Question Malwarebytes or stay with Win 11 built-in?

[1405]

Having used Malwarebytes since back in the WinXP days when a MB license was $25 for lifetime, I have recently been thinking about adding another MB license for a 2nd machine. (although now at a much higher cost ;-)
But times have changed. And so has Windows. Maybe I don't really need to. Is W11 built-in malware protection as good as Malwarebytes is by now? Or does MB still do a better job of stopping malware?

 

[Lutfij]

If you practice a healthy internet browsing habit and don't click on any suspicious content on the internet, then you're fine with Windows Defender.

 

[1405]

If you practice a healthy internet browsing habit and don't click on any suspicious content on the internet, then you're fine with Windows Defender.

...and, what if I don't always follow that wise advice? 😉 Would MB be the better choice?

 

[USAFRet]

...and, what if I don't always follow that wise advice? 😉 Would MB be the better choice?

Win Defender for antivirus, MalwareBytes for the occasional malware scan.
And of course, the squishy grey thing between your ears.

 

[sonofjesse]

You can always scan with MB as needed.

Windows AV has got better, but its also on every single PC and certain things can bypass it if you do things you should not.

If your going to do shady stuff (like clicking links) due that in a linux VM!

 

[hotaru.hino]

...and, what if I don't always follow that wise advice? 😉 Would MB be the better choice?

No amount of security software will help you.

Security software is meant to be the air bags, the reserve chute; it's not meant to be your first line of defense.

 

[Unolocogringo]

You can run both.
I run MB and have WD set to run occasional scans.
It keeps both active and if MB misses something WD has a chance to catch it.

 

[1405]

You can run both.
I run MB and have WD set to run occasional scans.
It keeps both active and if MB misses something WD has a chance to catch it.

Thanks for that. But still, is Win Def as good at catching malware as MB?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for that. But still, is Win Def as good at catching malware as MB?

Defender is anti virus.
MWB is anti malware.

Not the same thing.

 

[1405]

Defender is anti virus.
MWB is anti malware.

Not the same thing.

Ah. Yes right. But when MB is installed, it appears to disable Win Virus and Threat Protection. So, is Win Def still doing the anti-virus work anyway while MB is doing the Malware work?

 

[USAFRet]

Ah. Yes right. But when MB is installed, it appears to disable Win Virus and Threat Protection. So, is Win Def still doing the anti-virus work anyway while MB is doing the Malware work?

That only happens if you have MWB set to always do the realtime scan..
There is no need for that.

Win Defender as the always on AV tool, and MWB as a 'scan on demand' tool.

 

[1405]

That only happens if you have MWB set to always do the realtime scan..
There is no need for that.

Win Defender as the always on AV tool, and MWB as a 'scan on demand' tool.

Oh. So, then I wouldn't have to buy the license. I could just use the free version of MB if I'm not letting MB run in the background.

 

[USAFRet]

Oh. So, then I wouldn't have to buy the license. I could just use the free version of MB if I'm not letting MB run in the background.

Thats what I do.

 

[1405]

Doesn't MB also stop viruses?

 

[USAFRet]

Doesn't MB also stop viruses?

It can (potentially) if you buy the full suite.

But, the free Win Defender does that, for free.

 

[1405]

It can (potentially) if you buy the full suite.

But, the free Win Defender does that, for free.

Yes, but which is better? That's the question I am asking in the opening post.

 

[hotaru.hino]

If we went by https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/, Windows Defender is slightly better than Malwarebytes Antimalware.

But again, if you're going to throw away all safe internet browsing habits in the bin, you may as well not have any AV at all.

 

[1405]

OK. Thank you for being so patient with me. I think I'll stick with Win Def and just do random scans with the free MB. 👍

 

[cAllen]

When I put my new box together, I asked similar a question in here. Defender with common sense was the overall recommendation. Having been bit hard in the past, I decided to have my IT/ex-hack buddy test this against my previous solution of Kaspersky with MB Premium. Using everything from random to full out bad boy attacks we found that my previous solution protected much better when gray matter between the ears failed or was fooled. Pick your poison and keep backups.

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[realpao]

Just use Malwarebytes Free for On-demand scans.