Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is one of the most popular technicians tool to fix PC infected with malwares. Although not a full antivirus, its small size and powerful detection capabilities removes majority of common trojans, worms, rogues and similar pests. As it offers parasite removal for free, it is no 1 tool to try when malware infection problem is obvious.
Malwarebytes scorecard
Title: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Version reviewed: 1.6
Company: Malwarebytes Corporation
Trial: Yes, full.
Strong points: Parasite database, Free Removal
Weak points: Lack of Automated process killer, weak anti-rootkit
Suitability: Useful to remove common malware
Download Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware download is around 10mb, although it might download some updates. This is quite small compared to its competition. During first install it offers 30 day trial with real-time protection, which you should accept. Malwarebytes does not conflict with any antivirus program, so it is pretty much bonus to protection. The quick scan option takes around 3-5 minutes depending from your disk size, and it is enough for most of the cases. It should detect majority of common PC parasites, and in later steps you will be able to remove them.
The real strengths of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is the frequency of database updates and its pricing. The updates for common and breaking PC parasites are released very frequently and thus it gained popularity as PC repair tool. Differently from other protection programs its license is lifetime one. This is very uncommon (though SuperAntiSpyware has similar license for higher pricing), and it is a great deal.
The main weakness of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is that installer and executable is not well protected against aggressive malware. Thus most of the time it is recommended in combination with Rkill, which works as automated process killer. Additionally, Malwarebytes has several differently named executables in Chameleon subdir in its install folder. These executables might work in cases some processes are let through by aggressive malware (mostly WinWebSec or FakeVimes rogues).
There is another issue I have noticed personally: In cases of rootkit infection I would use other programs (TDSS Killer, maybe Spyhunter ). The Malwarebytes anti-rootkit module is not so good in my opinion, though it can detect that something is wrong.
Personally, I use Malwarebytes as second opinion scanner quite often, through it is the most useful as malware-infested PC repair tool .
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