Malwarebytes app broken since macOS update - How do I uninstall and reinstall?

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi all,

I upgraded to macOS 11.3.1 and since then I get the below error when I try to open the Malwarebytes app.
I have tried restarting and still get the same error.



Questions:

Q1. How do I cleanly uninstall the app if I can't open it, to hit the 'uninstall' button?!

Q2. Can I simply try re-installing over the top of it? Or does the Mac just flag the files are already installed etc.?

Q3. Does this happen for a lot of popular apps? Or is it just pure bad luck it had to be this one?



The error message:

 

[thomasareed]

Thomas Reed from Malwarebytes here... we're seeing the same thing here, and aren't yet sure of the cause, but it's being investigated. For now, this is easily fixed by doing one of the following things:

• Restart your computer a second time after installing the Big Sur 11.3 or 11.3.1 update
• Reinstall Malwarebytes right on top of your existing installation (no need to restart)

Either of these should be sufficient to get it up and running again.

 

[doobydoooby]

I experienced the same issue with malwarebytes and intego virus scanner. It only occurred with 11.3. The issue was linked to the fact that I had a separate admin account available on my Mac and for some reason that seemed to be triggering system preference full disk access privileges to be blank even though they were fully populated before the os update. I needed to reboot into the other admin account, let that do its stuff for a minute or two and then reboot back a second time into my standard account for the problem to clear itself. Who knows if that is what you are experiencing but I thought it worth mentioning!

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Thomas Reed from Malwarebytes here... we're seeing the same thing here, and aren't yet sure of the cause, but it's being investigated. For now, this is easily fixed by doing one of the following things:

• Restart your computer a second time after installing the Big Sur 11.3 or 11.3.1 update
• Reinstall Malwarebytes right on top of your existing installation (no need to restart)

Either of these should be sufficient to get it up and running again.

Many thanks for your reply Thomas,

Your app is brilliant, and the installation process from your website is the most professional and informative for the, outside of App Store, installs I’ve done.

I’ll give you two suggestions a go

Regards
Martin

 

[thomasareed]

I experienced the same issue with malwarebytes and intego virus scanner. It only occurred with 11.3. The issue was linked to the fact that I had a separate admin account available on my Mac and for some reason that seemed to be triggering system preference full disk access privileges to be blank even though they were fully populated before the os update.

I can't speak for Intego, but that wouldn't cause the issue described here with Malwarebytes. If, for some reason, Malwarebytes for Mac does not have full disk access, it will show a very different message. It will still allow you to scan (albeit with reduced efficacy), though not turn on real-time protection.

Also, I can say that I have reproduced the issues with the 11.3 and 11.3.1 updates on an M1 machine with only one admin account.

 

[thomasareed]

Your app is brilliant, and the installation process from your website is the most professional and informative for the, outside of App Store, installs I’ve done.

I’ll give you two suggestions a go

Thanks for the kind words! Please let me know if neither of the fixes work for you.