App Review Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium Plus BETA v5

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Shadowra

Shadowra

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Sep 2, 2021
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Hello and welcome to the Malwarebytes v5 BETA test!
Malwarebytes is a well known American company. Widely used in the world of disinfection, Malwarebytes also has a PRO version to protect your computer. With each version, the editor adds new features to get closer to an antivirus software.

The interface has totally changed but remains simple and accessible. In the Premium Plus version, Malwarebytes integrates a VPN in partnership with Mullvad. I activated it for the test and it is very fast.
In this test, for the first one, I leave it by default, but I activate the detection of penetration attacks during a bonus test.

On URLs, nothing to say, Malwarebytes is very solid, also on the dropper of the fake crack. It's a pity that you have to run the program for the Malwarebytes resident to detect. I would have liked it to detect as soon as the malware arrived.

On the pack we note an improvement of Malwarebytes on the anti-malware detection! Malwarebytes blocks several malicious connections made by Trojans, Botnets and malicious scripts but the machine is still infected.

For the Bonus test, I decide to activate the new Malwarebytes feature and I focus on the pack only.

Malwarebytes does a little better by preventing malicious scripts from installing themselves and creating their entries at startup, however, it does not bring much for the moment in terms of security. Malwarebytes was already blocking malicious connections.

Malwarebytes is a very good security software but should not be used alone because it lacks behavioral shields. It is an excellent complement to some antivirus programs like WiseVector or even Microsoft Defender.



RAM Usage : Light
Malware URL test : 10/10 (All blocked)
Fake crack : 1/1 (detected)
Malware Pack : Remaining 21 files out of 193.
Malwarebytes has improved its AI detection and malware recognition. It also blocks several malicious connections.

However, it will not be able to defend sufficiently against 0-day malware alone. It should be used as a complement.
Resistance to script attacks: Average


Result Wihout Penetration Attack Shield:
MBAM : 21
NPE : 10 (2 files detected is a false positive from VyprVPN)
KVRT : 14

Result With Penetration Attack Shield:
MBAM : 21
NPE : 7 (2 files detected is a false positive from VyprVPN)
KVRT : 9

Recommand : Yes, but as a complement
System Clean : System infected

@nickstar1 request & Thanks for the key's test !
 

entropism

Level 4
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Jul 30, 2019
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I mean, they themselves say you can use it as a standalone. And they have since V2, if I recall correctly.

That being said, do I really want to use this as a sub-par complement to my standalone AV that passes Shadowra's tests with flying colors?

Edit - You have to change settings to have it run alongside an existing AV. It's designed to be an AV replacement as installed.

 

Zero Knowledge

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It's one of those programs that if you have got an old lifetime license then why not, but it has average protection results. Only thing that ever worked when I used it was the Malware URL shield otherwise it really is a forgotten program from a golden age. Not sure how long lifetime licenses will last, hopefully for at least a few more years.
 
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Digmor Crusher

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I mean, they themselves say you can use it as a standalone. And they have since V2, if I recall correctly.

That being said, do I really want to use this as a sub-par complement to my standalone AV that passes Shadowra's tests with flying colors?

Edit - You have to change settings to have it run alongside an existing AV. It's designed to be an AV replacement as installed.

The only setting you have to change to run it alongside another AV is to not register it in Windows Security Center, there is a setting for that.
 

Digmor Crusher

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Jan 27, 2018
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It's one of those programs that if you have got an old lifetime license then why not, but it has average protection results. Only thing that ever worked when I used it was the Malware URL shield otherwise it really is a forgotten program from a golden age. Not sure how long lifetime licenses will last, hopefully for at least a few more years.
Lifetime licenses are supposed to be "lifetime", I don't think they have any thoughts of changing that.
 

Zero Knowledge

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Lifetime licenses are supposed to be "lifetime", I don't think they have any thoughts of changing that.

I hope so, but I would never trust a business to keep its word and I wouldn't be surprised if they ditched lifetime accounts in the future.

