Best settings for Malwarebytes & Bitdefender to work together?

[LeonW]

Hi all! :)

I've recently updated 3 machines from malabytes free to malwarebytes premium and I'm looking for the best settings to keep everything running as smooth and glitch free as possible. We did have a bit of an issue, which might now be fixed since yesterdays malwarebytes update, but I'm still looking to make sure I have the best settings to avoid any compatibility problems.

There are two windows 10 SSD machines, and one windows 7 HDD machine. The set up used to be bitdefender (free) taking care of the active protection shields, and malwarebytes free being used to do manual scans on a regular basis. Windows defender was also set to do periodical quick scans automatically on the windows 10 machines, but not on the windows 7 machine.  Current set-up is now the same, but with the addition of malwarebytes premium running, with all the real time protection modules enabled, and malwarebytes registered in the windows security centre along with bifdefender.

The issue is/was: Since the upgrade to premium, the windows 10 machines seem to be running quite smoothly, but the Windows 7 machine has been locking up and freezing/hanging occasionally. I think the windows 10 machines might actually have the same issue, but are just dealing with much better, as I did notice my own machine hang very slightly (in a similar way to the Windows 7 machine) the other day, but it only lasted a matter of seconds, whereas with the windows 7 machine it can be minuets. Since yesterdays update (5th Sept) all three machines seem to be better, but obviously it's still early days to know for sure.

So can anyone advise the best general settings to make sure these programs play nicely together? Is it best practice to leave malabytes registered in windows security? And are there any other settings that I should make sure are set in a certain way to use both of them together? I can add relevant files to the allow and exclusions lists if necessary, but just looking to do whatever is considered best practice  and/or needed. Also is this approach of running both together a good one? I have read that it is, and if so then I'd rather do that for better protection, but I'm also open to suggestions for best practices.

Also final question, browser-guard was suggested to me the other day when I opened the malwarebytes interface, but from what I can gather from reading the forums the web protection module is basically the same thing? So is it recommended to use browser-guard too, or would that be a pointless operation if the web protection module is running?

Thanks in advance for your help. :)

[Porthos]

27 minutes ago, LeonW said:

or would that be a pointless operation if the web protection module is running?

Browser Guard adds additional protection to the supported Browsers.

Personally I do not use any other 3rd party AV programs along with MB. I do Turn off the register MB in the security center do Defender (Windows 10) will run alongside Malwarebytes.

If you insist on using Bitdefender or any other AV, I suggest the following.

I suggest turning off fast startup in Windows 10. Then restart.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-turn-off-fast-startup-windows-10-a.html

 

I would  also recommend creating exclusions between Malwarebytes and Your AV to help prevent any possible conflicts or performance issues.  Please add the items listed in this support article to Your AV 's allow list(s)/trust list(s)/exclusion list(s) particularly for any of its real-time protection components and likewise add Your AV 's program folder(s) (likely located under C:\Program Files and/or C:\Program Files (x86)) to Malwarebytes' Allow List using the method described under the Allow a file or folder section of this support article and do the same for its primary data folder which is likely located under C:\ProgramData (you may need to show hidden files and folders to see it).

 

[exile360]

Please also refer to this support article which lists several known applications which conflict with the Web Protection in Malwarebytes currently, which includes Bitdefender.

[LeonW]

I don't insist on anything, as I say I'm open to suggestions for best practices and just looking for the best options. I/we have been happy and infection free for years by simply using bitdefender free for realtime and using malwarebytes (and also superantispyware, forgot to mention that one earlier) for on demand scans, so I don't want to go too deep into making something work, adding exclusions etc, to then still run the risk of incompatibility. It wasn't broken before so doesn't need fixing as such, and we could happily go back to what were were running, but we got our malwarebytes premium licences from our bank, so thought we'd give it a try.

It does sound like using both with web protection turned on will be more trouble than it's worth. Ideally I want what's best with least hassle, something that just works well without having to dive too deep. So if that's running Defender (Windows 10) alongside Malwarebytes (and scraping bitdefender) then I can do that.

Here are my two ideas from my re-evaluation:

1) Disable the malwarebytes Web Protection feature and install browser-guard on all browsers to allow bitdefender to keep running. I'm assuming this will eliminate the compatibility issues because then both applications are not using the WFP ?

2) Run Windows Defender & Malwarebytes together (active protection from defender by turning off the MB register in the security centre) - Can this can be done without any exclusions or incompatibility issues, and is this combo a good substitute to bitdefender? If so then it sounds like it could be a nice hassle free combo, and I guess I could also add browser-guard onto this combo too.

In my experience every single security suite I've mentioned (bitdefender, malwarebytes, windows defender, and superantispyware) each pick up things that the others miss, so ultimately I'm just trying to cover as many bases as possible when it comes to real time protection without too much hassle. But I do understand that's not as easily done with real time protection as it is with on demand scans due to compatibility issues.

Once again thanks in advance for any help.

[exile360]

Yes, until the compatibility issue has been resolved you should keep the Web Protection in Malwarebytes disabled so that it doesn't conflict with Bitdefender; that's the simplest solution/workaround for now.

I would also suggest installing Malwarebytes Browser Guard if you haven't already.  It won't conflict with anything and provides much of the same malicious content blocking included in the Web Protection component of Malwarebytes, just for the browser alone rather than the entire system.  It also has the added benefit of blocking some items not blocked by Web Protection, including many ads and trackers as well as behavior based blocking for tech support scams and some other web based threats.  It is compatible with most Chromium based browsers as well as Mozilla Firefox and can be found here.  Since the web browser is the most at risk web facing application for threats, having blocking active for the browser alone still provides a substantial amount of protection.

[exile360]

By the way, yes, that's all you would have to do to run Defender and Malwarebytes, no exclusions are necessary between the two if you choose to go that route.  Just tell Malwarebytes not to register with Windows Security Center and you're all set .

[LeonW]

That's great, thank-you for your help.
I'll probably give both a try, see what works best for me/us. And also keep an eye on that support article regarding compatibility.
Do you know if there is any way to stop the pop up notification appearing when when the web protection is turned off?

[exile360]

Yes, if you go to settings by clicking the small gear icon in the upper right, then click the Notifications tab, you'll find an option called Alert me if any Real-Time Protection modules are turned off; disable it and you won't be bothered about any protections being disabled.

Edited September 7, 2020 by exile360

[LeonW]

Brilliant, thanks!
Though not quite sure why I even had to ask that, I've been through those setting multiple times, so must have seen it multiple times! 🤦‍♂️ 🤣

[exile360]

Hehe, no worries.  There's a lot of settings in there and the UI has been through a lot of changes since past releases as the new UI and new features have been implemented (I still find myself looking for settings in their old MBAM 3.x/2.x locations from time to time).

Anyway, I hope all goes well and if we can help with anything else please let us know.

Thanks