Solved Thoughts on Buying Malwarebytes.

glasskuter · Feb 10, 2022

As you can see from these posts, when it comes to anti-virus, anti-malware protecton, very few people completely agree. It boils down to what each user feels is best for him/her and whether or not that user uses good common sense in his/her use of a computer. It's a mean world out in cyber-space. The best protection against any kind of infection is using what's between your ears in your browsing habits, clicking on links and attachments in emails, and falling for scams.

The absolute best protection one can give oneself is to have a good backup plan in place and use it religiously.

OldMainframeGuy · Mar 21, 2022

Perhaps a bit OT...but...I use a product called 'Duplicate Cleaner' from Digital Volcano. There was a recent upgrade to that product and Malwarebytes decided to flag it as ransomware. I posted this in Malwarebytes' ransomware forum; was asked to provide logs which I did. Malwarebytes whitelisted the software. Last night Malwarebytes upgraded itself to version 4.5.6 and today, it's back to flagging Duplicate Cleaner as ransomware.

I'm pretty sure this software isn't ransomware.

The-Hive · Mar 21, 2022

Try Dropping the executable (.exe) file into Virus Total to double check it's ok. Here is the link

VirusTotal

www.virustotal.com

If it's ok it's MB being extra careful, it does have a habit of doing that

OldMainframeGuy · Mar 21, 2022

The-Hive said:
Try Dropping the executable (.exe) file into Virus Total to double check it's ok. Here is the link

VirusTotal

VirusTotal

www.virustotal.com

If it's ok it's MB being extra careful, it does have a habit of doing that

First I have to reboot my PC so Malwarebytes can "clean" the problem, then I'll have to remove it from quarantine. I have no problem with MB being careful but since they've already whitelisted it once (and it's the same version they whitelisted) it tends to become a just tad annoying.

Rob

Wynona · Mar 21, 2022

The-Hive said:
Try Dropping the executable (.exe) file into Virus Total to double check it's ok. Here is the link

VirusTotal

VirusTotal

www.virustotal.com

If it's ok it's MB being extra careful, it does have a habit of doing that

Oh, thanky, thanky, thanky! I was just wondering about that a bit earlier!

Porthos · Mar 21, 2022

OldMainframeGuy said:
First I have to reboot my PC so Malwarebytes can "clean" the problem, then I'll have to remove it from quarantine. I have no problem with MB being careful but since they've already whitelisted it once (and it's the same version they whitelisted) it tends to become a just tad annoying.

Rob

Turn off auto quarantine. There are 2 different places to disable it. The main section and in the scheduled scans.
You can then make your own decision to quarantine or not.

OldMainframeGuy · Mar 21, 2022

Porthos said:
Turn off auto quarantine. There are 2 different places to disable it. The main section and in the scheduled scans.
You can then make your own decision to quarantine or not.

MB published an update; I downloaded it, rebooted, unquarantined and everything is OK now but I like your suggestion and will probably follow it. I

Porthos · Mar 22, 2022

OldMainframeGuy said:
MB published an update; I downloaded it, rebooted, unquarantined and everything is OK now

I saw that.

jimbo45 · Mar 22, 2022

WD is perfectly good enough these days -- I often ask people to post what have other A/V systems found that WD fails to detect. On HOME type computers especially with later versions of W10 and beyond - W11 and W12 ?? there's 100% no reason to install anything extra unless you do it for your own peace of mind. It won't guarantee you any extra security though so do it because you "feel it's a good idea" but from a technical point of view - don't bother.

Remember also SCAMS are really the problem these days not Hacks into home computers -- sophisticated A.I might help people with those - but we are a long way off of having decent A.I systems to help with that issue.

Most of these 3rd party A/V systems for HOME use were really looking at a C20 problem with an OS which had laughable security. Whatever the merits of Windows these days compared to other OS'es - it's security has improved beyond all recognition. WD is actually based on the security in Ms's cloud server systems AZURE which is at military strength robustness for security.

Cheers
jimbo

tinmar49 · Mar 22, 2022

I run WD and the free Malwarebytes. When the trial period runs out for Malwarebytes, you have to run manual scans which take only a few minutes, so it's no great hardship to scan everyday. Together they provide most of the security needed especially if you have all the added security setup for W11, such as TPM, core isolation, secure boot and memory integrity, and bit locker if you are an experianced user.

