Did Malwarebytes Get a Fair Shake?

[A Guy]

The latest report from Dennis Technology Labs contained a shocker for antivirus technology watchers. The free and popular Malwarebytes Anti-Malware came in almost dead last. Does this mean Malwarebytes is no good? Well, not necessarily.

Malwarebytes Responds
"Our score in this test is clearly skewed by the fact that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE is the only product being tested without real-time protection," said a company representative. "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE is specifically designed to clean up threats, as opposed to prevent them from occurring. With proactive protection contributing to a significant portion of the score, it is evident we would never feature highly. This is something the authors of the report have acknowledged. We are also very happy the free product outperformed the rest of the competition when it came to remediation."

Source

A Guy

 

[andrew129260]

No it did not. But interesting info.

 

[Yard Dog]

I have seen the Free clean up issues.. but, I use the paid and don't get any.. MBAM is the best IMO

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

All these comparisons are DEAD IN THE WATER and totally useless -- by the time these reports come out (tests performed usually at least 4 - 6 weeks earlier than the date the report is published) a whole slew of NEW Virus definitions could be out there which totally invalidates any previous result.

It matters not a jot if the one that "alleges 99.5% success" ( none don't but imagine if it did) fails to spot a particular problem you might have on YOUR machine but on no one else's. As far as you are concerned it's a failure. So choosing the one with the 99.5% success rate doesn't guarantee anything - especially since we all access different websites and use computers differently.

Try and cast your mind back to those Halcyon days before the Mobile phone invaded every part of modern living when you had to rely on the fixed line phone service. The phone company could say that the phone system was up and running 99.9999% of the time - but if YOUR PHONE was broken and the ONLY PHONE on the planet that was broken -- as far as you were concerned the system was 100% NOT operating !!!

In any case these days Virus protection isn't the major issue -- it's exploits caused by USERS themselves -- for example clicking on links from unknown email senders, opening up and replying to questions on Fake Govt / Bank / Utility (electric /Gas) / Other official looking websites or giving out too much info on social media.

Another problem is the "Green Arrow syndrome" - when trying to download software the web site deliberately hides or makes it really difficult to find the REAL download you want while all the other arrows (usually green - hence "green arrow syndrome" - point to other software / trial ware / adware / cr@pware etc. Unwanted toolbars are also a problem.

Even if you do find the program you want you still aren't out of the woods completely -- check carefully and unclick any "special offers" or "toolbars" etc.

Finally any AV that doesn't offer real time protection is just JUNK -- what use is POST analysis on a computer -- If you find out at 23.00 you have a Virus -- you don't know WHEN you got it or what it's done between infection and detection. (I think in the USA Post event analysis is called "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" !! -- perhaps a US user can confirm).

If a computer IS infected I still maintain that I'd NEVER use any clean up program on it -- even if it said computer is clean how could you KNOW -- the infection could prevent the clean up software doing its job properly.

I'd always restore from a CLEAN virus free backup. In extreme cases I might even perform a new Windows install. Restoring a clean backup only takes around 20 mins on decent hardware - probably a lot quicker than running a cleanup program.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[DavidE]

Why would anyone compare a free On Demand Anti-malware scanner to any real-time Anti-Virus product ?
Talk about comparing apples and oranges ...
I use MBAM real-time on all my systems, and won't stop using it because of this BS.
Who the heck is Dennis Technology Labs and can THEY be trusted ?

 

[jimbo45]

Why would anyone compare a free On Demand Anti-malware scanner to any real-time Anti-Virus product ?
Talk about comparing apples and oranges ...
I use MBAM real-time on all my systems, and won't stop using it because of this BS.
Who the heck is Dennis Technology Labs and can THEY be trusted ?

Hi there.

As I pointed out most of those articles are just rubbish and any AV is USELESS unless it has real time protection.

At least with Windows 8 / 8.1 the AV system is built into the OS so for home users they don't need any 3rd party stuff paid for or not any more. (Windows defender -- not to be confused with the same windows defender in W7. It works reasonably well and at least the definitions are updated often daily too by Ms).

Also sometimes these journalists are paid for by specific companies to "uprate" a particular product compared to other ones.

