Battle Malwarebytes Premium or Emsisoft Anti-Malware 2021

Aktiffiso

Level 8
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Aug 24, 2013
395
Hi I want to know what do you think about Malwarebytes premium i see its a little cheap and like to know if it is a good security solution, I use Emsisoft on another pc and know is good but I am attracted about Malwarebytes, what about performance, false positives and the most important: the support
 

The_King

Level 12
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Aug 2, 2020
542
In my opinion, both are good options. With regard to false positives, from the reviews I have seen, it seems Malware-Bytes tends to show more false positives than most AV products.

In regard to performance, Emsisoft uses the Bitdefender engine, so it is faster and has less impact on most systems compared to Malware-Bytes engine.

Far has support goes, I can't say has I never had to use support from any AV company in the past.

If you do decide to go with MB, I don't think you would be disappointed. Has both are good options.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
Overall Emsisoft. But you should install the trial versions first. I'm not a fan of Emsisoft's whitelist-based behavior blocker. It's very false positive prone for my liking. Also, it used an abnormal amount of CPU every time I launched any app the last time I tested it a month ago. So it had a high performance impact.
Malwarebytes can be false positive prone and impactful also. Personally, I wouldn't use or recommend any of these two products as the main AV.
 

PlayerFromTheITtic

Level 6
Verified
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May 19, 2014
281
Both are great, among the top security apps IMHO (and they're not using root certificate for their web protection modules, which is a massively good point).
If you have to choose between the two however, go with Malwarebytes. It definitely is lighter and only gets better with the program updates. Their browser add-on, Malwarebytes Browser Guard, is also superior to Emsisoft's counterpart.
You said it's a "little cheap", are you talking about the Back-to-school sale currently happening at Malwarebytes' official website? It's a nice deal, you should grab it before it's too late (you could even think of taking more than one year of subscription)!
 

RoboMan

Level 34
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Jun 24, 2016
2,399
I'm not a fan of Emsisoft's whitelist-based behavior blocker.
Would you mind explaining to me how their BB works? I never would have imagined it worked with a whitelist and that excites me a little bit, since from what I understand, you're saying it works like a default-deny? Please elaborate if you don't mind :)
 

NewbyUser

Level 2
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Jul 16, 2021
53
Would you mind explaining to me how their BB works? I never would have imagined it worked with a whitelist and that excites me a little bit, since from what I understand, you're saying it works like a default-deny? Please elaborate if you don't mind :)
It is a default deny, the whitelisting comes from either you/user allowing the action taken, or trusting the application entirely or by Emsisoft adding the application to the whitelist. If no action is taken, or the computer is unattended the action won't be allowed.

I don't currently use Emsisoft so I can't give you screenshots, sorry.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
Would you mind explaining to me how their BB works? I never would have imagined it worked with a whitelist and that excites me a little bit, since from what I understand, you're saying it works like a default-deny? Please elaborate if you don't mind :)
Yeah, kind of like what NewbyUser said. You are not likely to have problems with popular signed apps like Google Chrome but decent popular and signed apps like Adguard Desktop often have problems getting detected by Emsisofot when a new version is released. For unsigned apps whether it's popular or not gets detected by Emsisoft's BB until it's whitelisted by them. The awful experience I had was almost every apps uninstaller. It detected all uninstallers as suspicious malware as most of them are not signed. Even signed apps's uninstallers are usually not signed because it's not necessary to do so.
 

show-Zi

Level 36
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Jan 28, 2018
2,463
decent popular and signed apps like Adguard Desktop often have problems getting detected by Emsisofot when a new version is released.
In my environment, there are many cases where a warning is issued when the updated software is started for the first time. As mentioned earlier, PCs that use Defender and Voodoo Shield together are more sensitive to unsigned online software.

Regarding Emisi's white list, we believe that each application is managed with three choices: 'safe', 'continuation of monitoring', and 'exclusion of monitoring'.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
In my environment, there are many cases where a warning is issued when the updated software is started for the first time. As mentioned earlier, PCs that use Defender and Voodoo Shield together are more sensitive to unsigned online software.

Regarding Emisi's white list, we believe that each application is managed with three choices: 'safe', 'continuation of monitoring', and 'exclusion of monitoring'.
You are correct. You have used Emsisoft longer than I did so you have even a better idea. Yeah, Defender can sometimes detect new unsigned apps but it doesn't happen much in my case. In my case for Emsisoft, it became kind of a habit to allow apps regularly that trigger Emsi's BB. So it was possible that even if a real malware gets detected by Emsisoft, I would simply allow it just by habit. So I had to stop using it.
In terms of the least amount of false positives, nothing can beat ESET and Kaspersky I think. I wish Emsi's BB was smarter at distinguishing good apps from the bad ones.
 
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DJ Panda

Level 30
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Aug 30, 2015
1,928
Use whatever you prefer or want. Though keep in mind that security is also a user's responsibility as well. You could have a big defense but if you ignore warnings you will be more prone to infection. Personally, I'd just use Windows Defender and use the free version of Malwarebytes and Emsisoft Emergency Kit for on demand scanning. :)
 

show-Zi

Level 36
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 28, 2018
2,463
You are correct. You have used Emsisoft longer than I did so you have even a better idea. Yeah, Defender can sometimes detect new unsigned apps but it doesn't happen much in my case. In my case for Emsisoft, it became kind of a habit to allow apps regularly that trigger Emsi's BB. So it was possible that even if a real malware gets detected by Emsisoft, I would simply allow it just by habit. So I had to stop using it.
In terms of the least amount of false positives, nothing can beat ESET and Kaspersky I think. I wish Emsi's BB was smarter at distinguishing good apps from the bad ones.
Since I only install minimal software on the system drive, I think it's possible that there is a difference in detection behavior due to the way such software is handled.:)

If you are running multiple PCs, I think there are many users who are particular about the security software they use on the main one, but use Defender for the other PCs for budget reasons.
I recommended MalwareBytes out of respect for the fact that I like to try other software when possible, but Emisi's workspace-based management of multiple units isn't a bad idea either.
In my case, I would like to compare Emisi and F-Secure if I can use them without considering my budget.:D
 

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