Latest on Malwarebytes with Bitdefender

[Davidtoo]

Hi folks, I know in the past there has been a controversy over using Malwarebytes with bitdefender, some say it's fine, others say not recommended.  I have used the two together for about two years, since I ditched Kaspersky.  A few weeks ago, on a pretty fast 2 year old computer with a SSD drive, I ran into my first problem.  I was attempting to install the latest Windows 11 software and did so.  For some reason, I never figured out, the computer crashed.  I could not get the computer recovery to work,so I ended up having to reinstall Windows.  I did so, and two days later my computer crashed again, so had to reinstall Windows again after completely wiping all data off of my drive (still reinstalling data with carbonite, over 550 G).

I never had notice of any malware from Bitdefender or Malwarebytes.   I am wondering what caused the crashes.  I have read that when two antivirus programs compete for the same space to fight  invading malware, it can degrade the ability of both antiviruses, then if you had only one.  So two questions:

(1) Are Malwarebytes and Bitdefender a good fit together, or should I Use only one or the other.  Even if I don't notice the computer slowing down or having an issue, are the abilities of the two antiviruses compromised because of the way the antivirus programs compete with each other.

(2) Could running the two antivirus programs together have caused some sort of conflict that crashed my system beyond being able to be recovered?

After reinstalling windows I did run diagnostics and everything seems good.  I don't want to give up on either Bitdefender or Malwarebytes, but I will give up on one of them if I am better off than with both of them.

Has anything changed about their compatibility?

Thanks Much

Davetoo

 

 

 

[Malwarebytes]

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[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Davidtoo said:

Are Malwarebytes and Bitdefender a good fit together

Not really

1 hour ago, Davidtoo said:

Could running the two antivirus programs together have caused some sort of conflict that crashed my system beyond being able to be recovered?

Possible

1 hour ago, Davidtoo said:

I don't want to give up on either Bitdefender or Malwarebytes, but I will give up on one of them if I am better off than with both of them.

I would do Malwarebytes with Windows Defender. No conflicts at all. Assuming Malwarebytes is the paid version.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Porthos

[SPDIF]

Why you should not use two AV the same time;

https://www.howtogeek.com/133704/how-to-scan-your-computer-with-multiple-antivirus-programs/#why-you-shouldn-t-run-multiple-antivirus-programs-at-once

[garioch7]

@Davidtoo

I have been running Bitdefender Total Security and MB Premium for many years.  No issues, as long as you configure the appropriate exclusions in each program so that they play nicely in the same sandbox.  In my humble opinion, running the two together enhances my computer security.  You have to install Bitdefender products first.  Bitdefender is highly territorial and will not install if it finds any other security solutions on your computer, other than Windows Defender.  MB Premium is happy to get installed if BD is present.  Make sure that you turn off, in the MB Settings, "Always register with the Windows Security Centre."

Just my two cents.  Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

[AdvancedSetup]

9 minutes ago, garioch7 said:

Bitdefender is highly territorial

 

That's one way to put it  😆😁

Thanks for the feedback @garioch7

 

 

[Porthos]

Why PAY for 2 programs?

If you are going to spend money on a 2nd program, use it for system image software and an external drive instead.

[dgt02]

I run both together in Windows 11 as garioch7 describes after reading his post (thanks Garioch7 !) and have not noticed any problems or performance issues.  I also backup my files to a Synology NAS and sync it with (Synology Drive ShareSync) another NAS I boot up just to sync to (then shutdown that node to keep it offline), do full system image backups with Macrium Reflect and keep a copy of the NAS and my backups offline on a good portable hard drive in a remote physical location/street address.  Yes, that's expensive to do but once set up, it's easy to periodically backup everything.  At a minimum, everyone should just at least have an offline image backup using reliable backup software.  Multiple layers of malware protection is great if they compliment each other.