Bitdefender and Malwarebytes

[grundle]

Hello.

I use both Windows and Macs on a daily basis, and because of getting a cheap deal back in the early days of Malwarebytes I still have a licence for it. Under Windows, I am running both BD and MB together, with no problem. Indeed, they seem to complement one another.  I would appreciate any views on whether it is a good idea on a Mac, or pointless, also if anyone has already done it. I get the point that one security suit is usually enough. So I would only add it if there performance doesn't collapse and it would improve security.

[alvarnell]

The two use different approaches to malware detection and as long as you don't allow both to be doing real-time/on-access detection you should have no problem having them co-exist. I have a half-dozen or so anti-malware products installed (most free, including BitDefender) for testing purposes and they all get along just fine.

[OhWell]

I have the Premium MB Version 4.3.6 and Premium BD for MAC Version 8.1.6.3 and have had both actively scanning for threats for at least two years now.

My BD version gives me lots of different features, more than MB and for half as much money.  So I guess I should deactivate or remove the MB Premium and save me the annual $80 and just stick to the cheaper version or free version of MB (if there is one, I'm not sure).  

Alvarnell - what would you do if you were me?

 Thank you,

 

 

[alvarnell]

I would have to say that it depends on how concerned you are personally about the possibility of becoming infected by something new or a new variant. One anti-malware developer will be the first to discover such things and publish a signature/definition to allow their software to detect it. Such files are normally shared so that the others can also provide protection, so all will usually catch up in a short time. I’ve never seen statistics on what labs are best at finding things first and my observations haven’t really indicated any one firm better than all others. There also hasn’t been an independent test of BitDefender vs. Malwarebytes for Mac, so can’t say for certain that one is better than the other at detections, etc. So in my mind, having more than one such capability is an advantage, as long as they don’t interfere with each other or my computing experience.

But to respond to another part of your posting, there currently is a free mode for all currently available versions of Malwarebytes for Mac. Scroll down on https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/ to see a comparison.

Edited April 15, 2020 by alvarnell