Malwarebytes Premium and Windows 10 Security Working Together?

[Dave-H]

I'm running Malwarebytes Premium 4.2.0 on Windows 10 2004 64 bit, and I would like some clarification on its interaction with the standard Microsoft Windows Security system.

I have MB set to register in Windows Security, and the Windows Security UI displays it as the installed AV program.

It also allows me to additionally select something called "Periodic Scanning", which I assume means that although MB does most of the protection work, Windows Security (Defender as was) will occasionally still do a scan, but not do the real-time protection.

That sounded very good to me, as I have MB set to do a full scan once a week, but Windows Security doing occasional quick scans in between the main MB scans, which take a long time, sounded like a good idea.

The problem is that I cannot get the "Periodic Scanning " function in Windows Security to stay enabled. If I enable it, it seems fine, but the next time I look after a reboot, it's tuned off again!
Is it MB doing that, and if so, why? Is there any way I can get it to stay enabled?

Thanks, Dave.
🙂

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

I have MB set to register in Windows Security

Turn that off that way you will have both the full protection of both.

Quote

The reason many of us members are pushing Keeping Defender on is the following.

Malwarebytes does not target script files during a scan... That means MB will not target; JS, HTML, VBS, .CLASS, SWF, BAT, CMD, PDF, PHP, etc.

It also does not target documents such as; PDF, DOC, DOCx, XLS, XLSx, PPT, PPS, ODF, etc.

It also does not target media files;  MP3, WMV, JPG, GIF, etc.

Malwarebytes will detect files like these on execution-only.

And,

Malwarebytes is not designed to function like normal AV scanners and uses a new kind of scan engine that relies mostly on heuristics detection techniques rather than traditional threat signatures.  Malwarebytes is also designed to look in all the locations where malware is known to install itself/hide, so a full or custom scan shouldn't be necessary, especially on any sort of frequent basis (like daily), especially since the default Threat Scan/Quick Scan checks all loading points/startup locations, the registry, all running processes and threads in memory, along with all system folders, program folders, and data folders as well as any installed browsers, caches, and temp locations.  This also means that if a threat were active from a non-standard location because Malwarebytes checks all threads and processes in memory, it should still be detected.  The only threat it *might* miss would be a dormant/inactive threat that is not actively running/installed on a secondary drive, however, if the threat were executed then Malwarebytes should detect it.  Additionally, whenever a new location is discovered to be used by malware the Malwarebytes Research team adds that location dynamically to the outgoing database updates so the locations that are checked by the default Threat/Quick Scan in Malwarebytes can be changed on the fly by Research without requiring any engine or program version updates/upgrades.

An AV will catch the file just by downloading it or just opening a folder with a detected file in it.

For example, you get an email with an infected attachment, Malwarebytes will not even blink until you run it yet Defender will detect it if it is in their database without even actually clicking on it. Remember the list of files Malwarebytes does not target.

Then I will leave you with this.

As good as Malwarebytes is, it is just a layer of protection.

Using a browser that has Ublock Origin and the Malwarebytes Browser guard enabled is also a layer of protection.

Not opening attachments from an email unless you were expecting it from a specific user during a specific time period.

Do not use Torrents. Do not install every free software you find. Do not click links in an unknown email. Go directly to the sit listed in the email.

Having a monthly image of your computer on an external drive that is only connected during the backup is actually better than any protective software ever made. Macrium Reflect free is the program I use and place on every computer I service.

 

 

[Porthos]

I see in your past posts, we have had this conversation in the past. Sorry to re post my speech.

[Dave-H]

Thanks, and I'm sorry if I have raised this before, I completely forgot that!
This is actually now on a completely different machine, so that's my excuse!
😳

If I turn off the registration of MB with Windows Security, Windows security reverts to being as normal, as if MB wasn't there.
Does this not mean that both programs are doing real-time scanning though?
I've always been led to believe that this is not a good idea having two separate programs doing it!
Cheers, Dave.
🙂

[Porthos]

Just now, Dave-H said:

Does this not mean that both programs are doing real-time scanning though?

Yes.

Just now, Dave-H said:

I've always been led to believe that this is not a good idea having two separate programs doing it!

Malwarebytes is not actually an AV like Defender is. It is designed to run alongside AV programs.

[Dave-H]

Ah, thanks! 👍

In that case I will switch off MB being registered with Defender, and see how that goes.

If I run into any problems I will report them of course, but from what you say it should be OK.

Cheers, Dave.
🙂

[Dave-H]

Off topic, but I've just looked back, and our previous conversation was not about this, it was about MB apparently not being able to contact the licence server.

Just to let you know, I in fact moved that licenced copy of MB to another computer, and left the previous computer with Defender only.
The new installation of MB does not show the licence server problem, so it must have been an issue with the first machine.
I guess we'll never know now what it was!

It was only now that I decided to query the "Periodic Scanning" issue on the new machine.
I'm afraid I can't remember whether it was happening on the previous machine as well!
All good now anyway, thanks for all your help.
"Cheers" again!
😁
 

[Porthos]

6 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

It was only now that I decided to query the "Periodic Scanning" issue on the new machine.
I'm afraid I can't remember whether it was happening on the previous machine as well!

No worry's, I did post the same info in that topic.

Malwarebytes disables Defender on install. It is up to the user to enable it again by turning off register with Windows in the MB settings.

[Dave-H]

👍