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Can I run Malwarebyes real time with Norton Anti-Virus


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I am currently running Norton Anti Virus and I am considering upgrading Malwarebytes to the Pro version. In the past I have been advised never to run more than one real time anti virus program. I would like to know if your real time Pro version will in any way interfere with my Norton Anti Virus.

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Greetings :)

Norton should get along just fine with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO. We work differently than antivirus software when we run in realtime which dramatically reduces the chances of any conflicts, however, you should also set exclusions for Malwarebytes in Norton as well as in Malwarebytes for Norton to make sure that no conflicts do occur and it also may improve system performance when the two are running together. The following instructions explain how to do so in Norton Internet Security 2011, but the instructions should be similar to how it's done in Norton Anti-Virus:

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP:

  • Click Start and select My Computer
  • Click the Tools item from the menu at the top of the window (if you don't see Tools press the Alt key on your keyboard and it will appear)
  • Select Folder Options
  • Click the View tab and make sure Show hidden files and folders is selected under Hidden files and folders
  • Next, uncheck the box next to Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
  • Then, uncheck the box next to Hide extensions for known filetypes
  • Click Apply then click OK

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista and Windows 7:
  • Click on the Start vista-7-start.png button and select Computer
  • Press the Alt key on your keyboard and click on Tools
  • Select Folder Options
  • Click the View tab and make sure that Show hidden files and folders is selected under Hidden files and folders
  • Next, uncheck the box next to Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
  • Then, uncheck the box next to Hide extensions for known filetypes
  • Click Apply then click OK

Set Exclusions for Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware in Norton Internet Security 2011:

  1. Open Norton Internet Security and click on Settings at the top
  2. Click on Computer Settings
  3. Click Configure [+] to the right of Items to Exclude from Auto-Protect and SONAR
  4. Click Add
  5. Make sure that Include subfolders is checked in the small Add Item window
  6. Click the small folder icon to the right of the blank white space
  7. In the Browse for Folder window that opens, navigate to C:\Program Files
  8. Click once on Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to highlight it and click on OK
  9. Click OK and verify that in the box under The following items are ignored by both Auto-Protect and SONAR: it says C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  10. Repeat steps 4-9 for the following files and folders:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes Note: On Vista and 7 this will be C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbamswissarmy.sys

[*]Once you have all of those items in your list, click on Apply then click on OK to close that window and then click Apply and OK to close the Settings window[*]Close the Norton Internet Security window

Set Exclusions for Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware in Norton Internet Security 2011 on 64 bit Windows Versions:

  1. Open Norton Internet Security and click on Settings at the top
  2. Click on Computer Settings
  3. Click Configure [+] to the right of Items to Exclude from Auto-Protect and SONAR
  4. Click Add
  5. Make sure that Include subfolders is checked in the small Add Item window
  6. Click the small folder icon to the right of the blank white space
  7. In the Browse for Folder window that opens, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)
  8. Click once on Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to highlight it and click on OK
  9. Click OK and verify that in the box under The following items are ignored by both Auto-Protect and SONAR: it says C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  10. Repeat steps 4-9 for the following files and folders:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes Note: On Vista and 7 this will be C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys
    • C:\Windows\SysWOW64\drivers\mbamswissarmy.sys

[*]Once you have all of those items in your list, click on Apply then click on OK to close that window and then click Apply and OK to close the Settings window[*]Close the Norton Internet Security window

Reset Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP:

  • Click Start and select My Computer
  • Click the Tools item from the menu at the top of the window (if you don't see Tools press the Alt key on your keyboard and it will appear)
  • Select Folder Options
  • Click the View tab and make sure Do not show hidden files and folders is selected under Hidden files and folders
  • Next, check the box next to Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
  • Then, check the box next to Hide extensions for known filetypes
  • Click Apply then click OK

