malwarebytes, any opinion/advice,

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by gmcbee

I use their defragger and driver updater as well.

Yep, I've got their Uninstaller, Software Updater, Defragger, and Driver Booster.

[gmcbee]

The "deep uninstall" option is great for cleaning up those pesky widowed registry entries that most prorams' uninstall option does not bother to address.

[redsox1211]

Back to my original question, im simply asking, on a HOME computer that has very little software or added programs, windows 10 home with Firefox as my browser, would you say i need malwarebytes, knowing that it hasnt detected anything in 4+ years , nada, nothing. If you were me, would you uninstall it? I run a custom scan 2 times a month usually, meaning i scan everything, and again, i use the version thats Free.

[gmcbee]

Sorry for the digressions. I'd keep using it, or switch to free Bitdefender and use that.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by redsox1211

Back to my original question, im simply asking, on a HOME computer that has very little software or added programs, windows 10 home with Firefox as my browser, would you say i need malwarebytes, knowing that it hasnt detected anything in 4+ years , nada, nothing. If you were me, would you uninstall it? I run a custom scan 2 times a month usually, meaning i scan everything, and again, i use the version thats Free.

Echoing gmcbee, I'd use something that is "live"; i.e. something that can detect in real time, and not via a scan after the fact. Ergo, that's why I use (and recommend) Bitdefender... it's free, and detects in the cloud.

The free MWB is worth hanging on to, if only to do a periodic manual scan, as it can flag things other AV software can't. It also has the valuable quarantine function, so if it does pick up something, you can quarantine it, and check it out before making a decision.

If you want the premium (paid) MWB, you probably wouldn't need Bitdefender.

EDIT:

Careful you don't have two "live" AVs operating at the same time... they can butt heads with each other, and let things through.

I'd go with:
- a "live" AV program
- Windows Defender (assuming you have Windows; it's supposed to be pretty good firewall these days)
- a scan-on-demand type service (either built into the live AV, or another program, like MWB)

[redsox1211]

oh no worries, id never have more than 1 malware program, esp anything that i pay for, im gonna just keep malware bytes and run a 1 time or twice a year scan, and use windows defender, yes im on windows 10, its built in. Thanks for the feedback, i dont even dislike MWB, the fact that it screws my computer up, takes to long to scan and freezes everything is my biggest issue.

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

Echoing gmcbee, I'd use something that is "live"; i.e. something that can detect in real time, and not via a scan after the fact. Ergo, that's why I use (and recommend) Bitdefender... it's free, and detects in the cloud.

The free MWB is worth hanging on to, if only to do a periodic manual scan, as it can flag things other AV software can't. It also has the valuable quarantine function, so if it does pick up something, you can quarantine it, and check it out before making a decision.

If you want the premium (paid) MWB, you probably wouldn't need Bitdefender.

EDIT:

Careful you don't have two "live" AVs operating at the same time... they can butt heads with each other, and let things through.

I'd go with:
- a "live" AV program
- Windows Defender (assuming you have Windows; it's supposed to be pretty good firewall these days)
- a scan-on-demand type service (either built into the live AV, or another program, like MWB)

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by redsox1211

i dont even dislike MWB, the fact that it screws my computer up, takes to long to scan and freezes everything is my biggest issue.

That's not necessarily a bad thing; that tells me it digs deep. Would rather have that than a basic AV.

When in doubt, go with what the internet tells you... i.e., read reviews and use common sense. MWB is one of the highest-rated AV programs out there, so its a no-brainer, even if you only use it once in a while for a manual scan.

Bitdefender can be a CPU hog at times too, but it gives me piece of mind... and it's free... and it's one of the best free AV programs out there.

All this was a much bigger issue a few years ago, when Windows Defender was so bad, everybody was clamoring for extra protection this and extra protection that... but now that Defender did a 360, and is now a solid firewall, most users need only one AV, so at least you have options.

I probably don't need MWB, but it's there for the occasional manual scan, and the Chrome add-on adds a layer of protection for my browser in real-time, so I have a lot of layers now.

If you still have questions or need advice, you can go to majorgeeks.com and ask Tim over there for his opinion... he won't steer you wrong.

[gmcbee]

Majorgeeks Windows Tweaks! Love it!

and ps, redsox1211... Do backups, right?

