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Hey, I have been using Malwarebytes and AVG together for years but occasionally at different times I have had some blue screen issues. In the past I have turned off the windows reporting setting (or whatever its called) in MWB and set MWB to have a delayed start by 30 seconds, and this fixed the problem for a long time. Recently it started again and I have ran hardware, harddrive, RAM tests, etc, along with updating all my drivers and all that jazz.

Before reinstalling windows 10 I was thinking about just removing either AVG or MWB to see if it stops. I trust MWB a lot more than AVG to be honest but it doesn't come with a firewall...

Is there an antivirus or firewall that Malwarebytes is designed to work with other than Windows Defender?

Has MWB ever thought of offering a firewall itself?

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11 minutes ago, Snarkyfork said:

I trust MWB a lot more than AVG to be honest but it doesn't come with a firewall...

Is there an antivirus or firewall that Malwarebytes is designed to work with other than Windows Defender?

Has MWB ever thought of offering a firewall itself?

Windows Defender is not as bad as one may think. It also works well with Malwarebytes. Also Windows firewall is also sufficient, but you can enhance Windows firewall with Windows Firewall Control which is owned by Malwarebytes.

Also, Once you dump AVG, Please turn off the following setting in Malwarebytes so you have the benefit of both programs protecting you.

 

 

2020-10-31_22h25_12.png

Edited by Porthos
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Hmm, I guess that is a no to my question about firewalls other than Windows Defender. The reason I don't like using Windows Defender is because I don't like having to keep Windows 10 constantly updated, there are too many issues with it and this is my work PC, I rely on it too much to have to deal bad updates.

I don't think there is a way to keep Windows Defender definitions updated without leaving Windows 10 update wide open to downloading bad drivers, consuming my bandwidth, and telegraphing the color of underwear I buy to Bill Gates and all this friends, is there?

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1 minute ago, Snarkyfork said:

I don't like having to keep Windows 10 constantly updated, there are too many issues with it and this is my work PC, I rely on it too much to have to deal bad updates.

That leads me to question what version of 10 are you on?

The safest way to use a Windows computer is to keep it up to date.

Issues with Windows can be mitigated with a good back up strategy with a program like Macrium Reflect to do Image backups on a constant basis. I do one before each patch Tuesday.

 

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2 minutes ago, Snarkyfork said:

I am using the most recent version, I manually allow it to update every 2-3 months or sooner if I find there is an issue with an app I use.

Since updates are cumulative, you still get any problem "updates" with it as well.

Drivers are less of an issue in the current version as long as you ignore the optional hidden driver updates.

 

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You can update manually using the definition packages linked on this page; just choose the appropriate version for your system (most likely the 64-bit link for Windows 10), and you can use the commands described on that page (particularly MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate) to have Defender update separately, without Windows Update (as far as I know, it does not use the Windows Update service at all when updated this way, though I've only ever used that process on Windows 7, so you should test it to make sure it works).  You can also configure a scheduled task to regularly check for updates using that command and that should allow you to keep Defender's definitions up to date, though you'll still need to acquire any engine updates either from the Microsoft®Update Catalog, or using Windows Update; the engine updates are usually released monthly with other patches, though Microsoft does sometimes release out-of-band updates when necessary so I advise checking more frequently such as once a week or at least a couple times per month.

Edit: Here's the details for engine updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog site; click the download button on the right for the most recent version (currently Version 4.18.2009.7) and in the pop-up dialog, select the second link for Windows 10 x64 (currently updateplatform_d84736cae49773e4b7c56775b3d7ea192502f3a1.exe) and install it.

I hope this helps.

Edited by exile360
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By the way, I just checked, and you can indeed update Defender manually through the UI as well, and I don't believe it uses Windows Update to do so.  Just open Defender (known as Windows Security, indicated by the white shield icon, usually accompanied by a green checkmark when there are no issues with security) and click the Check for updates link indicated below:

Updates.thumb.png.c2e886606a0363f26588946c5e6c33dd.png

Next, click the Check for updates button highlighted in the below image:

Check.thumb.png.2332a9e1aa9b02c56d1d299212b9b99f.png

I believe it actually executes the same command indicated in Microsoft's documentation above, so creating a scheduled task to do the same should enable you to keep it up to date without keeping Automatic Updates enabled for Windows Update.

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14 minutes ago, Snarkyfork said:

Is it necessary of use Windows Defender Anti Virus with Malwarebytes installed or should I just use the Windows Defender firewall?

This is my speech on the subject.

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.

https://www.howtogeek.com/225385/what%e2%80%99s-the-best-antivirus-for-windows-10-is-windows-defender-good-enough/

 

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