[ RESOLVED ] Windows Security Center registration

[Dinobot2]

I installed Malwarebytes, turned off all of the real time shields, and de-activated my the premium trial and switched to the free version immediately. As expected, Malwarebytes is no longer listed on the Security providers in the Windows Security Center. However, I noticed that in the MB settings, the Always register Malwarebytes in the Windows Security Center setting is ticked on (without being able to change it) despite saying it's for Premium only. I found this peculiar as most of the other Premium only settings are switched off.

Just wanted to see if this is like this for others and not just me. Like I said, it's not currently listed in my Windows Security Center. I just want to make sure I didn't mess up by not turning that off before switching to the free version of MB.

[Malwarebytes]

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[Porthos]

10 minutes ago, Dinobot2 said:

Just wanted to see if this is like this for others and not just me. Like I said, it's not currently listed in my Windows Security Center. I just want to make sure I didn't mess up by not turning that off before switching to the free version of MB.

That is normal. If Defender is on you are fine.

[Dinobot2]

I'm using Avast as my main Antivirus, and I know Malwarebytes and Avast can be turned on at the same time. The MB real time shields are disabled since i'm on free version (and I manually disabled them when I was briefly on the Premium trial), but that setting being 'on' was throwing me off there.

But if "that is normal" is referring to that setting for you and others, then that's all i'm concerned about. And this is current Security Providers screen at the moment.

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, Dinobot2 said:

And this is current Security Providers screen at the moment.

Since you use Avast that screen is correct and you have nothing to worry about.

[Dinobot2]

Out of curiosity, do you have any insight as to why that setting is ticked 'on' when it doesn't apply since i'm on the Free version only with only the on-demand scanner?

[Porthos]

6 minutes ago, Dinobot2 said:

do you have any insight as to why that setting is ticked 'on' when it doesn't apply since i'm on the Free version only with only the on-demand scanner?

The "paid" features in the GUI freeze at the point of deactivation regardless if the toggle is off or on. Everything is fine since it is deactivated.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Porthos

[Dinobot2]

So it's based on whatever settings I had enabled at the time of deactivation, but if a setting is marked as "Premium Only" then it just ignores those settings, basically treating them as null/void? I just checked and saw the same thing with Automatic quarantine and Exploit Protection, so I assume the same applies to those two.

[Porthos]

Exactly.

Now you will just have to deal with the "marketing" nags and popups using the free version.

I suggest you right-click on the tray icon and uncheck "Start with Windows" and then choose "Quit Malwarebytes".

When you need to run a scan open it from the desktop icon and run your scan and when finished, Right click and "Quit Malwarebytes" again.

[Porthos]

I do suggest you use the free Malwarebytes Browser Guard in all of your supported browsers.

[Dinobot2]

8 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Exactly.

Now you will just have to deal with the "marketing" nags and popups using the free version.

I suggest you right-click on the tray icon and uncheck "Start with Windows" and then choose "Quit Malwarebytes".

When you need to run a scan open it from the desktop icon and run your scan and when finished, Right click and "Quit Malwarebytes" again.

Ok, that makes sense. I saw in another thread that you turn the Windows Security registration option off on Premium, so I got concerned about if I should have turned that off or not, but I guess having it ticked "on" but not applicable since i'm on Free and it not showing up in the Windows Security Center (and seeing it there when Premium trial was still active) should be enough to answer that.

And yes, I have the Start with Windows option off and always Quit Malwarebytes the way that you suggest.

[Porthos]

8 minutes ago, Dinobot2 said:

I saw in another thread that you turn the Windows Security registration option off on Premium,

That is because Malwarebytes disables Defender when installed like any other AV like your Avast did. Defender and Malwarebytes Premium work well together and give Premium users added free protection for their systems.

[Porthos]

Are you good to go now so I can close this topic out?

[Dinobot2]

6 hours ago, Porthos said:

That is because Malwarebytes disables Defender when installed like any other AV like your Avast did. Defender and Malwarebytes Premium work well together and give Premium users added free protection for their systems.

Ok so when you do that on Premium, it not only turns MalwareBytes off, but it turns Defender's real time back on? So you use MBAM premium as your secondary AV and Defender as your primary?

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, Dinobot2 said:

So you use MBAM premium as your secondary AV and Defender as your primary?

No, doing that lets both work fully at the same time.

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 block files like these if malicious 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 site 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

 

 

[Dinobot2]

3 minutes ago, Porthos said:

No, doing that lets both work fully at the same time.

Ok so you have them both working as real time protection.

Sorry to take us off topic there a bit, but basically the fact that my "windows security center registration" option is ticked 'on' despite being for premium only, and it doesn't show up at all in the Windows Security Center as per my screenshot (it did before under the Premium trial, with real time turned off, it would just say "Malwarebytes is turned off") means that it's basically just a dormant feature as per my response here.

7 hours ago, Dinobot2 said:

So it's based on whatever settings I had enabled at the time of deactivation, but if a setting is marked as "Premium Only" then it just ignores those settings, basically treating them as null/void? I just checked and saw the same thing with Automatic quarantine and Exploit Protection, so I assume the same applies to those two.

I guess there is part of me that is paranoid that Malwarebytes will somehow magically turn on and interfere with Avast even though it's not possible with the free version.

[Porthos]

4 minutes ago, Dinobot2 said:

I guess there is part of me that is paranoid that Malwarebytes will somehow magically turn on and interfere with Avast even though it's not possible with the free version.

From time to time they re-enable the trial as a marketing tool as well. But since you do not have it starting with Windows it probably won't happen.

8 minutes ago, Dinobot2 said:

it's basically just a dormant feature as per my response here.

Any feature that shows Premium next to it is dormant in the free version.

[Dinobot2]

Just now, Porthos said:

From time to time they re-enable the trial as a marketing tool as well. But since you do not have it starting with Windows it probably won't happen.

Is there a chance of it happening if I open it up to scan and do an update?

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, Dinobot2 said:

Is there a chance of it happening if I open it up to scan and do an update?

Probably not but not guaranteed. I have not seen it on any of my non-premium clients.

[Dinobot2]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

Probably not but not guaranteed. I have not seen it on any of my non-premium clients.

I'll cross that bridge if it appears then.

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

Any feature that shows Premium next to it is dormant in the free version.

And, again, for clarity/sanity sake (even if i'm becoming annoying at this point), even if a Premium-only feature shows that it's ticked on, it won't activate on Free. I assume that if I ever decided to upgrade to Premium it'll just turn that feature on; whereas if I disabled it on Premium, switched to Free, then upgraded to Premium again it would remain disabled?

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, Dinobot2 said:

even if a Premium-only feature shows that it's ticked on, it won't activate on Free.

Yes

3 hours ago, Dinobot2 said:

I assume that if I ever decided to upgrade to Premium it'll just turn that feature on

Yes

3 hours ago, Dinobot2 said:

if I disabled it on Premium, switched to Free, then upgraded to Premium again it would remain disabled?

Only if the program was not uninstalled and reinstalled.

[Dinobot2]

Thanks a lot. I appreciate the back and forth!

[AdvancedSetup]

Closing this topic as it's been resolved.