I have a few 'general' questions about Malwarebytes

[Cozzie]

Hello, I just signed up to this website so apologies if this is the wrong place to ask. Feel free to move my thread to the appropriate forum

Why I downloaded this fantastic software!: So...silly me 'attempted' to install a game from a 'certain website'. When it downloaded, something didn't look right so straight away I attempted to uninstall it. Some problems occurred, McAfee full scan removed quite a few 'trojans' (I think they were called). But my chrome was receiving some adware and a search of e.g 'Windows live chat' was searching the wrong thing. So I installed Malwarebytes and it completely removed everything and Chrome is working fine now. This was after I had spoke to McAfee support saying that they would charge me either £80 or £120 for their technicians to 'remove' it themselves so thank you Malwarebytes for working like a charm!

My current version for Malwarebytes is 3.1.2.1733 (I presume they call it 'Malwarebytes 3' due to the version being 3.1??)

Now to my general Questions:

1)Premium and trial version: As many people have also done, I installed the 'premium version'. When this trial ends, will I need to do anything so allow the free version to carry on working? People have said you need to either uninstall and reinstall, install a certain link, or even just click 'Deactivate Premium Trial' before it ends? And will the free version do what everyone downloaded it to do, stop/remove adware, remove malicious files etc?

I found out that premium automatically runs scans without the user have to manually do them. And also it has website blocking. (is that the small tab in the bottom right corner that keeps popping up saying that this website has been blocked?. And the free version protects from malware infiltration and infection by 'detecting', 'removing' and 'cleaning'. If I let premium end will it just do those things?

Basically, will Malwarebytes still do its job when the premium version has ended or is my PC at risk again?

2)Quarantined items: I ran a few scans and it has placed many items in the quarantined section. They are a mix of 'file', 'registry key', 'registry value', 'folder'. The website states that "However, some malware is designed to cause further damage to your computer if it is removed. If your anti-malware suspects this is the case, it will usually quarantine the file in a safe area of your computer’s storage". So does this mean that that all these items that have been quarantined, I cannot delete them otherwise they will harm my my PC? I read that they should be left there for a few days and then you can delete it..?

Apologies for the length of each question and if I think of any further questions I will add them on

Many thanks :)!

Edited May 19, 2017 by Cozzie
just made some headers for people to see what each section is about! :)

[dcollins]

Good morning @Cozzie! Let me see if I can get your questions addressed:

1. Yes, it is called MB3 because we are on version 3.x
2. Once your trial expires, the free mode will automatically take over without you need to do anything
3. The major difference between free and premium is that premium includes real time protection. This means that as you navigate to websites, or download files, Malwarebytes is actively monitoring those activities to see if they are malicious and will stop them. The free version does not do this. The free version will allow you to run manual scans of your computer and files on it to remove threats that may have made it on to your system.
4. As for the quarantine, some viruses/threats will inject themselves into critical areas of your computer. If we quarantine those files, it can sometimes cause issues. If you keep the quarantined files for a few days, and then your computer still works properly, they are probably safe to delete.

Hopefully this answers your questions, let me know if I can be of any more assistance!

[Cozzie]

3 hours ago, dcollins said:

Good morning @Cozzie! Let me see if I can get your questions addressed:

1. Yes, it is called MB3 because we are on version 3.x
2. Once your trial expires, the free mode will automatically take over without you need to do anything
3. The major difference between free and premium is that premium includes real time protection. This means that as you navigate to websites, or download files, Malwarebytes is actively monitoring those activities to see if they are malicious and will stop them. The free version does not do this. The free version will allow you to run manual scans of your computer and files on it to remove threats that may have made it on to your system.
4. As for the quarantine, some viruses/threats will inject themselves into critical areas of your computer. If we quarantine those files, it can sometimes cause issues. If you keep the quarantined files for a few days, and then your computer still works properly, they are probably safe to delete.

Hopefully this answers your questions, let me know if I can be of any more assistance!

Really helpful information. So just quickly

The free version only scans your PC and it does not protect online?

And you say that if you quarantine the bad files it can cause issues? What do you mean? It sounds like you mean that keeping the bad files in quarintine is bad although they should also be there..right? I know I have not understood this correctly :/ sorry.

[dcollins]

The free version only scans your computer and files when you tell it to. It will not stop a virus from getting on to your computer through websites/email/flash drives/etc. The free version is usually recommended for remediation, which means you've already been infected and need to clean up the infection.

As for the quarantined files, once they are in quarantine they are locked so they are no longer a danger to your computer. However you want to keep them for a little bit because the files may be needed by a program, or perhaps an extra file was accidentally quarantined (known as a false positive). I usually keep my quarantined files for a week or so, then I clear them out if my computer is working properly

[Cozzie]

6 minutes ago, dcollins said:

The free version only scans your computer and files when you tell it to. It will not stop a virus from getting on to your computer through websites/email/flash drives/etc. The free version is usually recommended for remediation, which means you've already been infected and need to clean up the infection.

As for the quarantined files, once they are in quarantine they are locked so they are no longer a danger to your computer. However you want to keep them for a little bit because the files may be needed by a program, or perhaps an extra file was accidentally quarantined (known as a false positive). I usually keep my quarantined files for a week or so, then I clear them out if my computer is working properly

Ohh I understand. Before the virus gets on your PC, the premium would detect the bad website or download that contains it. Where as the free version is, you download the file or go on the bad website and get the virus/adware on your PC. The free version then scans PC to remove it.

As for Quarintined, with the files  that are already quarintined, does that basically 'disable' its fiction/use to be used on your PC? e.g if a file from the Itunes is quarintined and Itunes stops working, you know to release the quarintined file (or as you say, the false positive). But if Itunes works then you can delete the files? Probably the worst example.  It basically stops the file working, so if it is needed you can just revert or free that file, but if my PC is ok after a week or so it means I can delete it?

Apologies for my lack of knowledge in this area

[dcollins]

@Cozzie that's the "in a nutshell" version, yes!

[Cozzie]

Ok well thanks for the help. Really loving Malwarebytes! Its a shame I had to hear about the software when I received the adware on my Chrome and after I had some dodgy files from a file I downloaded online. Keep up the great work!

You dont do student discounts for premium version do you haha? I know £30 is a great price, but I pay something like that for McAfee Internet Security and so it will be about £60 a year. Expensive stuff for students!