Ms

[katmac53]

I purchased Malwarebytes on the recommendation of a techie friend who always gives me great advice. But here's the thing. I am NOT tech savvy myself. I think it's important for people like me to have a good antivirus software, especially because I'm active on Facebook. I know some of the red flags, but there's always that one click that could get me into trouble.

But I am not getting anything more out of my Malwarebytes subscription rather than knowing my computer is being scanned to protect me. I get the e-mail updates, but they may as well be written in Greek. Is there such thing as a Malwarebytes for Dummies - a summary for all these articles that tells me what I really need to know? In easy language?

 

[Maurice Naggar]

Hi,

Allow me to start by asking some very basic questions.  You have installed Malwarebytes for Windows, right?  You indicated you have a Premium subscription.

Have you activated the License into the program?   does the program show "Premium" status on?

Please read this article link and do the part "Check Real-Time Protection from the Dashboard"

https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1126

 

The company Support portal has a wide number of help articles.   This is just a general one for Windows

https://support.malwarebytes.com/community/windows

You can type in a keyword in the search box  to find help on what you need.

 

This link is to a Users Guide for Malwarebytes for Windows

https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1709

Cheers,

[exile360]

If I may, I'd like to offer a couple of brief tips that may also prove helpful.  The first is somewhat along the lines of what Maurice suggested above but a bit more brief and perhaps a bit more accessible.  If you open Malwarebytes, either by double-clicking on the Malwarebytes icon located on your desktop or double-clicking on the Malwarebytes tray icon located in the notification area of your taskbar near the system clock and other icons on the lower right you should see a button on the lower left of the program window that says Quick Tour.  If you click it, it will walk you through a brief rundown of the program and the majority of its major features and functions to give you an idea of how to check your protection status and what you may see if Malwarebytes were to detect or block something malicious or potentially dangerous on your system with an example notification and a short list of the types of protection that are provided by Malwarebytes Premium along with a quick guide on some of the other features like scheduled scanning and some of the program's settings.

Beyond that, I would also personally recommend that if you have not already, you consider installing the Malwarebytes browser extension which is currently available for Chrome and other Chromium based browsers like the new Microsoft Edge Chromium browser, SRWare Iron and Vivaldi as well as Mozilla Firefox.  It makes an excellent addition to Malwarebytes and works hand-in-hand with the Web Protection feature in Malwarebytes to help block malicious content on the web (something that is very important when using sites like Facebook which as I'm sure you're aware, are frequent targets for scams, infections and other threats).  You can find our more and download the extension at the following links:

Chrome
Firefox

You may also find the Malwarebytes Labs blog to be most informative on subjects both general and technically detailed (how deep you go is entirely up to you as they have articles of value for every level of knowledge from expert to novice and everything in between).  I selected the how-to category which pulled up this list which includes several good articles for someone just getting started and seeking a good basic overview of good security information and best practices and in particular I'd suggest giving this article a read as well as the top 3 or 4 articles from that first link with the 'how-tos' as they offer great general tips for better online safety, cyber-security, identity protection, fraud protection and financial security.  You'll find many similarly themed articles on a wide variety of subjects in this list which is the 101 category designed for learning.

If you are really interested in the subject of malware and cyber-security you can read further articles and there is a good basic guide to many of the terms and categories of threats out there on the web that you'll find on this page that should be another good place to start learning if you'd like to have a solid basic understanding of the kinds of threats and issues that are out there today.  It's good to be aware of what these threats are as well as what to watch out for when it comes to the kinds of threats and scams you may encounter on the web.  Each item listed has a link you may click to learn more on the subject so if you wish to learn more about a particular category of threat or type of scam you may do so.

The Malwarebytes Labs blog is a great resource, both for general knowledge and getting news on the latest threats and cyber-security issues so there's always more content to dive into if you are really interested in that area, or you may simply skim a few of the items I mentioned above to expand your existing knowledge as much or as little as you would like.  Many of the articles also provide links to additional information and tips on learning more with excellent references and resources for expanding your understanding of cyber-security should you desire to do so.

And of course, we're always here on the forums to help in any way that we can, and you can feel free to ask us any questions you like about these subjects and we will do our best to answer or at least point you in the right direction to find the answers you seek.  If it's a question about the Malwarebytes product you can post here in this area of the forums, or if it's just a general Windows/PC question you may post it in our General PC Help area where you'll also find excellent how-to guides and links to useful tools posted by experts from our community that run the forums here.  We also have a General Chat area if you just feel like introducing yourself or discussing anything that isn't related to PC issues or security (popular subjects are things like music, movies and info on some of the most interesting technological innovations, but you can discuss pretty much anything as long as it doesn't violate the forum guidelines of course (those can be found here by the way, just in case you're curious).  We are a varied bunch on the forums here, but we're generally pretty accommodating and we try to be helpful and informative and most of our regulars enjoy helping others and have chosen to stick around to do so.

[katmac53]

My issue isn't that I need more information. I get the newsletter, and it's probably all I need. I just don't understand 90% of what I'm reading. I'm not stupid, but I don't have an I.T. background. So I just cross my fingers and hope that having the protection is all I need. Just wish they would dummy down the information a bit.

[exile360]

Sure, I understand, I just thought it might help you to understand it better if you learned some of the basics and terminology, hence why I provided the links and references.  Honestly though, the emails are non-essential.  The main thing to do is keep your operating system and security software up to date and practice safe surfing habits.  The other items we mentioned are simply aids in that task should you desire to dive deeper into the topic of PC security.  It can certainly help you to be safer online to have such knowledge, but it is not essential, and we're always here to help if you ever have any questions about anything.