The thing is most people with lifetime licenses probably don't use it anymore, the security conscience people have moved on from Malwarebytes.
 

Captain Holly

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Jan 23, 2021
227
I am in the "I have a MBAM Premium lifetime license, so might as well use it" group myself. I use it along with WD/Microsoft Security and it works very well. Neither one has ever really found anything bad though. The MBAM browser protection extension in Firefox has alerted me to a couple of phishing web pages but that is all. I keep my laptop pretty clean though, keep everything updated and I really try very hard to watch my step online.

C.H.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 69673

If you have a lifetime Lic why not? You can always disable everything except for URLs if you want. How was its exploit protection?
At one time, I liked it so well I had three lifetime licenses.
They do not need to stop the lifetimes because they can still hook you with having to buy PLUS to get the VPN.
 

Zero Knowledge

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I don't think they are making much money on their vpn, it's just a rebrand of Mullvad. Most people will just buy directly from Mullvad and skip Malwarebytes.

Malwarebytes is basically still making money of its reputation when it was very decent 15 years ago. There hasn't been a lot of progress, many would argue they have stagnated or gone backwards. They tried moving into enterprise, but the software is just not as good as rivals ESET, Kaspersky, Norton and Bitdefender.

It's a shame because back in the day it was really top notch in detecting malware and was on everybody's PC. Much like Combo Fix, a product of a bygone era that has had its best days and is no longer useful. Malwarebytes is still semi-useful, but as test results shows they have good Malware URL protection, but they are not that good at detecting malware.
 
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Captain Holly

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Jan 23, 2021
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The MBAM I have now is version 4.5, it has real time anti-exploit but I have never received an exploit malware warning or seen it respond to an exploit threat. The MBAM program might not be something I would buy nowadays but I bought the lifetime license about 5 years ago and it is still valid so I make it part of my security config with Windows Security, MBAM Premium, MBAM Browser Guard extension and Ublock Origin on default. Firefox is my default browser. I hope I never do get any malware warnings from MBAM or Windows Security, but MBAM is worth keeping and using, if only for the extra peace of mind it provides. If I ever have any problems from it I may remove it, but for now it works fine.

C.H.
 

piquiteco

Level 14
Oct 16, 2022
626
The MBAM I have now is version 4.5, it has real time anti-exploit but I have never received an exploit malware warning or seen it respond to an exploit threat. The MBAM program might not be something I would buy nowadays but I bought the lifetime license about 5 years ago and it is still valid so I make it part of my security config with Windows Security, MBAM Premium, MBAM Browser Guard extension and Ublock Origin on default. Firefox is my default browser. I hope I never do get any malware warnings from MBAM or Windows Security, but MBAM is worth keeping and using, if only for the extra peace of mind it provides. If I ever have any problems from it I may remove it, but for now it works fine.

C.H.
I used Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit(BETA) from the standalone installer for a while, but it never detected anything. The MBAM Premium I used for time was good for removing PUPs and adware. The malicious url blocker was also good.;)
 

Digmor Crusher

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Jan 27, 2018
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I hope so, but I would never trust a business to keep its word and I wouldn't be surprised if they ditched lifetime accounts in the future.

The thing is most people with lifetime licenses probably don't use it anymore, the security conscience people have moved on from Malwarebytes.
They seem to be a very trustworthy company, a lot of people still use lifetime licenses as per evidence in their forum.
 

Digmor Crusher

Level 23
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Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 27, 2018
1,236
I don't think they are making much money on their vpn, it's just a rebrand of Mullvad. Most people will just buy directly from Mullvad and skip Malwarebytes.

Malwarebytes is basically still making money of its reputation when it was very decent 15 years ago. There hasn't been a lot of progress, many would argue they have stagnated or gone backwards. They tried moving into enterprise, but the software is just not as good as rivals ESET, Kaspersky, Norton and Bitdefender.