Reset Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista and Windows 7:
  • Click on the Start vista-7-start.png button and select Computer
  • Press the Alt key on your keyboard and click on Tools
  • Select Folder Options
  • Click the View tab and make sure that Do not show hidden files and folders is selected under Hidden files and folders
  • Next, check the box next to Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
  • Then, check the box next to Hide extensions for known filetypes
  • Click Apply then click OK

Set Exclusions for Norton Internet Security in Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

  • Open Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and click on the Ignore List tab
  • Click the Add button on the lower left
  • In the small browse window that opens, navigate to C:\Program Files and click once on Norton Internet Security and click OK
  • Close Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

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Sure thing :). I don't believe Norton360 allows you to set any exclusions, however, here are the exclusions instructions for excluding Norton360 from Malwarebytes Anti-Malware:

Set Exclusions for Norton 360 in Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

  • Open Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and click on the Ignore List tab
  • Click the Add button on the lower left
  • In the small browse window that opens, navigate to C:\Program Files and click once on Norton 360 and click OK
  • Close Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

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  • 8 months later...

The insturctions above seem to have worked fine. I don't have Norton 360 installed, just Norton Internet Security, so I didn't do those steps.

I did notice a couple of things, for which I'd appreciate feedback:

  • Once I installed and completed all the settings, I notice that on the desktop icon for Malwarebytes, it has a blue and gold shield on the icon. When I click the icon to lauch, a dialog box appears saying "Do you want ot allow the following program to make changes to this computer.?" It then lists Malwarebytes Anti-malware as the program. I click the Yes button and then Malwarebytes launches. Is there a way to keep this dialog box from appearing?
  • Also, in the install instructions above, the exclusion step for the file in windows\system32\drivers\ is named mbamswissarmy.sys and not mbam.sys. Is this a problem?

Thanks again for all the help!

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Hello :)

  • Once I installed and completed all the settings, I notice that on the desktop icon for Malwarebytes, it has a blue and gold shield on the icon. When I click the icon to lauch, a dialog box appears saying "Do you want ot allow the following program to make changes to this computer.?" It then lists Malwarebytes Anti-malware as the program. I click the Yes button and then Malwarebytes launches. Is there a way to keep this dialog box from appearing?

No, that's User Account Control, a feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Refer to this page for additional details. You can change your User Account Control settings or disable it, but it is not recommended that you do so as User Account Control is an excellent, important security feature built into your operating system.

  • Also, in the install instructions above, the exclusion step for the file in windows\system32\drivers\ is named mbamswissarmy.sys and not mbam.sys. Is this a problem?

No, that's not a problem at all. In fact, generally speaking the only files you really need to be concerned with excluding are our 3 main executables, mbam.exe, mbamgui.exe and mbamservice.exe.
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That interrup notifies you when a program wants administrative level access to your computer or settings. It's important, because for example, on Windows XP, if a program like an infection wanted to make changes to your system or install itself, it would be able to do so silently without any warning to you, the user.

With User Account Control on Windows Vista and Windows 7, you'd be warned before the program was able to make any such changes to your computer, so you'd know that the program is trying to do something and you get to decide if the program is safe or not before you allow it to proceed.

Now obviously Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a safe program, so you allow it to run, but if you were browsing the internet and suddenly got a prompt for a program called something like r63st8y74.exe trying to run, you might be concerned because it isn't something you recognize as being a legitimate program, so you deny it the permission to run, thus preventing it from doing whatever it was trying to do.

There's more to UAC (User Account Control) than that, but that's the basic concept behind what it is and how it works.

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  • 4 months later...

I just installed Malwarebytes Pro, running Windows 7 64 bit. I was unable to find either of the "mbam" files under drivers when trying to set the Norton exclusions.

That's OK. It happens because our drivers are in the actual System32\drivers folder, a native x64 location. Since Norton is a 32 bit executable, it automatically redirects to SysWOW64\drivers (even though it says System32). You should be fine just excluding Malwarebytes Anti-Malware's executables from Norton.
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  • 2 months later...