I mean would you expect to see a glowing article written in a Car magazine about a FORD car written by a journalist working for and paid by BMW for example.

Use whatever you are happy with - but always understand the limitations of the product and remember these days you can get SCAMMED very easily on the Internet by methods that no AV system can protect you against -- people just writing malware for the sake of it is not so much of a problem as they now understand HUGE money can be made from the net quite easily (unfortunately) by using simple Scams that easily dupe inexperienced users.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[DavidE]

I wasn't replying to your post Jimbo, I was just replying to the original post (OP).
Sorry for the confusion...

 

[andrew129260]

Why would anyone compare a free On Demand Anti-malware scanner to any real-time Anti-Virus product ?
Talk about comparing apples and oranges ...
I use MBAM real-time on all my systems, and won't stop using it because of this BS.
Who the heck is Dennis Technology Labs and can THEY be trusted ?

Dennis labs is one of the trusted testers out there yes.

Like they stated in the article, the reason it was in there was it was requested by people to be in the report. Like also stated, malwarebytes on there website seems to imply that the free version helps protect the user. But in reality it does not, only after the user is infected can the program do its work.

The article explains why it was in there, and why it failed.

Nothing really more to see here.

But yes, it was def. an apple vs orange scenario.

Malwarebytes pro has good protection, its the free version that was tested.

 

[A Guy]

Regardless of if any program will protect you, I'd rather have the 95% program protecting me then the 55% program

And Malwarebytes is going to be there trying

A Guy

 

[Urthboundmisfit]

self delete...

self delete

 

[ThrashZone]

mbam used to have a clear comparison chart of what each version does and does not do,
This is something mbam needs to straighten out so it is more clear,
But yea they are more clear about a version the user is not using than what's in the actual downloads features,
I'd say the site was spot on calling mbam out
View attachment 327099

 

[Phone Man]

It still did better then Microsoft Security Essentials

Jim

 

[Tews]

I'm using Bitdefender at the moment, and I must say that I'm impressed with it!!

 

[A Guy]

The chart is still there, and very clear

Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware Detection & Removal Software

A Guy

 

[SIW2]

I have never had an a/v find anything dangerous.

What are they for?

Maybe I don't hang around in the wrong places.

 

[Yard Dog]

No anti virus is 100% .. most will use a good free or paid anti virus and back that up with a anti spyware and a anti malware program.. I myself use free avast for anti virus .. paid malwarebytes for anti malware and free superantispyware for spyware..

 

[ThrashZone]

Compare versions should be on their home page not hidden in a submenu
Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware & Internet Security Software
I would settle if it were on the free version opening page but it's not,
Cheers.

 

[A Guy]

I have never had an a/v find anything dangerous.

What are they for?

Maybe I don't hang around in the wrong places.

None of my programs find anything. I have had Avast prevent a web page from loading, MBAM too. I search a lot when I'm able to help here. Would not know a page had malicious item by the search.

Compare versions should be on their home page not hidden in a submenu
Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware & Internet Security Software
I would settle if it were on the free version opening page but it's not,
Cheers.

OK, but the average Joe understands that if there is a free and a pay, there will be differences. And the free will have less features. I see no sneakiness.

A Guy

 

[ThrashZone]

I don't see as being sneaky I don't see it as obvious and I believe that was the point of the article was attempting to make,

I wouldn't take that for granted that everyone knows anything,
It's up to the company to be up front about the products they offer,

Have you seen the mbam bad update tagging .sys files as corrupt,
Looks like it turned a few machines into large paperweights
I would recommend adjusting setting if you have it automatically quarantining detection to alert you of detections,

No more assuming everything mbam finds as safe to remove,

This company is in a bad way.

 

[Golden]

Have you seen the mbam bad update tagging .sys files as corrupt,
Looks like it turned a few machines into large paperweights
I would recommend adjusting setting if you have it automatically quarantining detection to alert you of detections,

That same issue happened a few months/years ago.....royally screwed up many PC's.

http://www.sevenforums.com/security...es-update-causes-massive-false-positives.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/security...ity-update-wipes-out-thousands-computers.html