Is an anti virus needed with Malwarebytes?

[Honey58]

Is it necessary to have an anti virus program along with a subscription of Malwarebytes?  If so, which ones would your recommend that work properly with Malwarebytes.

[Malwarebytes]

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[exile360]

Greetings and welcome

It is totally up to you, however some additional information on the subject can be found in our FAQ in this post.

The short answer is that we do believe that Malwarebytes 3 Premium is sufficient protection, even without an antivirus, to keep a system safe from all current online threats, however Malwarebytes always has been and continues to be designed to be compatible in real-time alongside other security solutions if desired by the user, including antivirus software.  So if you would prefer to have the additional layer of security that an active antivirus provides, go ahead and install one, however Malwarebytes alone should be sufficient to keep your system safe online if you would prefer to use it alone.

Also, if you do choose to run an antivirus, you don't necessarily have to spend extra money to do so as there are several excellent free options available including Windows Defender which is included with every version of Windows since 8, Microsoft Security Essentials which can be installed on Vista and Windows 7, as well as other free AVs like Avira, AVG, Avast!, Bitdefender, COMODO, and the free version of Kaspersky, any of which should work alongside Malwarebytes 3.

[Cavehomme]

On 26/03/2018 at 11:03 PM, Honey58 said:

Is it necessary to have an anti virus program along with a subscription of Malwarebytes?  If so, which ones would your recommend that work properly with Malwarebytes.

Yes, I'd suggest it's definitely necessary to also use another AV, in my personal experience having used it since version 1. 

But it's not only in my own experience, according to the most recent results of the highly respected testing organisation MRG Effitas who focus more on testing for financial malware and AV product resilience against online banking threats, etc.  Their latest tests show that Malwarebytes failed to detect 6.2% of malware samples in their generic malware test and failed to detect 10.0% of financial malware.

On the ransomware tests Malwarebytes scored a perfect 100% detection, that's great news!

On PUAs and Adware detection, an area I have assumed for many years that Malwarebyes was meant to be much better than "traditional" AVs, it failed to detect a huge 22.4% of tested threats! I really do think we need some transparent answers from Marcin on this one, it's what the product has been sold on for many years.

Despite that, I do use Malwarebytes Premium, I have 3 licenses, which run in addition to the OS-supplied Windows 10 Defender that's increasingly very effective, as the same MRG results show. Malwarebytes Premium is an important extra layer of security that normally causes zero problems, apart from some recent v3.3 and 3.4 issues. I also find it highly effective in blocking malware sites and "malvertising" links, it's the best tool I've experienced for that.

But I would never accept what the marketing department says, and some fans here, that using Malwarebytes entirely on its own is a good idea, it just cannot be, at least not today, and at least not for the average PC user. My personal suggestion for an average PC user who doesn't use TOR / visit the dark web or visit porn sites is to use Windows 10 Defender + Malwarebytes Premium. Also to use the "uBlock Origin" browser addon, nothing more. I personally would not waste time or money and mess up my PCs by using those other security suites out there, I've had too many bad experiences.

Here is a link to the MRG test results for those interested in learning more:

https://www.mrg-effitas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MRG-Effitas-360-Assessment_2017_Q4_wm.pdf

I look forward to ongoing improvements in Malwarebytes Premium, especially quality and stability, not just protection capability.

Edited March 28, 2018 by AP2012