I am just curious, after trying out the beta, how you all feel about this AM product. Do you feel it is ready? And by ready I mean, can it take the place of a traditional antivirus. That is something I'm not sure about. I tried testing it with the eicar test file and I was not told that there were any imfected files. That makes me wonder that prehaps this is not ready to be the first line of defense, but instead should be seen as complimentary, or a backup scanner.

MBAM is not an antivirus application and is not designed to take the place of one . What MBAM is designed to do is catch the malware often missed by traditional antivirus applications . The true definition of a virus is software that compromises existing files in a system so that they perform malicious tasks . A true antivirus application will be able to take these files and remove the malicious code leaving the cleaned file behind .

What we do is go after adware , spyware , backdoors , proxies , bots , worms , trojans and rootkits . These are all considered malware and this is why we use the word antimalware in the name of our product .

We do catch virus installers though , the files that actually do the patching of your existing files .



Eiar is not a virus or malware , its a file designed to see if you antivirus/trojan/malware software is working . Truth be told we have not added it yet , been too busy adding actual malware definitions to our software .



MBAM is not designed to take the place of antivirus software , it is designed to fill in the gaps in protection that are notorious with antivirus software .

I guess I'm a little concerned then. The term 'malware' is an all-encompassing term. Malware is any code that is intent on harming the system, in any way, shape, or form. So, what your basically saying is that MBAM cannot defend against all these threats and htat it was never intended to. That is a shame. I know many people at Wilders believe this product to protect them from all types of malware given the name of MBAM. I just which I had remembered this thread before I made my purchase, given that I now need an AV.

Spread the word Nathan that you discovered MBAM doesn't defend against all threats, all malware, all virii and give me a link to which Anti-whatever does the job.
Dream on,

Gerard

True. No product can cover everything. But not all products call themselves 'antimalware'. I guess I think it's just extreme false advertising, because MBAM doesn't even try.

OK, let's look at it some other way:
Name me one (better more) AV app. that prevent against/clean a virus only.

Gerard

Well now you're just stuttering. What are you asking me?

I'm simply saying that the general perception on many forums, because of the name, is that MBAM covers all types of malware, and that is not true.

Sorry, English is not my native language, so it might be a bit unclear.
What I asked you: name me one, or even better more, any AV program that just detect a Virus and nothing else (trojan, worm etc.)
Sorry for being unclear,

Gerard

There isn't one. Also, though, notice that the detection of 'virii' is not listed for MBAM. So, it is a moot point.

Malware is a general term used when discribing unwanted/harmful programs.
One should never assume that any one app will cover everything nasty out there.
MBAM compliments other security software I have on my box and does a nice job at that.
A layered defense is IMO the best way if not the only way to go.
What one misses another will stop, at least thats the plan.
About calling it an Anti-malware, I see no problem with this catigory.

Malwarebytes Anti-spywareBotRootkitWormTrojanDialerAdwareBackdoorVirusHijackerKeyloggerRogue would just be too long.

Except, you are missing one very important aspect of the term, and that is virii. That is a category which MBAM doesn't cover and it just happens to be the most important.

Again, it's the fact that MBAM doesn't even attempt to live up to its name by even trying to cover all the bases. If it did then there would be no need for an AV.

With my box that is the job of Avast.
Again..................A layered defense.

A layered defense shouldn't be needed if it lived up to its name. Tell me his, why do you not consider virii as malware? I find it very convenient that MB chooses what it wants to define as malware and what it does not.

Hello Nathan,

I see your postings as starting to be on the level of TROLL. Meaning that it has been explained to you already and every other product out there on the Internet whether free or paid uses the term MALWARE (it used to be Spyware but due to changes in time everyone went with Malware).

There is no committee to decide for the World what name is used - it just sort of grows out over time. If you don't like the product that's okay, no one is forcing you to use it. But to continue to berate the product on the same basis of terminology that every other product is using is a bit incredulous itself.

If you can not or will not accept the definitions used then there is nothing more to say in my opinion. We will have to agree to disagree on terminology and perhaps you can take it up with one of the many other forums out there that use the term MALWARE in their products as well.

Virii is a form of malware but it is an incorrect pluralization of "virus"
Which is the job of an Anti-Virus.

And yes a layered defense is needed no matter what combo someone goes with or what each one in that combo calls themself.
I'm not saying to load up on scanners but differant approaches to ones security. You know this Nathan.
But to each their own. Yes it would be nice if one app would keep one secure but that ain't gonna happen.

Quit being so pedantic

What MBAM does it does well so leave well enough alone and go and find another windmill to fight.

You right. I'm upset about this, about the definition of the term 'malware'. There are users out there that say nothing and just accept things the way they are, as you are asking me to do now, but I'm not that type of person. If I see something wrong, I will bring attention to it. Of course, this is just my opinion, and as such cannot be debated.

It is relevant to me because I feel like I bought MBAM, and suggested it to others, based on the idea that it truly was, as its name states, an 'anti-malware' solution, which it is not because not everything is categorized as such. I wish I could undo my purchase and leave here because it seems anyone that points out that the king indeed has no clothes on it a 'troll' even if they have no intention of being one.