Sure thing smile.gif. I don't believe Norton360 allows you to set any exclusions, however, here are the exclusions instructions for excluding Norton360 from Malwarebytes Anti-Malware:

Set Exclusions for Norton 360 in Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

  • Open Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and click on the Ignore List tab
  • Click the Add button on the lower left
  • In the small browse window that opens, navigate to C:\Program Files and click once on Norton 360 and click OK
  • Close Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

I just installed Norton 360 on this (new) machine, which had Malwarebytes pre-installed. I got the incompatability message from

Norton, came to this forum by way of google, and started following the instructions for getting Norton Security to allow Malwarebytes.

With a bit of exploring, I found that Norton 360 does allow you to set exclusions. Open 360, go to Settings. then Firewall, then Program Rules, and you can then add files. I couldn't figure out to add a folder, but after reading more in this forum I just added the .exe files (mbam, mbamgui, and mbamservice). So far so good.

Good information in this forum - it's the way the net should work.

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I just installed Norton 360 on this (new) machine, which had Malwarebytes pre-installed. I got the incompatability message from

Norton, came to this forum by way of google, and started following the instructions for getting Norton Security to allow Malwarebytes.

With a bit of exploring, I found that Norton 360 does allow you to set exclusions. Open 360, go to Settings. then Firewall, then Program Rules, and you can then add files. I couldn't figure out to add a folder, but after reading more in this forum I just added the .exe files (mbam, mbamgui, and mbamservice). So far so good.

Good information in this forum - it's the way the net should work.

Excellent, the latest version of Norton 360 must allow exclusions. The previous versions did not.

I'm glad that you found the information helpful. Please let us know if there's anything else we can assist you with and thanks for the info on the latest Norton 360.

Thanks :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

With a bit of exploring, I found that Norton 360 does allow you to set exclusions. Open 360, go to Settings. then Firewall, then Program Rules, and you can then add files. I couldn't figure out to add a folder, but after reading more in this forum I just added the .exe files (mbam, mbamgui, and mbamservice). So far so good.

I'm not sure what version of 360 you have, but in my version (20.3.0.36), you really need to set the exclusion in the Antivirus settings. Setting it in the Program Rules in the Firewall settings only governs internet access rules for programs--on my version of 360, when you open Program Rules, there's a line above the listed programs that says "Create custom internet access for individual programs." In other words, adding Malwarebytes here probably won't make 360 exclude Malwarebytes from detection and possible conflicts when the executables run (although I haven't tested it, since I had already set the exclusions in the Antivirus settings, per below). By the way, some of the details of setting these exclusions are very similar to what the mod posted in post 2 above, which is one other reason why I know that this is where it's supposed to be done.

Here is where to do it (although you've probably already figured this out by now! :) )--

--open 360, click on Settings

--click Antivirus

--click Scans and Risks tab

--scroll down to Exclusions/Low Risks section, where you'll find Items to Exclude from Auto-Protect, SONAR and Download Intelligence Detection; click Configure [+] on the right side

--in the dialogue box that opens, click Add, then Folders

--make sure that Include Subfolders box is checked, then browse to and select the folder where you have Malwarebytes installed (in my case, D:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware)

--click OK, OK, Close (duh!)

Now I didn't do the following steps that the mod called out, but I will go back and do it now that I'm aware of them (even though all conflict and error messages in 360 stopped after I did the above)--

  • Repeat steps 4-9 for the following files and folders:

    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes Note: On Vista and 7 this will be C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbamswissarmy.sys

    [*]Once you have all of those items in your list, click on Apply then click on OK to close that window and then click Apply and OK to close the Settings window

    [*]Close the Norton Internet Security window

Hope this helps (especially if you still are getting conflict or error messages). I would be curious to know, though, if the conflict and error messages had stopped after you set the exclusions in the Firewall settings. Stranger things have happened!!

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  • 1 year later...