OldMainframeGuy · Mar 22, 2022

jimbo45 said:
WD is perfectly good enough these days -- I often ask people to post what have other A/V systems found that WD fails to detect. On HOME type computers especially with later versions of W10 and beyond - W11 and W12 ?? there's 100% no reason to install anything extra unless you do it for your own peace of mind. It won't guarantee you any extra security though so do it because you "feel it's a good idea" but from a technical point of view - don't bother.

Remember also SCAMS are really the problem these days not Hacks into home computers -- sophisticated A.I might help people with those - but we are a long way off of having decent A.I systems to help with that issue.

Most of these 3rd party A/V systems for HOME use were really looking at a C20 problem with an OS which had laughable security. Whatever the merits of Windows these days compared to other OS'es - it's security has improved beyond all recognition. WD is actually based on the security in Ms's cloud server systems AZURE which is at military strength robustness for security.

Cheers
jimbo

To be fully honest, I run MB because I have a lifetime license so "why not?". When I run my bittorrent client, MB sometimes blocks access to sites it thinks is hazardous. Whether or not they're hazardous is anyone's guess and if they are, I don't know if WD would have blocked that access.

And not to be [too] cheeky, the AV industry only exists because Windows was/is easy to infect so I'm not sure I want to declare Microsoft as the gold standard in malware protection. :) To each his own.

dbartenstein · Mar 22, 2022

OldMainframeGuy said:
To be fully honest, I run MB because I have a lifetime license so "why not?". When I run my bittorrent client, MB sometimes blocks access to sites it thinks is hazardous. Whether or not they're hazardous is anyone's guess and if they are, I don't know if WD would have blocked that access.

And not to be [too] cheeky, the AV industry only exists because Windows was/is easy to infect so I'm not sure I want to declare Microsoft as the gold standard in malware protection. :) To each his own.

Same. I have a lifetime MB license from back when WD was not-so-hot. And I've seen a lot more warnings about potentially bad missteps from Malwarebytes than I ever have from WD.

jimbo45 · Mar 22, 2022

OldMainframeGuy said:
To be fully honest, I run MB because I have a lifetime license so "why not?". When I run my bittorrent client, MB sometimes blocks access to sites it thinks is hazardous. Whether or not they're hazardous is anyone's guess and if they are, I don't know if WD would have blocked that access.

And not to be [too] cheeky, the AV industry only exists because Windows was/is easy to infect so I'm not sure I want to declare Microsoft as the gold standard in malware protection. :) To each his own.

If I'm "Torrenting" I run deluge - a decent safe bit torrent client (GUI version) on Linux and only use magnet links from duckduckgo and TOR anyway so torrenting malware isn't an issue for me for torrents.

Other than that if you've got a lifetime license - nothing wrong. For me though these "Domestic" last century 3rd party A/V systems just aren't worth the candle any more. Even more now with events in Russia and Ukraine. Russina companies and developers did quite a lot of development into commercial 3rd party A/V systems so perhaps that should also be a consideration -- but again people have diffent perceptions and needs.

Cheers
jimbo

Winuser · Mar 23, 2022

jimbo45 said:
WD is perfectly good enough these days -- I often ask people to post what have other A/V systems found that WD fails to detect. On HOME type computers especially with later versions of W10 and beyond - W11 and W12 ?? there's 100% no reason to install anything extra unless you do it for your own peace of mind. It won't guarantee you any extra security though so do it because you "feel it's a good idea" but from a technical point of view - don't bother.

Remember also SCAMS are really the problem these days not Hacks into home computers -- sophisticated A.I might help people with those - but we are a long way off of having decent A.I systems to help with that issue.

Most of these 3rd party A/V systems for HOME use were really looking at a C20 problem with an OS which had laughable security. Whatever the merits of Windows these days compared to other OS'es - it's security has improved beyond all recognition. WD is actually based on the security in Ms's cloud server systems AZURE which is at military strength robustness for security.

Cheers
jimbo

Jim, unless you are a security expert and willing to guarantee that one won't get their computer infected when using Defender, you really shouldn't be telling people that they are wrong for using third party security software. Is Defender good Security software? Yes. Is it the best? No. There is no best. Each program has its strength and weaknesses.

TairikuOkami · Mar 23, 2022

Malwarebytes has starred in the recent MRG test.

