytes). Recently Cloudeight exposed Malwarebytes for there underhanded practices and convinced many of their loyal followers to switch to Emsisoft causing a considerable drop in their subscribers.

    seriously, thanks alot for your commitment to fairness and transparency in the world of computers.

    Reply
  13. Cynthia Letellier

    Just a final comment. I’m not saying that my trust is suddenly restored, or even that I believe they ARE doing what they said. I wrote back and asked the company guy who wrote to me and asked him if this policy of reverting back to their previous protection rules was going to happen right away and he wrote back and told me it had already happened.

    I don’t know if that’s true. I haven’t suddenly fallen back “in trust” with Malwarebytes. If this were an annual renewal situation I probably would not renew it at this time.

    But there is one thing to consider for those, like me, who purchased the Pro version. It was a one-time cost. I’ve already paid for it. As long as it will run beside EAM without causing trouble, and one of EAM’s own techs even suggested to me that EAM and MBAM would offer me a robust protection … why not? I’ve got EAM in place and I can uninstall MBAM any time.

    So, for those who, like me, have already purchased the Pro version — you’ve spent the money so what can be lost by running it as long as it doesn’t interfere with EAM or any of your other programs?

    Reply
  14. Jig

    I, too have much confidence in your recommendations. Thanks for your research and the newsletter. I have been using SuperAntispyware instead of Malwarebytes for a number of months and am pleased with the results. BTW I recently installed Ooma (recommended by you about 3 months ago)for my home phone service and have been very pleased with their service. I have recommended it to several people.

    Reply
  15. Snowflake281

    It is no surprise to see Malwarebytes reverse their bad decision to accept & allow the clandestine installation of so many unwanted & destructive toolbars. It’s disgusting the way these companies operate so deceptively. I’m sure Malwarebytes has felt the hit of bad press from anyone following Cloudeight’s own investigation of them. It’s shameful the way they cowered in response to so many emails from their customers. I would seriously love to find out why they could not or just refused to see it right in front of their eyes. Apples are apples and oranges are oranges, malware is malware or do they not even really know what malware is? Well, I think they’ve learned their lesson the hard way. Emsisoft’s licensed version is doing a great job for me and my husband, as far as I can tell, and there will be no future recommendations from us for Malwarebytes.

    Reply
  16. D.

    I think Cynthia Letellier says it the best. “I haven’t suddenly fallen back in trust with Malwarebytes (Meaning being told changing back to their old detection, finding what it should). I’ve got EAM in place and I can uninstall MBAM any time”. I think these are the two key sentences Malwarebytes better be paying attention to, if and when people do come back. They might come back for free later on to use as a second scanner, but for paying for it, I would say they lost some future customers on that if they know what is going on (My opinion). Their trust has taken a “hit” and now they have competition on top of that. People started looking what to replace them with (Cloudeight for one and I’m sure others). That is not always a good thing for someone that just lost trust out there and the word is still spreading. I think Malwarebytes thought they were not replaceable…wrong!

    I don’t know if they will ever be back to the Malwarebytes we all used to know. When you have to push, or leave someone to hopefully get them to do something that won’t screw up your pc, are you going to have to keep doing that? Again, I think it is a good idea they are not your number one scanner you go to. Maybe 2 or 3. As for as what brought them to this, I don’t think we will ever truly know unless someone leaves from over there and you hear it on the net. Then you would have to be careful with that.

    Reply
  17. Griff

    I wont go back to Malwarebytes ! I work on computer’s as a hobby, worked on them for a living for a few years and found most of the BHOs and toolbars u mentioned on many PCs with MBAM installed. Great work . Very appreciated .

    Reply
  18. kb

    Hi
    I wish my computer could use Emisoft, but I have xp home edition sp2 and it is not supported. sp3 doesn’t jive with my pc
    You guys are the greatest ever…..thank you and God bless

    Reply

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