I've been running Norton 360 for some time with good results. I recently (through my own stupidity) got infected with a nasty adware bug that makes use of IE or Chrome nearly impossible. So, I just now installed Malwarebytes and the first scan ran to the point of examining files system objects the hangs up. No response to KB or mouse input; won't launch Task Manager. Hung solid. After 20 minutes I tried to shut the system down and the screen went blank but the power indicator was still on. I pulled the power, waited a few minutes and restarted. I chose normal startup the first time and MB box pops up indicating a Non-Malware program has been detected and gives me 3 buttons. There is no response to any KB or mouse input. Hung solid. Pull the plug again and restart in Safe Mode with networking. Don't know how to proceed at this point.

 

It's tax time and I NEED this PC to work! I'm in this over my head at this point and could use some handholding. Anyone?

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Hello and :welcome: , wayneskid:
 
Sorry to hear you might be infected.
We can't work on malware diagnostics and removal in this sub-section of the forum.

So, for expert assistance, I suggest that you please follow the advice in this pinned topic: Available Assistance For Possibly Infected Computers.

If the computer is so crippled by the infection that you can't even run the preliminary scans requested in that pinned topic, then please just start a NEW post in the malware removal section >>HERE<< anyway, explaining the situation.
A malware analyst will guide you through the cleanup & repair process.

Thanks,

daledoc1

 

P.S. This thread was actually started many, many moons ago (2011) and the last reply was in 2013 (quite a few moons ago, too).  In general, it's best to start a new, separate post in a computer support forum, rather than replying to something so ancient.  It's not a big deal and there's no harm, so this is just a suggestion for future reference. :)

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Can anyone tell me where I can get a definitive answer to the original question of this thread; is it OK to run Malwarebytes AND Northon 360 a the same time? There seems to be conflicting opinions on this, even within this thread.

wayneskid

Yes you can run them together.... That being said, everyone's computer is different and some folks have to add exceptions to prevent them from conflicting with each other. Below are the files you need to exclude should you feel the need to add the exclusions... I always enter them as a preventive measure...

Please exclude the following files from your Antivirus Software (not sure what version of you are using):

Note: If using a software firewall besides the built in Windows Firewall you'll need to exclude them from it as well

For Windows XP:

  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbam.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbampt.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamscheduler.exe

For Windows Vista or Windows 7 & 8:
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbam.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbampt.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamscheduler.exe

For 64 bit versions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 & 8:
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbam.exe
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbampt.exe
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware \mbamscheduler.exe
Note: If using a software firewall besides the built in Windows Firewall you'll need to exclude MBAM.EXE and MBAMSERVICE.EXE from it as well

Note: Once that's done, please make sure that if either of those programs has any sort of web filter, that you add the following as a trusted site:

data-cdn.mbamupdates.com

The FAQ contains examples of setting file exclusions for some known AV products

Please post back and let us know how it went.

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Hi, wayneskid:

 

You mentioned here that you think you are infected and also that you need the computer for "tax" and financial tasks?

Under the circumstances, it would be a good idea to follow the advice here: Available Assistance for Possibly Infected Computers

Depending on the type of infection, it could be risky to conduct financial transactions on the machine until one of the experts has had a look at some of your logs.

Your personal information could be at risk with certain types on infections.

And it might be hard to switch antivirus products on an infected system, as well.

Bottom line: it would still be recommended to have one of the malware experts look into your issues.

The help is free -- it will only cost you a bit of your time.

 

Just a suggestion from another home user, ;)

 

daledoc1

 

P.S. Thanks for chipping in, Firefox. It wasn't clear from wayneskid's original post here that he was specifically asking about MBAM & Norton compatibility. Sorry if I misunderstood.

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Hi, I've just gone to add some exclusions on Norton Internet Security 2014 and I cannot seem to find these

 

    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbamswissarmy.sys

 

In the file explorer! Even when I manually type the file location it says it cannot be found.....

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