Not I.T. savvy

[FrankH547]

I run a scan and get many hits of Pup crawlies with the advice to close down applications.  What use is this to someone who knows nothing about any of the lines of letters and numbers representing these applications" ?

 

Is the software only for people with in depths knowledge about what goes on under the bonnet"?  My virus protection software searches and destroys virus pests and advises me what it has done.  All Malware bytes seems to do is a) lets the little monsters in,  then b) tells me where they are when I run a scan. 

I am sure that the overwhelming majority of PC users just know how to "drive the car" and know nothing about what goes on in the engine transmission and electrical department.  They have to rely on the auto mechanics for that.  Hope you can understand my analogy of PC operation compared with motor vehicle use. 

In the same way as I would need to be a competent mechanic to use specialist workshop equipment to work on my car it seems to me I need some level of know how to use Malwarebytes.  If this is the case then your advertising should be fair and clearly state this fact and advise me to seek competent help to prevent malware attack.  currently I see no point in buying the offered upgrade from trial package if I don't have the skills needed to use it.

[Durew]

I'd like to make a few comments on your post. I hope they'll help you a bit in understanding how MBAM works and take away some misconceptions.

 

"All Malware bytes seems to do is a) lets the little monsters in,  then b) tells me where they are when I run a scan."

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (abbreviated MBAM) has both a free and a paid version. The free version is what is called an 'on-demand scanner', you run it every week to remove malware that made it past your other security products. It is not supposed to stop malware from infecting you. Thus your remark was accurate and perfectly discribes it's function.

If you were looking for software to help actively prevent malware infections, you should take a look at the paid version, which actually offers this kind of protection. (Called 'real-time protection'.)

 

"I run a scan and get many hits of Pup crawlies with the advice to close down applications.  What use is this to someone who knows nothing about any of the lines of letters and numbers representing these applications" ?"
This is another excellent question and I think the answer is 'little to none'. For the non IT-savvy people the names of the detections are of little to no relevance. They usually just assume the found malware (or Potentially Unwanted Programs) that should be removed are automatically ticked and than choose to 'remove selected'. A manual/guide with screeshots on how to use MBAM free can be found by clicking here. The screenshots are a little outdated but the proces hasn't changed.
This of course rises the question 'why do they mention it at all?'. The names of the found malware can be usefull for the IT-savvy people. If you ever get malware which is detected but for somereason not removed by MBAM you can seek the help of IT-savvy people tho will find this information very usefull in helping you.

 

If I am to use your great car analogy. I'd say you just have to learn where to find the pedal and drive down the lane to use it. Luckily this information can be found online and I believe that with the guide I linked, and what you have achieved so far, you should be able to drive MBAM around. It was just the 'rotational-speed indicator' or 'engine temprature indicator' that seems to have spooked you somewhat. Another thing was that you didn't get the fancy car you thought you did. Luckily this one was free.

 

To end this explanation note I'd like to point you to the 'MBAM help' part of the forum. Here there are a lot of people waiting for questions from inexperienced and non-IT-savvy users so they can share their knowledge and use it to help others out.

 

Though I tried to use as little 'jargon' as possible, I'm a bit of an IT-savvy person, so I might have slipped somewhere. Please reply with a question if anything is unclear.

I hope this will help you understand what MBAM does and provide you with the skill nessesary to operate it sufficiently.