Malwarebytes discontinues Junkware Removal Tool
Malwarebytes announced on October 26, 2017 that it will discontinue supporting the company's Junkware Removal Tool in the first quarter of 2018.
Junkware Removal Tool is a free program for Windows designed specifically to remove potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), adware, and other unwanted things from the operating system.
It supports the removal of programs, browser extensions, toolbars, and adware, and supports more than 250 different variants of junkware that it can remove in its latest version.
We reviewed Junkware Removal Tool back in 2013 for the first time, and found it to be an excellent albeit somewhat limited program when it comes to the removal of unwanted software.
Malwarebytes, maker of the popular Anti-Malware security program (now called Malwarebytes only), acquired the Junkware Removal Tool back in 2015. The company wanted to integrate the program's functionality into its own security offerings, and noted that the tool would remain available online.
The company decided to end maintenance of the program effectively immediately, but will continue to provide service and support for the application until April 26, 2018.
Malwarebytes has chosen to discontinue Junkware Removal Tool (JRT) by announcing the end of maintenance as of October 26, 2017.
Malwarebytes will continue to provide service and support for JRT until End of Life (EOL) on April 26, 2018.
Malwarebytes suggests that users switch to AdwCleaner, a program that it says features all major features of Junkware Removal Tool.
AdwCleaner coincidentally was acquired by Malwarebytes in 2016. It can best be described as a graphical user interface version of Junkware Removal Tool with additional features such as better traces detection of adware and potentially unwanted software.
The Junkware Removal Tool is still available for download. Interested users can download it from the Malwarebytes website and continue to use it. The program requires no active Internet connection; this means that it can be used after Malwarebytes ends support for the program. It will lose some of its use over time though as it won't receive updates anymore which in turn means that it cannot deal with newer adware variants.
Closing Words
Malwarebytes software supports the detection and removal of potentially unwanted software, and so do Junkware Removal Tool and AdwCleaner. It was clear from the get go that the company would unify the offering. It is probably just a matter of time before AdwCleaner is discontinued as well.
Now You: What's your take on the development? (via Günter Born)
mbam us useless now face it. Learn how to reinstall win 10 and keep everything backed up. let mban rot.
we are living the 21st century, businesses are being bought with bookkeepers as executives. Money is all. Ownership of second fridge is nothing, nor is the color of thy neighbour’s grass. From the money sides prospective they are doing they right thing, from our wishful-outdated-60’s-set-of-mind it’s repulsive.
The goal is to better the quality of life, whether it is going to church,school,work or finding your car in a parking lot in the dark of night or standing alone in a lift and a stranger walks in. You want to be safe because you expect others to make sure you do by minding there own bloody business, keep there hands to themselves.
Alas, those times have never been there and they never will.
Two steps forward, one step back.
ICT is all about making money and as an exchange for our cash deliver something good-but-not-good-enough. If there is someone putting something free and worthwhile on the net, it will be bought. Who can withstand the lure of cash.
A lot of cash.
And we get the one-step-back to close-but-not-good-enough.
Fortunately there will always be someone putting out new stuff. For us to find and for the brainee a few shots of endorfine.
So search and develop!
More reason to leave Malwarebytes, shame while back it was a good tool, now its worthless.
Thanks for the update ghacks.
I like tools that don’t need to be installed, Malwarebytes is a nice piece of software but it’s not portable, if they are going to incorporate everything into their main product, a portable edition is a must have!
Sad to see JRT go.
Hi Maou. We’ve incorporated JRT into AdwCleaner (except for some temp file cleaning). Also, we’re investing into AdwCleaner. Watch for an update soon!
Hi seeprime,
Michael from Malwarebytes here. While it’s true whichever one is run first will find stuff, we have truly incorporated JRT into AdwCleaner. A minor exception is some temp file cleaning. If after running AdwCleaner you want to run JRT to test this out and then you find something, drop us a note and we’ll look into it. FWIW, we tested this with both tech shops and malware removal specialist on multiple forums for ~90 days (Spring 2017) before we first announced the inclusion of JRT into AdwCleaner v7 (in July 2017).
We made the call to do this for a few reasons:
-focus on making our products better for you; more specifically, MB3 and AdwCleaner
-free up the time of the original developer so he could focus on helping make Malwarebytes 3 better
-cut down on the need to run multiple tools from us
-thousands of partners asked us to do this (mostly tech shops)
-allow us to invest more into AdwCleaner; yep, we’re working on some cool stuff and watch for something very soon!
Lastly, if you ever want to share your thoughts with us, don’t like something we’re doing, etc – drop us a note on our forums. I’m at msherwood and feel free to message me directly.
@Michael, you should read the posts by people here on ghacks for an idea of what people are looking for. MB seems to be doing the opposite and by your own admission is now catering toward professional tech shops to maximize profit. Why don’t you develop your own tools and stop buying up all the freeware competition to create a monopoly.
Hi malwarebytes h8r 4life :)
Thanks for your input. As I shared above, you can message me directly with any feedback and I’ll get it to the right teams. If you have specific posts in mind that you think we should see, would you mind sharing them? I can certainly browse but would appreciate links if you have them. I did read through the main MB3 ones from the end of Jan and end of Mar this year.
I’m not sure I follow your comment about us “catering towards professional tech shops to maximize profit”. In addition to tech shops sharing their feedback, many consumers, “home CTOs”, etc also asked us to do this. We also tested this hand-in-hand with users for many months before making it live. We’re truly not trying to do stuff like this in a vacuum.
Again, please feel free to keep sharing your thoughts with us.
Note: I’m not receiving notifications for posts here so I may miss something until I come back and manually search.
For me MB itself is junkware . Apart from 60- 70 mb it occupies as per ‘uninstaller’ data, some 330 mb is taken in Appdata.
‘Use & throw ‘ product . Not to be kept in permanently.
any suggestion for a ComboFix replacement in case of W10 ?
i loved the way it worked … but on w10 is cant bet used
I’ve used jrt, adwcleaner, rogue killer, ccleaner and combofix for years and they always did a great job. Now it seems like companies are buying up all the good freeware, downgrading their effectiveness, adding malware/spyware and charging fee’s. Can anyone recommend replacements?
Not sure about Combofix replacement. Great program but it doesn’t work with Win8.1 or Win10.
Sorry to see it go.
Same with Junkware Removal Tool.
RIP
Agreed. Look what’s happened to CCleaner, since Avast took over…
Makes me wonder if there’ll be any freebies worth their salt, soon.
These kinds of moves tend me to use not use any of Malwarebytes products.
In the last number of years, their marketing people seem so detached from the real needs.
Bundling programs that are better seperately.
Killing useful programs like JRT.
Just bone headed moves.
Yes you need to find ways to make/save money, but this just makes no sense to me.
Hi Craig. Hopefully you’ve seen my other post here but if not… we’ve incorporated JRT into AdwCleaner (except for some temp file cleaning). Also, we’re investing into AdwCleaner. Watch for an update soon!
Malwarebytes is only discontinuing them as separate tools. Both of them are already integrated in the latest version of Malwarebytes 3.2.2
Based on recent reviews of Malwarebytes products, wouldn’t their UnInstaller qualify as a junkware remover?
+1
JRT catches different items than ADW Cleaner does. We use both to scan PC’s for malware. Whichever one is run second, always finds more junk. It seems like Malwarebytes is taking the lazy route, and is not being completely honest about what their products can do.