Is Malwarebytes Premium officially compatible with Windows Defender?

[ilike2burnthing]

Is there any official position on Malwarebytes Premium being 100% compatible with Windows Defender, when Malwarebytes is not registered with Windows Security Center and real-time protection is enabled for both?

I couldn't find anything explicit in the support documentation or posted here. The closest seems to be a lack of its mention on this page, but that specifically deals with Web Protection.

It's generally accepted that you should never run more than one real-time AV as they can conflict, making you less safe, not more. With Malwarebytes Free this obviously isn't an issue, nor for Malwarebytes Premium in its default state (as of v4), as Defender is disabled when installed. However, with the option to unregister with WSC, surely the risk for conflicts is very real. If not, how has Malwarebytes accomplished what no other AV has?

To be clear, I'm not asking about personal experiences of using this setup, I've read plenty here and elsewhere. Rather, I want to know if it is officially deemed compatible, or just a possible configuration that users run at their own risk.

Many thanks.

[Malwarebytes]

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[Porthos]

44 minutes ago, ilike2burnthing said:

I want to know if it is officially deemed compatible

It is compatible. 

[ilike2burnthing]

Thanks for the reply. However, as I asked, is there anything official to that effect?

[Porthos]

23 minutes ago, ilike2burnthing said:

is there anything official to that effect?

You will not find anything anywhere on the Malwarebytes site saying that. Malwarebytes has been fine with Windows Defender since Microsoft introduced it.

Windows Defender or Windows Security as it is now known, is a part of the OS so Malwarebytes would not do anything to conflict with it.

The way Malwarebytes protection works is it will only detect when a file is run/executed or during a scan. This keeps it from clashing with on access protections.

[ilike2burnthing]

Well, with a little more searching I found a Malwarebytes compatibility list - https://www.malwarebytes.com/pdf/reviews/avtestingreport.pdf

However, it's from 2014/15 and is at odds with the incompatibility list I posted earlier (not surprising, it's a completely different product now).

I'm guessing there's no up to date version of this? Or for that matter, a more extensive incompatibility list like other AVs have? - Kaspersky - Bitdefender

Also, just to clarify, Windows Security is the general security interface, whereas Windows Defender is the actual AV, and has now been renamed Microsoft Defender (because reasons).

[AdvancedSetup]

I'm not aware of official documentation but I'll check with support on Monday.

For now, you can review the following articles

Malwarebytes Security and other antivirus software
https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/5479973703571-Malwarebytes-Security-and-other-antivirus-software

Register Malwarebytes for Windows with the Windows Security Center
https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039024313-Register-Malwarebytes-for-Windows-with-the-Windows-Security-Center

 

 

[ilike2burnthing]

Thanks, I look forward to your reply.

[AdvancedSetup]

Support confirmed what I already knew. No, we do not have official documentation that Windows Defender works at the same time with Malwarebytes with zero conflict.

However, we do know that from practical experience that it does not.

If you do have an issue please let us know and we'll try to assist you.

Thank you

 

[ilike2burnthing]

Thanks for getting back to me, it's much appreciated.

[JSSoftware]

FYI - "Security Suite", the private labeled version of F-Secure that Spectrum distributes to their customers, displays a dialog prompting the user to uninstall Malwarebytes. 

 

[digmorcrusher]

All you have to do is check the option in Malwarebytes to "Not Register in Windows Security" (not sure of the exact wording), I've run FSecure and Malwarebytes together with no isssues.

[JSSoftware]

49 minutes ago, digmorcrusher said:

All you have to do is check the option in Malwarebytes to "Not Register in Windows Security" (not sure of the exact wording), I've run FSecure and Malwarebytes together with no isssues.

Thanks. I will look for that. FWIW, I have run both together for many years, but only recently began receiving that notification. 

[Firefox]

This is the setting you need to turn off, its under Settings -> Security Tab