Windows defender keeps turning off with malwarebytes active.

[Vivec22]

Until recently I used bitdefender with premium malwarebytes, but I allowed my bit defender subscription to end and thought I'd try using windows defender instead. But I renewed my malwarebytes subscription, so I have MWB and windows defender now. But I noticed window defender keeps get turned off in the windows security. I can turn it on again but it just seems to randomly turn itself off again without warning me. I read somewhere that it might possibly be malwarebytes turning it off, the info I read online said to turn off "always register malwarebytes in the windows security center" which is located in settings> security>windows security center. But if I do that, I get a worrying message in windows that virus protection has been turned off. I'm not sure if it diminishes MWB ability to protect my PC or not. I just want both MWB and windows defender to play nice together in the security center.

 

It's really puzzling because windows defender does seem to work with MWB when i turn it on, but it keeps turning off.

 

Is there anything I can do to stop it from turning off without removing MWB from the security center? Thanks.

[Firefox]

Hello and Welcome @Vivec22

Windows Defender and Malwarebytes is a good combination and work well together.

To Resolve your issue, go to Settings -> Security and TURN OFF Always register Malwarebytes in the Windows Security Center and reboot your computer

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, Vivec22 said:

Is there anything I can do to stop it from turning off without removing MWB from the security center? Thanks.

You have to turn off Malwarebytes in the security center. That is how it is designed.

 

[exile360]

AGreetings,

You should be able to disable the option in Malwarebytes that you mentioned for registering Malwarebytes in Security Center, restart your system, and then Windows Defender should enable itself automatically so that you don't see any messages about your virus protection being disabled as mentioned by the others above.  If that does not work then there might be something else going on which is preventing Defender from enabling itself.  If this is the case, please do the following so that we may take a closer look at what is going on with your system:

1. Download and run the Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Accept the EULA and click Advanced tab on the left (not Start Repair)
3. Click the Gather Logs button, and once it completes, attach the zip file it creates on your desktop to your next reply
   

Thanks

[Vivec22]

Okay thanks. I went ahead and did as instructed. Thus far windows defender seems to be remaining enabled. I kind of liked having malwarebytes info in the security center, purely for conveniences sake. But I suppose as long as i'm ensured MWB is actually still working as intended I guess i'll deal with that. Never had that problem with MWB being paired with bitdefender, so not sure why it's a problem with MWB+windows defender. 

 

Cheers.

[Porthos]

25 minutes ago, Vivec22 said:

But I suppose as long as i'm ensured MWB is actually still working as intended

Malwarebytes itself will warn you if any protections are disabled.

Any "AV" that is installed will shut off Defender by design. Malwarebytes is "certified" by MS as an AV program thus turns off defender like Bitdefender did.

Here is my opinion about running MB and defender together.

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.

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Porthos