Antivirus and MS Edge

[bluegiraffe]

Hello

I would appreciate any advice and recommendations regarding which anti virus program should I go for? I currently have Kaspersky Total Security 16.0.1 and the licence is due to end soon. However I have today discovered it does not fully support Microsoft Edge including the Safe Money option. (I discovered this today after Windows did an update and now I get a problem with using a protected browser when I did not have that before. I only use the protected browser option on banking sites and not all the time for everything.)

From the Kaspersky website - for the Total Security 2017 product - under Limitations = The Kaspersky Protection extension is not supported in Microsoft Edge or Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 and 11 in the new Windows user interface style. Also - Secure Keyboard Input is not supported in Microsoft Edge.

(I wasn't using the Secure Keyboard).

Or should I just forget Edge and use another browser?

Or (here's hoping....) does Malwarebytes do their own anti virus program I can purchase?

And finally - do I even need antivirus if I am running Malwarebytes Premium?

 

Thank you

 

[Porthos]

@bluegiraffe Welcome

As a general forum principle, we neither endorse nor critique specific AV choices.

That's because this forum is owned and operated by Malwarebytes corporation, and they work closely with other security software publishers.

It would, therefore, be "tacky" and inappropriate to recommend one product over another.

MSE (aka Defender in Win 8/8.1/10) has its fans and its detractors.

It's probably "as good as" any other free, antivirus.

Regarding the "Free" AVs, you might find this post from an MS MVP and security expert interesting or helpful: http://www.bleepingc...s/#entry3781476

 

However, there is no one "best" AV to suit all computers, users, and budgets.

If you search the forum here (and any of the reputable computer security forums), you'll find many, many threads about this.

Here are a few links with helpful information:

The complexity of finding, preventing, and cleanup from malware
So how did I get infected in the first place?
How did I get infected?
Answers to common security questions - Best Practices
List of well known antivirus products
Six tips to help you stay safer online

 

[exile360]

Just for info, the reason specific features are incompatible with MS Edge is due to the fact that it does not allow the installation of plugins (ActiveX etc.) as previous MS browsers (Internet Explorer) did, so any AV/AM tool that uses such features for browser protection will not work with Edge.

That said, Kaspersky as well as pretty much all other AV/AM products/tools usually have additional layers of protection which should be adequate under most circumstances to keep you safe, and from a big picture perspective, Edge is actually more secure because it doesn't allow the user of third party add-ons/plugins as there are many out there which are malicious or at the very least PUPs (browser toolbars, ad services, tracking plugins etc.) so it's a trade-off really.

Also, regarding our own Malwarebytes product specifically, its web protection component doesn't use any plugins to block unsafe sites.  It connects directly into the network stack which is on the same layer as the system firewall, so it guards all software on the system and blocks connections to/from any malicious servers in our database, both incoming and outgoing, regardless of the process attempting to connect to them (including MS Edge).

And finally, with regards to whether you require an antivirus when using Malwarebytes Premium, that's entirely up to you.  Since the launch of 3.0, we believe that the layers of protection that we provide, many of which do not rely on signatures but instead target malicious behaviors such as exploits, are sufficient to keep our customers safe online, with or without an antivirus.  However, if you believe that adding an AV might keep you safer, we won't discourage you because just as with previous versions of Malwarebytes, 3.x has been designed to be fully compatible with other security tools and products, including antivirus.

Edited May 16, 2017 by exile360

[bluegiraffe]

Thank you to you both Porthos and exile360 for your replies. It's much appreciated. I'm not a techie but any means, just an end user, so I will also check out the links in Porthos' reply. Just as an aside, would either of you say Edge is currently the safest browser? 

thanks again.

[exile360]

I really don't know if it's the safest or not, as that can change from one day to the next.  All it takes is some new vulnerability to be discovered and exploited by the bad guys to move it "down the list" so to speak regarding how safe it is considered, but that said, I do know that currently at least, Google Chrome is by far the most widely used browser, though I'm sure all the portable devices that use it (phones, tablets etc. that run Android OS) are part of the reason and generally speaking, the more popular a piece of software is, the more likely it is to be targeted by the bad guys who create malware.  It's the same reason that typically speaking, Windows is targeted far more than other operating systems.

I do know that most modern browsers do have lots more in the way of built in security than they used to, Edge included, but honestly as long as you keep your system and software up-to-date via Windows Updates etc. and keep your security software (Malwarebytes, your antivirus if you use one etc.) up-to-date as well and practice safe surfing habits you should be fine.

[bluegiraffe]

Thanks for your reply exile360. 

[exile360]

You're welcome, I'm glad to help

One final thing of note is that Malwarebytes exploit protection does currently cover Edge as well as the other major browsers, so with Premium you will have the added layer of exploit protection to help guard against such 0-day threats/vulnerabilities (for example, the recent ransomware that's been hitting the news lately was using an exploit as a means of spreading, and because of our exploit protection, all of our customers were already immune to this attack vector even though we had never seen this new ransomware before).

[bluegiraffe]

Ok thank you. The other good thing about Malwarebytes which is not advertised and should be !!! is that its nice to know people can come and ask questions here and get help (which I've had before). So thanks for a great product and great friendly advice. 

[exile360]

Thanks for the kind words, they are appreciated.  And yes, we're glad to help out whenever we can.  We have a great community of helpful users here, most of whom are volunteers like Porthos above who help others by sharing their knowledge and using their skills to solve problems for no reward other than the gratitude of people like yourself who come here seeking assistance so we're always glad to hear that we've done well.

Please don't hesitate to let us know if you need any assistance or have any other questions in the future and thanks for using Malwarebytes to keep your PC safe