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Problems with Malware Bytes and Avast together?


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I'm posting from my phone, so please forgive me if I'm posting this question where I shouldn't. We have been using Malware Bytes for a few years now, and I believe we even paid for something. I'm not sure if it was pro, or what. I think it was just a one time purchase. Malware bytes and the people on this forum saved my computer back in 2011, when mcafee failed it. So we dropped mcafee and started using malware bytes. Then shortly after that, we downloaded avast. Everything has seemed great! We paid for a subscription with avast back in august. No problems. Then today, we couldn't use avast to run a scan. My husband called avast and they said that our computer was full of viruses, an has been since 2012. He said that using malware with avast voids avast, and causes avast to not work properly. He said that in order to fix it, we would need to pay $120. We didn't pay it because we wanted to do some research first. This is what happened with mcafee. Viruses would get into our computer, and then we had to pay $100 in order to fix it. We paid that once, then ran into problems 6 months later and it just felt like a scam that we needed to keep dishing out money to fix our computer because the antivirus software failed to prevent viruses. That is when we found malware bytes! :)

but is it true that our computer could be heavily infected an both malware bytes and avast haven't picked these viruses up because we had both programs? Does running malware bytes void avast? Do we need to pay the money to get avast fixed?

Thank you!

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Hi, amselby81:
 
Sorry to hear about your malware issues.
 
Just a couple of things to clarify a bit:
 
First:
No, there is no problem running MBAM PRO (now MBAM Premium) in real-time alongside a robust anti-virus (AV), such as Avast!. That is what it is designed to do.
It provides layered protection against 0-hour and 0-day threats often missed by the AV.
 
However, MBAM is NOT an AV and is not a substitute for one. So, even MBAM PRO/Premium needs a robust, updated AV as a first line of defense. If there was a period of time when the computer ONLY ran MBAM, without an AV, then, yes, it would have been extremely vulnerable to malware during that time.
 
Having said all that, NO security program (neither Avast! nor MBAM) can protect 100% of the time against 100% of today's countless, ever-changing malware threats.
This is especially so if the computer user does not practice other critical "Safe Hex" measures and counter-measures.
This is explained in more detail here: The complexity of finding, preventing, and cleanup from malware
 
If you think you are infected, you need not pay $120 to Avast or other companies for help with malware removal.
Your MBAM PRO/Premium license entitles you to free, one-on-one expert assistance here. :)
However, the specialized work required for this is performed either in a dedicated area or the forum, or via email with the help desk.
 
So, if you think you might be infected, I would suggest that you please follow the advice in this pinned topic: Available Assistance For Possibly Infected Computers.
A malware analyst will guide you through the cleanup process.

I hope this helps,

daledoc1

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If it's of any help, I've been using Avast! (free version) and MBAM Premium and they both work great; almost perfect complements.

 

And no, neither products' active protection voids each other, because both active protections have picked up things and notified me i.e. avast picked up viruses and MBAM picked up malware.

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I wonder why the guy from avast would say that...  My husband is really upset and is thinking about dropping avast for something else.  He and I both have a hard time believing that we've been infected with lots of viruses since 2012.  Daledoc, I will follow your advice.  Thank you!

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FYI... a lot of antivirus vendors do that, not only Avast.  They just want you to only use their products, and they want to avoid any type of conflict with their product to reduce calls.

 

There are currently no conflicts between Avast and Malwarebytes at this time.  To be certain you could always exclude the Malwarebytes files from Avast if you want to make sure they do not conflict with each other to be on the safe side... Since you did not mention what version of Windows your using I will list them all...

Please exclude the following files from your Antivirus Software (not sure what version of you are using):

Note: If using a software firewall besides the built in Windows Firewall you'll need to exclude them from it as well

For Windows XP:

  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbam.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

For Windows Vista or Windows 7 & 8:
  • C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbam.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
For 64 bit versions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 & 8:
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbam.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
Note: If using a software firewall besides the built in Windows Firewall you'll need to exclude MBAM.EXE and MBAMSERVICE.EXE from it as well

Note: Once that's done, please make sure that if either of those programs has any sort of web filter, that you add the following as a trusted site:

data-cdn.mbamupdates.com

The FAQ contains examples of setting file exclusions for some known AV products

Please post back and let us know how it went.

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