Malwarebytes

[Extreme112]

Is it recommended I use this program if I already have an antivirus like Norton 360? To me malwarebytes does the same thing as Norton.

 

[KSoD]

Yes it is recommended and it does nothing like Norton. Norton is like driving a Smart Car and saying it is like driving a Ferrari.

Malwarebytes is above and beyond anything Norton could ever dream of being. Norton can't and shouldn't even be used in the same sentence. That is insulting to MBAM. I barely know anyone who would even recommend that to their worst enemy. MBAM is a much more indepth scanner and it finds things that Norton lets through.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Malwarebytes will look for different files than Norton. The reason why it is good to have several different spyware scanners. I use Malwarebytes and Spybot myself, along with my Comodo Antivirus.

 

[KSoD]

Malwarebytes doesnt look for different files. It will look for the same exact files. It is the same type of scanner system used by ALL virus programs out there. They all run on definitions. Which must be updated. It just so happens that the definitions for MBAM are far more comprehensive than those included in others. It is this reason why the program must be updated before use and why it will find files that other programs couldnt.

Eset, MSE, Trend Micro, Avast, AVG, McAfee, Norton, Symantec and all the rest do this. The only tool that scans differently and will look at different files is the Malicious Removal Tool by Microsoft cause that uses a different scanner method.

 

[Extreme112]

Thanks for the input. Would any of you recommend I buy Malwarebytes and do any of you guys actually use it? Has it actually helped keep your computer safe?

 

[Lexluethar]

MBAM is free, the only for-pay part of MBAM is if you want to do things like schedule scans and do real-time protection.

Just download the free version and do a full scan once a week.

 

[MindoverMaster]

If that is so, KSoD, why do some antiviruses not pick up viruses while others do? I remember seeing that on the same virus, Avast found it. AVG did not. Reason?

 

[Trotter]

If that is so, KSoD, why do some antiviruses not pick up viruses while others do? I remember seeing that on the same virus, Avast found it. AVG did not. Reason?

Different companies so they are using different engines and different definition suites and oftentimes different approaches as to how and where they scan.

 

[KSoD]

If that is so, KSoD, why do some antiviruses not pick up viruses while others do? I remember seeing that on the same virus, Avast found it. AVG did not. Reason?

That is easy to explain. Why is LMAO in the Oxford Dictionary but not in the Cambridge dictionary?

The definitions only give you a set of things to search for. If the item is not within that set of things to look for, it is not found. That is why items can be found in some scans but not others. For this very reason. they are only a set of rules for the scanners to use to determine if a file is considered infected or not. They do not active scan file for changes or other things.

The Microsoft Removal Tool on the other hand uses a different set of scanning methods. It uses a behavior based scanner that checks the files for changes made to a file compared to an original. That way it can determine if a file is a potential infection compared to having it be told it is by a definition.

This is why MBAM is so effective compared to others. It has a larger definition database than most tools since it is designed to remove infections after the system gets infected with it scan. Just look at the size of the updates of MBAM compared to others. MBAM updates are over 6MB in size compared to the update of MSE which is 3MB in size. That is twice the size for twice the amount of files to scan.

 

[Extreme112]

Well thanks again for the further input on this software. I think I might buy this for the extra protection plus it can work well with Norton (a bonus to me).