Silencing the Noise: How to Stop Malwarebytes Pop-ups

Justin Oyaro

By Justin Oyaro . 12 February 2024

Cybersecurity Expert

Miklos Zoltan

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Malwarebytes is a powerful scanner that you can use to protect and clean your device if you suspect it has malware.

The free edition, however, is notoriously known for its random pop-ups and program notices that nag you to upgrade to Malwarebytes Premium.

Unlike other notifications you can disable via settings, Malwarebytes free edition doesn’t offer an option to stop the random pop-ups.

Nonetheless, there are workarounds that you can use on Windows to stop these pop-ups. Continue reading to know more.

Exit Malwarebytes from the System Tray

The program notice pop-ups will appear randomly when Malwarebytes is active. You must close Malwarebytes completely from the system tray to avoid getting them.

Use the following steps to exit Malwarebytes from the system tray:

  1. Open the System Tray.
  2. Right-click on the Malwarebytes icon.
  3. On the menu that opens up, choose quit/exit/close.

Disable Startup with Windows

With this fix, you will not have to worry about the annoying pop-ups since it ensures Malwarebytes doesn’t start in the background at all.

Proceed as follows to disable Malwarebytes from starting with Windows:

  1. Open the Task Manager.
  2. Go to Startup apps and look for Malwarebytes.
  3. Right-click on the enabled status and select disable.

Alternatively, you can uncheck the start with Windows option from the menu that opens up when you right-click the Malwarebytes icon in the system tray.

These two workarounds will keep the pop-ups at bay, but you must manually launch Malwarebytes free edition to scan and clean your system.

Scheduled scans will also not work since Malwarebytes is inactive in the background. To ensure ongoing protection, ensure you use another antimalware/antivirus software.

Wrap Up

The frequent pop-ups urging you to upgrade to a premium version are the trade-off for using the free version of Malwarebytes.

Purchasing a premium subscription is the sole method to eliminate these interruptions and secure continuous protection.

Nonetheless, if the premium version of Malwarebytes isn’t necessary for your needs, consider implementing the workarounds mentioned earlier.

Justin Oyaro
Tech and Cybersecurity Expert Justin is a cybersecurity expert with over 5 years of experience that stretches across various technological realms. He is a valued expert in cybersecurity, Cord-cutting, Cryptocurrency, Smartphones, How-tos and other related fields. Justin has written authoritative content for multiple Cybersecurity websites and blogs on matters regarding privacy and security. He also does pen test on tech products such as smartphone applications and websites. When he is not writing, Justin spends most of his time on the latest tech trends and Android Studio. Justin is also a degree holder in Information Systems Technology and Master of Computer Applications (M.C.A.), University of Adelaide.
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1 Comment

  • Anonymous

    July 8, 2023 11:09 pm

    None of the above work. This looks like a recent article, and I downloaded the free trial 3 weeks ago.
    There is no ‘close’ or ‘exit’ available when right-clicking the malwarebytes icon from the system tray.
    Malwarebytes is not on the list of start-up apps, so ‘disable’ is not available there either.

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