Malwarebytes

I rely on MBM to keep me safe while I work.It has blocked a lot of sites. I generally find it to be good but you need the paid version for the protection.

Amadeus51 said:

Is a Malwarebytes a good program to have, or a bad one. It seems to claim it's blocking PUP sites when I'm on my local weather station or when Edge is trying to switch to another site like Facebook or Yahoo. I'm beginning to wonder if it is the Malware.

Malwarebytes is going downhill for some time, they add fictional malware (PUP) to increase the detection rate, but it is mostly false positives. Basically, it is a garbage, especially when using Premium as AV.

If you want just something for scanning and removal for free, you can try:

Emsisoft Emergency Kit
Norton Power Eraser
ESET Online Scanner
Zemana Anti Malware

Does not come out too well in latest AVTEST....equal bottom score on protection.
Test antivirus software for Windows 10 - February 2019 | AV-TEST

jimbo45 said:

Hi folks

On Home computers all these programs -- especially the free ones aren't worth it any more -- these programs were written back to solve security problems in the last century when Windows really leaked like a sieve and hackers abounded -- now Windows is so much better security protected -- Windows defender is more than adequate for (and I say again HOME - not Corporate) users - especially as WD gets updated almost daily and the Windows OS itself is rapidly issuing new build quite frequently so these programs would have trouble keeping up in any case.

Modern day hackers aren't really interested in Home machines -- scamming is the name of the game today (where the scammers make loads o money) and you can prevent that by surfing safely, not opening email attachments you don't know the origin of, not giving out too much data on social media sites, using torrents (if you must) safely and avoid getting caught by fake websites. Also when downloading ensure the download is the item you want and uncheck any "special offers" etc.

If you follow those basic rules and surf safely (change passwords frequently too) then all these A/V programs supplied for HOME computers are essentially just snake oil. You don't need them now -- the days of these small A/V companies has passed -- this stuff is only valuable for corporate enterprises who have much more difficult problems to contend with such as Denial of Service attacks, ransom attacks etc etc.

Cheers
jimbo

Yes and no. If you read any forum that does malware removal, and I read several every day, you will see that people are still getting infected running some form of anti-virus, and not all of them are from phishing, torrents or unsafe surfing. There is still a danger. Also reading these forums it is evident that any AV tests are for the most part irrelevant for reasons that I won't get into here as thats another can of worms. Malwarebytes is still an effective product for protection, if you don't like the pup detection you can turn it off. I know I would not rely on only one product for protection as no product is 100% effective, use a double layer. WD and Malwarebytes is fine, there are many other options. Anti virus programs are not snake oil, of course all must use one, but if someone chooses for any reason not to use WD then there are many free, effective options available such as OSArmour or VooDoo Shield, combine WD, Voodoo Shield along with a good browser extension such as Emsisoft or Malwarebytes and add UBlock Origin and you are more than adequately protected. And no anti virus is going to protect you from a competent hacker so don't worry about that.