There are no products I can thing of that call themselves 'anti-malware', that do not at least attemp to cover all the bases. A-squared AM catches a lot of virii, but it is expensive. Thus, I thought this would be a good option.

This is by no means trivial.

Please send a PM to RubberDucky to discuss any refund as no one here can assist you with that.

Please refrain from insulting members of the forum.

Malware is a general term for all crap that is out there. We have the ability to add many viruses to our database, so if you find one we do not detect, feel free to send it in for analysis.

I will clear some of this up here and now .

We detect :

Virus infectors
Worms
Bots
Trojans
Adware
Spyware
Keylogger (malware only , for now)
Proxies
Backdoors

That is why we call it antiMALWARE .

We do NOT do the following :

Detect patched files
Unpatch files

These are the job of antivirus software and why MBAM should be used WITH antivirus software .

Antivirus software will detect much of the same malware we do but as anyone here that knows their stuff will tell you we are often way faster at detecting and removing certain malware families that Antivirus has always been very bad at .

We currently have 7 different ways we can detect malware and this is one of the reasons we detect so much .

EDIT to add

We also detect many rootkits and have powerful drivers to remove them .

Nathan your quibbling over the use of one word. I suggest you do a Google search for malware and see what comes up. MBAM certainly does remove malware. It is on the cutting edge of malware removal Have a look in the HiJack This forum and see what it takes care of. MBAM never has claimed to be an anti virus program. There is no one program that is going to save the world. The people in this conversation have told you good solid information. It takes a layered protection to be reasonably safe. This will not guarantee there will never be an infection. Much of the chance of infection is centered around the user. I will most likely never have an infection, I use good protection and I know enough to not engage in risky behavior. The kid across the street that is using P2P software and downloading free games will end up with something.

I will not allow this thread to turn into a flame war, so everyone, please refrain from making comments to that nature.

It's not an AV Also, AVG Anti-Spyware was formerly known as ewido anti-malware. Just two well-known anti-malwares that do not cover all the bases and act as anti-virus application.

I have also found that ALL apps that try to do everything do none of it well .

Every security expert that I know would choose a firewall , antivirus and antispyware/adware/trojan/malware all from different vendors to prevert a single attack from completely removing all protection .

That is what I mean....all of it, not just some of it. Thank you for proving my point.


I really don't understand why everyone is getting so upset. I wonder why all forums act the same; a user says one negative things about a product and they get nailed for it relentlessly. And, certainly, there is no need for personal attacks.

Clearly, everyone here has a different definition of the term malware than I do. While it is unfortunate that I now might have to think of adding an AV to my setup, I still like MBAM. However, perhaps I should leave (and request a refund) is for nothing more than to make a statement about the behaviour of some of the people here.

Detection capabilities aside, there is no need for any of this. The bottom line should be protection of the user. Some of the comments presented here suggest that is not the case. If you are intent on being malicious that is your perogative. However, negtative forum posts, and especially the extremely negative PMs, directed towards me have been over the line.

Nathan if your getting offensive PM's please forward them to one or all of us on the moderation team so we can take proper action. We do not tolerate this sort of behavior here.

You would need an anti virus program regardless of what other anti malware programs you used.

Please check your PM

But then an Anti Virus should not be called as such either right, I meen it would have to catch all viruses right? Oooops I meen virii.

Guys, drop it please .

Are we not in the same fight against malware? Each persons defintion of malware can vary. The original question was, does MBAM detect virii (viruses). The answer is yes, we have the ability to detect and remove many of the viruses out at the moment. We will certainly not have the same as anti-virus companies use though for the virus.

Thank you all very much for your candor. I would like to apologize to anyone I may have offended in any way, and I know there were a few out they. I am sorry. I do get like that sometimes when I find a product I like. Anyone who frequents Wilders can atest to that.... I did not mean to ruffle as many feathers as I did. Again, I am sorry.

Nathan

It's all good Nathan. The important thing is to learn from the discussion.

Ok, I sorry.

Colloquially, Malware has come to mean a catch-all term for all sorts of malicious software (hence the concatenation of words to make Malware) but primarily, it is referring to anything that is, by definition, not Spyware, not Adware, not a virus, not a Trojan, not a rootkit....

need I go on?

Note to self... read entire thread before hitting reply....

Malware is the combination of the words Malicious and software. In light of that it can be any of the items you listed John. For the purpose of this discussion and why it is appropriate as a part of a great products name. Malware fits perfectly. MBAM does remove rootkits, trojans, virus, spyware, and adware.

See here and here for definitions of malware

That is what I said....

I said primarily because those items I listed (and others that can be thought of / distinguished) already have their own names- it's as if in some parts of the industry Malware is the catch all, and in some parts it refers only to the unclassified Malware - e.g. if you get a Trojan, you are more apt to say Trojan than Malware, but if you have an unknown infection of some sort the term Malware is becoming more and more often used.