Replacement for Malwarebytes Anti-malware (MBAB)

[Dragoneer 0]

I have used the combination of ESET AV and MBAM (both paid versions) for many years. I have recently become disenchanted with MBAM for many reasons such as: now proclaims itself an AV solution yet cannot detect test-case viruses even when applied to the file directly by right click; attempts to run in Windows safe modes where the OS has made explicit decision to not load it; causes conflicts with ESET and sometimes deadlocks even when I set a delayed start time for it; and many other issues. I would like to run a better conceived anti-malware solution that works and plays well with ESET AV and I'm asking for suggestions based on positive personal experience. Note, I'm willing to pay for that software.

My machines are Win 7 Pro Sp1 64-bit with most important updates incorporated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or pointers.

[FrankNicklin 0]

Why do you deem it necessary to have multiple AV solutions. Eset is more than capable of identifying malware. It is not good practise to have more than one AV installed on a machine anyway as they can cause conflict. 

[MrWrighty 6]

Why do you deem it necessary to have more than one AV product installed and active. Eset is more than capable of identifying malware. Running 2 active AV’s in the same PC is asking for trouble. If you are concerned about malware then you will need to dump Windows 7 come Jan 2020 and move to Windows 10 any way. Windows 7 will not be patched or updated after this date.

Edited September 29, 2019 by MrWrighty

[Marcos 5,446]

I'd also add that upgrading to Windows 10 would also bring another layer of protection, the AMSI scanner as well as protected service to protect ekrn from injections.

[Dragoneer 0]

10 hours ago, MrWrighty said:

Why do you deem it necessary to have more than one AV product installed and active. Eset is more than capable of identifying malware. Running 2 active AV’s in the same PC is asking for trouble. If you are concerned about malware then you will need to dump Windows 7 come Jan 2020 and move to Windows 10 any way. Windows 7 will not be patched or updated after this date.

For years, the normal procedure has been to have both an AV and an anti malware product. Even the OS has different "registration"  categories for the two. Your reply indicates that this is no longer the conventional wisdom. The ESET forums of past years were chuck full of the attempts and problems of the two companies to produce compatible products. One of my complaints, in fact is that MBAM is decidedly not an AV product even though its creators claim it is.

[itman 1,800]

There was a time in the past where anti-virus products were designed to detect just that - viruses. Those days are long gone predominately because viruses although they still exist, are few in number these days. Hence the term anti-virus solution is not really applicable to today's AV vendor offerings. They are actually anti-malware solutions covering the full spectrum of malware that exists today.

MalwareBytes originates from the past days where a gap existed by what was protected by AV solutions. Over the ensuring years, it has tried to evolve into a full spectrum anti-malware solution and has not really been successful in doing so.

The below assumes you will be shortly upgrading to Win 10. The sooner the better. As @Marcos noted, Eset's protection mechanisms are more effective on Win 10.

If you are looking for a second opinion anti-malware solution, just enable Windows Defender periodic scanning in Win 10. By default it will a daily scan. The only negative to this is WD will load at boot time its real-time scan engine and it will remain resident consuming memory resources, although it is only used for daily scan purposes. Or you can continue to use MBAM in non-real time mode to perform daily or other scheduled off-line scanning. I personally would opt for WD since its signature detection has vastly improved recently now that Microsoft has out-sourced it.

Edited September 29, 2019 by itman

[peteyt 396]

3 hours ago, Dragoneer said:

For years, the normal procedure has been to have both an AV and an anti malware product. Even the OS has different "registration"  categories for the two. Your reply indicates that this is no longer the conventional wisdom. The ESET forums of past years were chuck full of the attempts and problems of the two companies to produce compatible products. One of my complaints, in fact is that MBAM is decidedly not an AV product even though its creators claim it is.

The thing is a virus is a type of malware but not all malware are viruses. Im not fully sure but i think back in the day AVs focused on mainly viruses but now tend to focus on malware in general

[Dragoneer 0]

20 hours ago, Marcos said:

I'd also add that upgrading to Windows 10 would also bring another layer of protection, the AMSI scanner as well as protected service to protect ekrn from injections.

You and others in this thread seem to be recommending/assuming going to Win 10. This raises an obvious question: Does ESET intend to abandon support of Win 7 machines come Jan 2020? I, as many others, am reluctant to move to 10 given that MS wants complete control of the machine while not having earned sufficient trust.

[MrWrighty 6]

Of course Eset will support Windows 7 for the foreseeable future. But Microsoft are not beyond 2020. Its your choice, stay safe by upgrading to Windows 10, or don’t. You cannot rely on Eset to protect you computer if Microsoft are not supporting the OS. Eset can only do so much.

Edited September 30, 2019 by MrWrighty

[Nightowl 206]

11 hours ago, peteyt said:

The thing is a virus is a type of malware but not all malware are viruses. Im not fully sure but i think back in the day AVs focused on mainly viruses but now tend to focus on malware in general

Yeah I remember those days where you had to run other software to detect the malware because the AV is not interested in them

 

5 hours ago, Dragoneer said:

You and others in this thread seem to be recommending/assuming going to Win 10. This raises an obvious question: Does ESET intend to abandon support of Win 7 machines come Jan 2020? I, as many others, am reluctant to move to 10 given that MS wants complete control of the machine while not having earned sufficient trust.

