Malwarebytes Inc. Kleczynski later discovered that, when his mother's computer became infected, neither McAfee nor Symantec would remove the malware from his system. It was only after Kleczynski posted on the forum SpywareInfo that he was able to learn how to remove the virus, which took three days.
The company was unofficially founded after this, when Kleczynski conversed and became friends with several of the editors of the forum, who tempted him to buy an unused domain from them. With one of the site's regulars, Bruce Harrison, Kleczynski wrote the inaugural version of the company's software.
RogueRemover proved instrumental in developing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and Kleczynski was able to set up a forum which enabled him to improve the software through feedback.
Kleczynski and Harrison formally launched Malwarebytes on January 21, , while Kleczynski was studying computer science at the University of Illinois. Marcus Chung, an e-commerce expert who formerly worked for GreenBorder, was hired as chief operating officer. In , Malwarebytes acquired HPhosts, a website blacklisting company, which tracks blacklisted websites and ad servers, a necessary development to protect against new internet protocol addresses and web servers which distribute malware, and advise internet service providers to shut down those with malicious activity.
By , it claimed to have removed five billion malware threats from computers in its first five years. In June , the company announced that it was moving its headquarters from 10 Almaden Boulevard in San Jose, California to a new 52, square feet 4, m 2 office space on the two top floors of the story Freedom Circle in Santa Clara, California.
