After an update in October on Windows computers, the malware security solution from Malwarebytes resulted in network printers being blocked and reported to the system as being offline. Malwarebytes has now released a beta update so that the network printers in the network are accessible again.

On 20. October 2020 a first user reported in the Malwarebytes forum and complained about a conflict with his network printer. The printer controlled by the TCP / IP protocol was blocked by Malwarebytes and Windows reported that the device was offline. As soon as the web protection function in the Malwarebytes protection software was switched off, printing was possible again.

Other affected persons confirmed the problem in the Malwarebytes forum -Update from October 2020 for network printers that are addressed via TCP / IP. At the beginning of November 2020 a Malwarebytes employee reported in a forum post and stated that the manufacturer was investigating the problem. Affected users could deactivate the “Web Protection” function for the duration of a printing process via the context menu.

During tests, the affected user found that the deactivation of the option SNMP status activated in the properties of the network printer that fixed the problem.

Beta-Fix Since the beginning of November 2020 Malwarebytes is working on eliminating the error, with partial solutions for certain Windows versions being released as beta versions. At the 11. November Malwarebytes released a new beta version 4.2.3. 20 of the protection software with the component package 1.0. 1112. This update is intended to fix the problem of offline network printers for all Windows systems. Bleeping Computer describes how users can obtain this beta under Malwarebytes Premium via the update function.

This is not the first time that Malwarebytes has caused a problem by updating its protection software. Under Windows 10 version 2004 there were blue screens and performance problems. 2018 there was the case that updates of the software led to significant problems.

( olb)