Is Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware any good?

[chipmunk]

I'd like to think I am quite up-to-date with computing in general, but I always like to hear other opinions and get conversion going cguru:

The most popular anti-spyware software seems to be MBAM at the moment and I have read lots of articles suggesting that this is a good application to use.

Is this better than Super Anti Spyware and other competing "free" software? As I don't get spyware infections it is hard to judge the effectiveness of it, so I would be grateful to hear other opinions.

 

[Veedaz]

chipmunk wrote

As I don't get spyware infections

I would say just keep using whatever you are using as it seams to be working for you .

(My opinion) Malwarebytes is a very good Anti-Malware application.

 

[Thrax]

MBAM is one of the few anti-malware apps that's any good. But it suffers from the same problem as every other anti-malware app: There is no such thing as effective spyware protection.

 

[Ian]

I'll 3rd that, it's a good application to have handy (more so if you need to fix someone's computer that is riddled with spyware). Common sense and effective protection are the best way to stop malware infections. Alongside this, it's worth having something like Secunia PSI to make sure all your software is patched and up to date, which will stop some modes of transmission (its free : http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/).

 

[chipmunk]

Thank you, I will remove SAS and Adaware and just stick to MBAM.

 

[D0UG]

You can run MalwareBytes with your antivirus program without conflicts. You get real-time scanning/protection with the paid version. It is only $25 for a lifetime license. I highly recommend it.

SAS is OK

The free version of Ad-Aware is not as good as free version of SAS.

 

[nooblet404]

as other says before, malwarebytes is an scanner designed to be an "backup" scanner/cleaner with an anti virus (kaspersky, nod32, avg, avira etc.).... malwarebytes does have many false positives though

 

[D0UG]

That is a very surprising comment not usually associated with this program. Avira has many more false postives than Malwarebytes.

Ny experience in using Malwarebytes on more than 50 computers is that false positives are rare. The paid version has real-time scanning which also runs well with most antivirus programs.

 

[Cookieman]

malwarebytes does have many false positives though

What false positives did you find?. Have you reported them to marcin or bruce on the main forums for MBAM so they can be whitelisted?

malwarebytes is an scanner designed to be an "backup" scanner

What makes you think its only designed a back up scanner? MBAM can also detect and take out certain rootkits, it is designed to take out malware while it is fully running on the machine without booting to safe mode and is also designed to hit malware at certain known points where malware breeds. I wouldnt class a tool with those capabilites just a backup scanner. I would say it is a mainstream scanner with a good reputation amongst it class.

 

[Kougar]

I've had false positives with Malwarebytes, Avast, AVG, BitDefender, and to many others to name. There is no perfect program out there, even with the best programs if you use them long enough it will happen.

It may seem like nitpicking, but users should be aware that Malwarebytes is not an anti-virus scanner. You'd still need a dedicated anti-virus program.

Cookieman, I have no idea if they fixed it (submitted a report but didn't hear back), but SuperPI, HyperPi, and any derivative program would be detected as malware by Malwarebyes.

 

[Cookieman]

To be honest I do not run any antimalware scanners myself, but I seen first hand the effectivenes of MBAM (and also SuperAntiSpyware - SAS which was the main flavour before MBAM) in the malware forums and both are great tools to have around. The only thing I do not like about MBAM is that in the paid version they have an IP blocker which has resulted in a few IP's being registrered"Bad" when they are not. I agree that MBAM does have its false positives but I would'nt class it as "many" which makes it sound a regular occurrance, I feel no scanner is not prone to the odd false positive. Usually Bruce is good at adding items to the whitelist but I cannot say if the software you mentioned have been whitelisted or not.

users should be aware that Malwarebytes is not an anti-virus scanner

%100 spot on, many people forget this and rely on it to run it as their main security application, it should be complimented by a good antivirus as you mentioned

 

[Veedaz]

An old M8 said to me a long time ago

Theres only one %100 safe way to use a computer ... thats off line and don't insert anything

True but not very practical.

 

[JaiHo Natan]

I use Malware Bytes,AVG and Spybot and they work together very good.I think Malware Bytes is a Very Good anti-malware program,but,its detection rates are not as good as Spybot's.But it is still a good anti-malware program.You should be careful because remember Malware Bytes is an ANTI-MALWARE program not an ANTI-VIRUS program so if you are using Malware Bytes you should also have an Anti-Virus installed.