Functionality Enhancements

[iTzHazZx]

It would be great if Malwarebytes could do specific files / folder scans, deep scans and quick scans. I find every other AV program apart from Malwarebytes offers this functionaily. Is this on the roadmap to develop? 

[alvarnell]

I highly doubt that Malwarebytes will ever adopt such a philosophy since it goes against everything the Company's approach has always been as well as the approach used to develop the original app that was adopted as Malwarebytes for Mac. The fact that Malwarebytes is different from every other AV program is what sets it apart as being the most efficient, time saving approach to malware detection. It only looks for currently active and known infections in the places where they are known to reside, so scanning a different file or folder for an infection would be a total waste of time as well as require a totally different approach to detection.

You might also be interested in this article: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1293

[iTzHazZx]

Shame. I find it hard to comprehend how a product can be so different on one platform to another. i.e Windows vs Mac. I think I will be looking for another AV. 

[treed]

It is different on each platform because the threat landscape on each platform is different. We have solutions that are tailored to each platform, rather than a Windows engine that gets ported over to others. (Ironically, one of the complaints I often used to see about Mac AV software is that it was just a port of the Windows version. Yet, for as long as Malwarebytes has had a Mac product, we've had questions about why it's not the same as the Windows product. It's a no-win scenario.)

We probably will start doing things like detecting Windows malware, doing full disk scans, etc, in the future, but those kinds of things will not be on by default. They'll be there for folks who want it, but not pushed on those who don't. Of course, I can't provide any public estimates of when this will happen.

[iTzHazZx]

@treed - Thank you for your response. I appreciate your comments about Mac AV's being ports of Windows based clients. I think this is cultural thing where most users are expecting to see a quick scan & a full scan option. 

As an end user who uses both Mac and Windows machines, I think it would be really useful to have the application conduct full scans and detecting windows based malware. Using an external HDD, it would be nice to feel safe that two different machines are on the look out if you know what I mean. 

Of course flexibility is key, something that is really annoying for end users is not having the ability to turn features off and one based on preferences. Likewise when it comes to turning off features, it's rather frustrating when say you disable a browser extension an the application just wants to display a big red X and say constantly you are not safe because you have not got every single option turned on.    

To be honest I went with Malwarebytes based on online reviews and comment from Apple support directly, largely I have found it been great and lightweight but it doesn't sit right with me (paranoid) that I am not able to do full scans for piece of mind. 

Do you think in the future you will offer drag and drop file scanning, full scans, quick scans? It would also be nice to see some stats around what is happening in the AV world such as:

https://cybermap.kaspersky.com/

[alvarnell]

6 hours ago, iTzHazZx said:

think I will be looking for another AV.

What several of us do is use Malwarebytes as a primary AV utility performing scheduled and perhaps Real-time scanning while supplementing it with a more traditional AV product for the kinds of things you are looking for with regard to Windows malware, drop scans and full scans. I would submit to you that Malwarebytes scans are equivalent to a quick scan that others have. Just make sure you don't set both products up as Real-Time/On-Access scanners as that will likely result in an adverse computing environment as they fight to scan the same file. As you have stated, your needs and mine are somewhat different from the average Mac user.

[iTzHazZx]

@alvarnell That's helpful to know regarding setting up two different AV programs and the potential complications. It certainly sounds like our needs are somewhat different from the average Mac user as you say. 

To be honest I am not going to get rid of Malwarebytes as I like that it is lightweight, easy to use and doesn't really bother me. On the other hand I would like it to be like a rabid dog on steroids when I need / want it to. Seems like there might be some development on functionality in the next couple of years so I'll just be mindful for now. 

Appreciate your comments. 

[treed]

As I mentioned, we do have some future plans along these lines, but I can't provide a timeframe.

However, I'd be interested to know what problem you have that you're hoping that full disk scans would solve. We prefer to think in terms of problems to be solved, rather than assuming that a specific feature is the best solution to the problem. Sometimes that is the case, but sometimes it's not.

[Massimiliano]

4 hours ago, treed said:

However, I'd be interested to know what problem you have that you're hoping that full disk scans would solve.

One problem, which for some users, could be useful to solve, could be this.
I would find it useful to be able to scan an external drive, not so much inbound as outbound, especially if you have to give this drive to a third party, especially Windows users, so as not to risk infecting other users.
Windows malware scanning should only be possible on demand when you need to share content, not as a standard feature enabled by default.

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