It's a shame because back in the day it was really top notch in detecting malware and was on everybody's PC. Much like Combo Fix, a product of a bygone era that has had its best days and is no longer useful. Malwarebytes is still semi-useful, but as test results shows they have good Malware URL protection, but they are not that good at detecting malware.
A lot of tests I've seen in the past year shows that MBAM provides top tier protection, and that their results have actually improved over 2-3 years ago. All of these tests are posted on here if you want to research.
 

Digmor Crusher

Level 23
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Well-known
Jan 27, 2018
1,236
The MBAM I have now is version 4.5, it has real time anti-exploit but I have never received an exploit malware warning or seen it respond to an exploit threat. The MBAM program might not be something I would buy nowadays but I bought the lifetime license about 5 years ago and it is still valid so I make it part of my security config with Windows Security, MBAM Premium, MBAM Browser Guard extension and Ublock Origin on default. Firefox is my default browser. I hope I never do get any malware warnings from MBAM or Windows Security, but MBAM is worth keeping and using, if only for the extra peace of mind it provides. If I ever have any problems from it I may remove it, but for now it works fine.

C.H.
Nope, they stopped selling lifetime licenses in 2014.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 97327

Lifetime licenses are supposed to be "lifetime", I don't think they have any thoughts of changing that.
Logged Into my MBAM account which I had not used for years. Showed no active licenses. Entered my lifetime license data and got a three device premium license for Windows. Surprised me in a positive way.

I remember Peter2150 from Wilders (who sadly passed to early) always posted that their URL filter had the best results in his tests. In those days everyone seemd to use MBAM as secondary on the demand scanner, because at that time (before HitmanPro arrived), it was with AdwareCleaner and Emsisoft Recovery kit the most used periodic check of security aware users.

@Shadowra
As always, thanks for the video and the hours you put in to this in making it (y)
 
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Zero Knowledge

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Dec 2, 2016
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A lot of tests I've seen in the past year shows that MBAM provides top tier protection, and that their results have actually improved over 2-3 years ago. All of these tests are posted on here if you want to research.

I will take a look again, but the last tests I read were MRG tests and it was constantly finishing last with many false positives. Maybe it's changed, I don't know. I lost interest after V2, V3 was a mess and a disappointment, and I never installed it again. Haven't bothered with V4 now V5 and I probably won't use it again unless it really starts performing. Shame because I have multiple lifetime licenses just sitting there doing nothing

I have to mention Adwcleaner though is a very decent piece of software, WFC is great too. All is not lost @ Malwarebytes HQ.

always posted that their URL filter had the best results in his tests.
Agreed, back when I used it when it was V2 it caught some really good phishing emails that were 3 hours old. Appears like it's still good @ malware URL tests.
 

Captain Holly

Level 5
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Jan 23, 2021
227
Nope, they stopped selling lifetime licenses in 2014.
I don't remember exactly when I bought the lifetime MBAM. Now that I think about it, it must have been in some time in 2013 or 2014 because I do remember I got it when I lived in my last house and have been here in this house since August 2016. I paid $25.00 for it and first used it on my old Toshiba laptop, I remember that much and that was around 2013 or 2014. It was a long time ago and I did not use it on my current laptop for a long time. I decided to try it again recently and it still works ok.

C.H.
 
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Nightwalker

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May 26, 2014
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I will take a look again, but the last tests I read were MRG tests and it was constantly finishing last with many false positives. Maybe it's changed, I don't know. I lost interest after V2, V3 was a mess and a disappointment, and I never installed it again. Haven't bothered with V4 now V5 and I probably won't use it again unless it really starts performing. Shame because I have multiple lifetime licenses just sitting there doing nothing

I have to mention Adwcleaner though is a very decent piece of software, WFC is great too. All is not lost @ Malwarebytes HQ.


Agreed, back when I used it when it was V2 it caught some really good phishing emails that were 3 hours old. Appears like it's still good @ malware URL tests.

It changed, actually Malwarebytes has been consistently one of the best perfomers in MRG testing lately.
 

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