I don't recommend staying with Windows 7 even if ESET is supporting it , It's not good because Microsoft will abandon it.

This could help you with Windows 10 Privacy : https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Edited September 30, 2019 by Rami

[peteyt 396]

9 hours ago, Dragoneer said:

You and others in this thread seem to be recommending/assuming going to Win 10. This raises an obvious question: Does ESET intend to abandon support of Win 7 machines come Jan 2020? I, as many others, am reluctant to move to 10 given that MS wants complete control of the machine while not having earned sufficient trust.

As people have mentioned windows 7 will no longer receive updates - while eset and other AVs can protect you, with an out of date OS the risks go up. I've always compared it to a top security jail with a hole in the fence - you can have a lot of security but if there's a big hole, security etc. then there's a chance something can slip through.

A lot of people also seem put off by windows 10 but I think it's decent - certainly better security wise. 

[Nightowl 206]

1 hour ago, peteyt said:

As people have mentioned windows 7 will no longer receive updates - while eset and other AVs can protect you, with an out of date OS the risks go up. I've always compared it to a top security jail with a hole in the fence - you can have a lot of security but if there's a big hole, security etc. then there's a chance something can slip through.

A lot of people also seem put off by windows 10 but I think it's decent - certainly better security wise. 

Indeed it's much better than Windows 8 tried to do , and when you get used to it , it's a good stable operating system , if you can ditch Windows and go for Linux then you will feel much better

[peteyt 396]

15 minutes ago, Rami said:

Indeed it's much better than Windows 8 tried to do , and when you get used to it , it's a good stable operating system , if you can ditch Windows and go for Linux then you will feel much better

I found windows 8 and certainly after the 8.1 update was actually not bad. The biggest complaint seemed to be about the start menu but I found the metro start was just as good once you got used to it - you could just hit start and type and get what you wanted but if there is a choice I always use the more classic kind (as in windows 10 default). Windows 8's biggest problem was it felt like a tablet os for desktop and a desktop for tablet but 8.1 seemed to fix that - 10 has basically took that and brought some missed stuff back.

As for Linux I've always wanted to try it just never got round to it. Do you need to know a lot of commands? That's the one thing that put me off - it sounded like a lot of stuff needed commands and drivers could be a nightmare.

[MrWrighty 6]

5 minutes ago, peteyt said:

I found windows 8 and certainly after the 8.1 update was actually not bad. The biggest complaint seemed to be about the start menu but I found the metro start was just as good once you got used to it - you could just hit start and type and get what you wanted but if there is a choice I always use the more classic kind (as in windows 10 default). Windows 8's biggest problem was it felt like a tablet os for desktop and a desktop for tablet but 8.1 seemed to fix that - 10 has basically took that and brought some missed stuff back.

As for Linux I've always wanted to try it just never got round to it. Do you need to know a lot of commands? That's the one thing that put me off - it sounded like a lot of stuff needed commands and drivers could be a nightmare.

Linux is a much improved OS and can easily be used in a similar way to Windows. You generally only need command (CLI) functions for admin tasks or where a GUI does not exist.

There are many flavours of Linux. You could easily install a distro in a VM such as Virtual Box on your Windows 7 machine to get the feel for it. Just bear in mind that the performance will not be great unless your host PC is of a decent spec, i.e. plenty of RAM and a good CPU. You can allocate varying resources to the VM.

Alternatively set up a dual boot on your PC with a Linux partition and give it a go.

[Nightowl 206]

6 minutes ago, peteyt said:

I found windows 8 and certainly after the 8.1 update was actually not bad. The biggest complaint seemed to be about the start menu but I found the metro start was just as good once you got used to it - you could just hit start and type and get what you wanted but if there is a choice I always use the more classic kind (as in windows 10 default). Windows 8's biggest problem was it felt like a tablet os for desktop and a desktop for tablet but 8.1 seemed to fix that - 10 has basically took that and brought some missed stuff back.

As for Linux I've always wanted to try it just never got round to it. Do you need to know a lot of commands? That's the one thing that put me off - it sounded like a lot of stuff needed commands and drivers could be a nightmare.

Commands will help you a lot for sure , but if you start with Ubuntu ( I like MATE GUI , search for Ubuntu MATE ) , then you can do most of the job through the GUI till you get to learn about the commands and so on.

[peteyt 396]

1 minute ago, Rami said:

Commands will help you a lot for sure , but if you start with Ubuntu ( I like MATE GUI , search for Ubuntu MATE ) , then you can do most of the job through the GUI till you get to learn about the commands and so on.

That's my only worry - people say it's good but I wonder how limited it iwas without the commands. It's something I plan to one day try out on a USB

[Nightowl 206]

5 minutes ago, peteyt said:

That's my only worry - people say it's good but I wonder how limited it iwas without the commands. It's something I plan to one day try out on a USB

Try it Virtual , or as live USB , but mostly if you are not going for advanced stuff then you won't need commands at all , but you will get used to them and it will be fun after a while to use them

It's better than CMD/Powershell , so much better.

Edited September 30, 2019 by Rami