Malwarebytes
Anti-Malware is a great security tool that’s particularly effective
against “potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)” and other nasty software
traditional antivirus programs don’t deal with. But it’s intended to be
used alongside an antivirus and doesn’t replace one entirely.
If
you’re using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, you should be running it
alongside a primary antivirus program to keep your computer in tip-top
security shape. But traditional advice is not to run two
anti-malware programs at once. Here’s how to thread that needle.
On-Demand Scans
The
standard, free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware just functions as
an on-demand scanner. In other words, it doesn’t run automatically in
the background. Instead, it only does something when you launch it and
click the Scan button.
This
version of Malwarebytes shouldn’t interfere with your antivirus program
at all. Just install it and occasionally launch it to perform a scan
and check for the “potentially unwanted programs” almost no one actually
wants. It will find and remove them. Using an anti-malware program as
an on-demand scanner is a safe way to get a second opinion.
You
shouldn’t have to do any extra configuration here. If Malwarebytes
reports some sort of error removing a piece of malware it finds, you
could potentially pause or disable real-time scanning in your main
antivirus program to prevent it from interfering, and then reenable
real-time scanning right after. But even this shouldn’t be necessary,
and we’ve never heard of anyone encountering a problem like this one.
(This
is the only way Malwarebytes works on a Mac, too. It can’t perform
automatic, real-time scans — just on-demand scans. Malwarebytes
shouldn’t interfere with other Mac antivirus applications, if you are
actually running one.)
Real-Time Scanning
The
paid version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium also contains
real-time scanning features. Malwarebytes will run in the background,
scanning your system and files you open for problems and preventing them
from taking root on your system in the first place.
The
problem is that your main antivirus program is already functioning in
this way. The standard advice is that you shouldn’t have real-time
scanning enabled for two antivirus programs enabled at once. They can
interfere with each other in a variety of ways, slowing down your
computer, causing crashes, or even preventing each other from working.
Malwarebytes
is coded in a different way and is designed to run alongside other
antivirus programs without interfering. It may even work without any
further configuration. But, to make it work as well as it possibly can
and improve performance, you should set up exclusions in both
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium and your standard antivirus program.
To
do this in Malwarebytes, open Malwarebytes, click the Settings icon,
select “Malware Exclusions,” and add the folder — typically under
Program Files — containing your antivirus program’s files.
In
your antivirus program, load the antivirus program, find “exclusions”,
“ignored files”, or a similarly named section, and add the appropriate
Malwarebytes files.
You should exclude these files on 64-bit versions of Windows:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbam.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamdor.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbampt.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamscheduler.exe
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys
Exclude these files instead on 32-bit versions of Windows:
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbam.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamdor.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbampt.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe
C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamscheduler.exe
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys
For
more specific instructions, you might want to perform a web search for
“Malwarebytes” and the name of your antivirus program. Or just perform a
web search for the name of your antivirus program and “exclusions” to
find out how to add those exclusions and exclude the files named on the
Malwarebytes website.
Malwarebytes
is designed to run alongside a normal antivirus program so you
shouldn’t have to worry about this most of the time — especially if
you’re just using the free version. If you’re using the paid version,
setting up exclusions can help you avoid problems and maximize your
computer’s performance. But even that won’t be completely necessary most
of the time.