360° Assessment & Certification – Q4 2021

https://www.mrg-effitas.com/test-library

Winuser · Mar 23, 2022

OldMainframeGuy said:
And not to be [too] cheeky, the AV industry only exists because Windows was/is easy to infect so I'm not sure I want to declare Microsoft as the gold standard in malware protection. :) To each his own.

jimbo45 · Mar 24, 2022

Hi there

@Winuser

Of the many hundreds of people I know using Windows at home for personal use - including some quite young people - and most of them aren't "Computer experts" of any kind and quite a few still use torrent sites like TPB, 1377x etc none have ever been infected by a virus or hacked so these days the risk is vanishingly small if you just use WD.

Windows really IS infintely better protected these days. As I re-iterate it's fine if you want to use extra things but the reality is that they really don't bring much if anything to the table these days in the case of HOME systems apart from possibly uthe users own Psychological well being.

Use if you want -- and that's all I'm saying any more on this. I rely on evidence from "Real Users" rather than what's in some eseoteric magazine 99.9% of the population have never heard of - in any case Batch / post testing doesn't give sensible conclusions anyway as things like WD are updated almost daily and in theory a new threat could appear at any time. People are far better to be aware of scams than have a computer hacked.

I'd much rather my bank accounts and credit card transactions were properly safeguarded than any amount of damage hacking could potentially do to a computer. !!! And the only 100% sure way to do that is to never give out too much info and understand Scams and frauds.

A recent case in the UK -- seemed obvious to me that the victim didn't even apply the most elementary common sense -- was that the person was in the process of buying a house. Now in the UK it's a hideously convoluted process but before "Completion" one has to "Exchange contracts" at which final price and conditions are agreed and 10% non returnable deposit is paid to the Lawyer. So when the 10% was requested -- on a property of 1 Million GBP sterling this amounts to 100,000 GBP / 130,000 EUR/USD approx an email also came purportedly from the Lawyer acting for the purchaser that he'd changed his Bank for some what appeared to be a reasonable reason.Amount paid to that account and bang Money gone !!!! - In that sort of situation a simple phone call to the lawyer would have shown the new account to be a bogus one.

The Bank refused refund as the transfer was duly legally correctly made by the property purchaser.

I don't think Malwarebytes or anything else would defend against that sort of stuff and a lot more scams are far less obvious than that one. But if you want to use it - go ahead.

Anyway my last word on this subject.

Cheers
jimbo

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

jimbo45 said:
I'd much rather my bank accounts and credit card transactions were properly safeguarded than any amount of damage hacking could potentially do to a computer. !!! And the only 100% sure way to do that is to never give out too much info and understand Scams and frauds.

A recent case in the UK -- seemed obvious to me that the victim didn't even apply the most elementary common sense -- was that the person was in the process of buying a house. Now in the UK it's a hideously convoluted process but before "Completion" one has to "Exchange contracts" at which final price and conditions are agreed and 10% non returnable deposit is paid to the Lawyer. So when the 10% was requested -- on a property of 1 Million GBP sterling this amounts to 100,000 GBP / 130,000 EUR/USD approx an email also came purportedly from the Lawyer acting for the purchaser that he'd changed his Bank for some what appeared to be a reasonable reason.Amount paid to that account and bang Money gone !!!! - In that sort of situation a simple phone call to the lawyer would have shown the new account to be a bogus one.

The Bank refused refund as the transfer was duly legally correctly made by the property purchaser.

I don't think Malwarebytes or anything else would defend against that sort of stuff and a lot more scams are far less obvious than that one. But if you want to use it - go ahead.

That has nothing to do with what security program someone runs on their computer. IMHO and I know others feel the same, when it comes to security programs it's a matter of what we feel gives us the security we need. There is no best because they all have their pros and cons. I use ESET Internet Security but I'm not going to tell others that they are wrong for not using it.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

@jimbo45, I want to explain my comments a little better. Let's say that someone took your advice about paid security programs being a waste of money and they switch to Defender. Then for or whatever reason their computer gets infected. Who do you think they would blame? I know I would be angry at the person who convinced me I was wasting my money and talked me into switching.

rakers8 · Mar 29, 2022

I think WD is fine but there are infinite threads all over the internet arguing about it when that effort could be used to create an automated, low hassle backup routine. System images work great but even OneDrive + Soft Reset/Recovery is a viable solution for today's home users - and on systems made within the last 7 years the process takes about, what 20 minutes?

No matter what AV you have, if you're a geek and like to try out interesting looking software or browser extensions, that will not protect you from a supply chain attack, since updates can be pushed instantly - not to mention unknown exploits. The solution to all these and future security problems require a fundamental change in the public narrative instead of "defense". By the time any attack goes "viral" any solution will flag it. On modern systems a third-party security solution is just....legacy, imo.