[Lonewolf]

And just a reminder, for redsox1211 and anyone else viewing this... if you use Chrome, there's a free MWB add-on which works in real time in your browser similarly to the way the premium version works on your computer, protecting you from:

- ads/trackers
- malware
- scams
- PUPs

Whereas the MWB standalone protects from:

- web
- malware
- ransomware
- exploit

So while they are apparently designed to work in tandem, you do get some cursory protection with the add-on. I think it's worthwhile for that reason.

Pretty clean GUI. Nothing has popped up, but the stats pane shows that it's blocked a lot of stuff.

[Garrett478]

"I think the free version doesn't protect you. It's good to disinfect the PC once you caught something." -- Erland

Erland is succinctly and absolutely right.

"Without the Premium version there are no real-time protection modules to stop any infection, period. The free version is and always has been an after the fact clean up scanner." [all quotes from MWB Forum] And, IMO, an excellent remover of 'stubborn' malware.

"The scans are not the strong[est] part of Malwarebytes. The exploit protection, web protection and the rest of the paid features [are]."

Because:

Malwarebytes does not target script files during a scan. ... It also does not target documents files, media files, and emails. Malwarebytes will block the execution of files like these on execution only with the anti-exploit module of the paid program.

That's why many [MWB] forum support staff recommend running MWB [premium] AND MS Defender together. Yes they will co-exist nicely.

"[Defender] will catch the file just by downloading it or just opening a folder with a detected file in it.

For example, you get an email with an infected attachment, Malwarebytes will not even blink until you run it yet Defender will detect it if it is in their database without even actually clicking on it."

Explainer: Why run MWB and Defender or another sig based AV together?

"Malwarebytes is not designed to function like normal AV scanners and uses a new kind of scan engine that relies mostly on heuristics detection techniques rather than traditional threat signatures. Malwarebytes is also designed to look in all the locations where malware is known to install itself/hide, so a full or custom scan shouldn't be necessary, especially on any sort of frequent basis (like daily), especially since the default Threat Scan/Quick Scan checks all loading points/startup locations, the registry, all running processes and threads in memory, along with all system folders, program folders, and data folders as well as any installed browsers, caches, and temp locations. This also means that if a threat were active from a non-standard location because Malwarebytes checks all threads and processes in memory, it should still be detected. The only threat it *might* miss would be a dormant/inactive threat that is not actively running/installed on a secondary drive, however, if the threat were executed then Malwarebytes should detect it. Additionally, whenever a new location is discovered to be used by malware the Malwarebytes Research team adds that location dynamically to the outgoing database updates so the locations that are checked by the default Threat/Quick Scan in Malwarebytes can be changed on the fly by Research without requiring any engine or program version updates/upgrades."

I use MWB Windows Premium version for active protection. Yes it's a yearly subscription for most now, but, full disclosure, more than a decade ago I purchased a paid upgrade to the then free version that promised and delivered FREE lifetime updates. Best damn $25 I ever spent on software. That promotion ended in 2014, so no longer available to new users.

So, redsox, I run MWB along with Defender. I would NOT uninstall MWB. Example, Have portable app that I need to occasionally run, but new developers monetized 'free' version by having users 'agree' to have their CPU used by bots during idle time ! However, MWB successfully BLOCKS every attempt to connect by this app, both inbound and outbound attempts. Last session I used this app MWB blocked 25 separate telemetry attempts in a 90 minute period. No malware and app still worked fine.

IMO, doing a full [custom] scan with MWB free is a waste of time and resources UNLESS you are aiming to get rid of all traces of likely malware on your system. Better to run Defender or another sig-based AV for checking. My Premium is set to run a quick scan of registry and memory daily. I will occasionally run a fuller threat scan [see above] but rely on Defender for sig-based protection.

Finally, MWB isn't problem-free. Several years ago they changed the licensing system and my lifetime windows license wouldn't work- reverted to free version until their licensing support issued me a new-version license. AND their support IS slow. Average wait time is 3 to 7 weekdays. Many users go to separate support forum and get their support ticket escalated to higher priority through forum staff intervention. Current version is 4.x but it's having major 'teething' problems, so I have not upgraded yet and continue using last 3.x version. Will wait till volume of major v4 issues shrinks on the forum.

Hope this is helpful to you and other posting here.