Dia

[Dia]

what anti virus software can be run compatibly with malbytes premium

[exile360]

Greetings and welcome

Most of them should work just fine.  Currently the only one I know of that has any true issue running alongside Malwarebytes 3 is Bitdefender, however if you disable the website filtering component in Bitdefender they work fine together.

That said, there are some known issues with certain AVs where you may need to apply certain workarounds to ensure compatibility, one if which is to configure Malwarebytes to never register itself in the Windows Action Center (this is an option under the Application tab in Settings near the bottom if you scroll down the list of settings on that tab).

Were there any particular antivirus programs you were considering and would like more specifics on with regards to what we know of Malwarebytes 3's compatibility alongside them?

[Dia]

Thanks so much for this reply. I am a newbie who was in great need of your product and now find I need equally tough anti-virus protection. I was thinking of Avira Free. Appreciate your comments and any extremely explicit instructions you can give for me to be successful. I am NOT a techie; I am a dummie. Please treat me as such and many thanks!

 

PS If there is some anti-virus that you know of that you trust the most - please do let me know. I will not treat it as an endorsement as I don't want to discomfort anyone; I am just looking for guidance so I do this once and do it right.

[exile360]

OK, for the best results I'd suggest first installing Avira, then proceeding to install Malwarebytes but wait to activate Malwarebytes with your license until you've completed the remaining steps listed below for the best results.  Once this is done, I'd suggest performing the optional step of excluding the two products from one another as it is likely to help avoid any performance issues and make any potential future compatibility problems less likely to occur.

The list of files to exclude for Malwarebytes in Avira may be found in this post.  I don't know precisely how to create exclusions in Avira, but it will be located somewhere in Avira's settings and should be called something like "Exclusions", "Excluded Programs", "Whitelist", "Whitelist Applications" or something similar to that.  Primarily you want to exclude Malwarebytes from Avira's main memory protection/virus protection component and you may optionally exclude Malwarebytes from Avira's scan component if it has separate exclusions for that (some AVs do, some don't) as that will make your scans with Avira a bit faster.

For excluding Avira from Malwarebytes it is much easier.  All you need to do is open Malwarebytes, click on Settings and select the Exclusions tab then click the Add Exclusion button at the bottom.  In the window that opens, leave the first option Exclude a File or Folder selected and click Next.  In the next page of the wizard, click the Select Folder... button and in the browse dialog that opens, navigate to C:\Program Files and locate Avira's program folder (most likely named something like Avira, Avira Gmbh or Avira Antivirus or something similar to that) and click on it to select/highlight it then click on the Select Folder button then click OK.  If you didn't find Avira's folder there, then try looking under C:\Program Files (x86) as that's likely where it is if not in the previously mentioned location.

Once you have your exclusions set up, you may then activate Malwarebytes 3's premium protection features by registering it with your license key (most likely received in an email from Cleverbridge when you purchased it).

Once that is done and both products are up and running, you should be all set with your new layered defense strategy

Please let us know if you need any further assistance and we'll be glad to help.

Edited October 19, 2017 by exile360

[Dia]

Thanks so much. I am going to try this out; however, since Malwarbytes Premium is already loaded, can I turn off the Real Time Protections while I load Avira? After Avira is loaded then going back in and following the exclusions for Malwarbytes? Would this be alright for Malwarbytes? Please let me know. Many thanks, Dia

[Dia]

I want to add a postscript to my reply above, and know, up front, I am very grateful for your patience. 

I am reading as much as possible to learn about anti virus and anti malware packages. I read that Windows Defender is an anti virus. I have that on my system and it continues to run even though Malwaybytes is loaded. I also found out that Defender will do an offline search. Will having Defender do that harm Malwarbytes in any way?

I am still considering Avira but am very curious about Defender. Nothing seems to shut it off and maybe that is a good thing for anti-virus protection in a malwarbytes premium environment.

Once again, I appreciate your patience.

Dia

[exile360]

5 hours ago, Dia said:

Thanks so much. I am going to try this out; however, since Malwarbytes Premium is already loaded, can I turn off the Real Time Protections while I load Avira? After Avira is loaded then going back in and following the exclusions for Malwarbytes? Would this be alright for Malwarbytes? Please let me know. Many thanks, Dia

Yes, that should be fine  

I only made those recommendations just in case, but if you have Malwarebytes loaded already, you may disable it temporarily, install Avira, then add the exclusions, then activate your protection in Malwarebytes again and it should work just as well.

As for Defender, yes, it is an antivirus as well.  It comes built into Windows these days free of charge, and yes, it should work just fine alongside Malwarebytes as well.  We have many users running that combination here on the forums, and the same goes for Avira.

Edited October 20, 2017 by exile360