#1 Malwarebytes Review in 2024
Malwarebytes, a name that's been around in the antivirus world for quite some time, has always aroused my curiosity. As someone who's constantly on the lookout for the best digital protection, I decided it was high time to thoroughly test Malwarebytes and evaluate its performance.
In this review, I'm going to examine Malwarebytes' features, performance, and overall value in depth. You might be surprised by some of the things I've discovered during my testing.
Here's what you'll learn in this article:
- How well Malwarebytes performs in detecting and removing threats
- The effectiveness of its web protection features
- How it impacts your system's performance
- The pros and cons of its VPN service
- Whether Malwarebytes is worth your money in 2024
So, are you ready to find out if Malwarebytes lives up to its reputation? Let's get started!
In a Hurry? Here's a Quick Summary
If you're short on time, here's a quick overview of what I found out about Malwarebytes in my testing:
What You'll Like:
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- Fast and efficient scanning process
- Excellent web protection with Browser Guard
- Minimal system impact during scans
- Effective ransomware protection
What You May Not Like:
- Limited features compared to some competitors
- VPN has fewer server locations than standalone VPN services
- No file encryption or backup features
- Lack of parental controls
- Play Mode requires manual addition of programs
What Makes This Malwarebytes Review Different?
You might have read other Malwarebytes reviews, but I promise you this one is different. I'm not here to simply repeat information from the company's website or give you a surface-level overview. Instead, I've spent considerable time testing every aspect of Malwarebytes on my personal devices.
For this review, I used my trusty Dell XPS laptop running Windows 11 as my primary testing device. I've been using Malwarebytes for several weeks now, subjecting it to real-world scenarios. I've run countless scans, tested its web protection features, and even tried to trick it with simulated threats.
Throughout this process, I've captured 14 screenshots to give you a visual tour of the software. These aren't just pretty pictures - they're evidence of my hands-on experience with Malwarebytes.
My goal is to provide you with an honest, detailed, and most importantly, useful review that will help you decide if Malwarebytes is the right choice for your digital security needs in 2024.
Buying Malwarebytes
When it comes to purchasing Malwarebytes, the process is uncomplicated and user-friendly. Malwarebytes offers antivirus solutions for both personal and business use. For this review, I focused on the personal options.
There are three main versions available for personal use:
- Premium (for 3 devices, without VPN)
- Premium + Privacy (for 3 devices, includes VPN)
- Premium + Privacy (for 5 devices, includes VPN)
I opted for the middle option: Malwarebytes Premium + Privacy for 3 devices. It struck me as the best balance between features and value, especially since I don't need protection for more than three devices.
One thing that surprised me was that Malwarebytes didn't offer a first-year discount, which is common among many antivirus providers. They did, however, tempt me with a 15% discount for the second year if I committed to a two-year subscription. I decided to stick with the one-year plan for now.
The checkout process was simple and consisted of three steps:
- Adjusting the shopping cart (choosing between 1-year or 2-year subscription)
- Entering personal details (email and name)
- Selecting payment options (PayPal or credit card)
After completing my purchase, I received a confirmation page with installation and activation details. An email quickly followed, containing my activation key, download links for various platforms, and instructions for installation.
Installation
Installing Malwarebytes was effortless. The email I received after my purchase contained all the necessary information and links. Here's how the process went. I first downloaded the installer for Windows 11 from the provided link. Upon opening the installer, I was guided through a series of steps:
- Choosing the installation folder and language (there are 10 languages available during installation, but 25 once you're using the software)
- Selecting between Personal or Business protection (I chose Personal)
- Customizing the installation (the only option here was whether to install the Browser Guard extension)
The installation itself was remarkably fast, taking only about 40 seconds on my Dell XPS laptop. Interestingly, I didn't need to create an account during the installation process, although I did so later as it's recommended for managing your subscription.
Activation was equally simple. I just clicked the "Activate Now" button in the email, and promptly - the software was activated instantly.
While creating an account isn't mandatory, it's highly recommended. I created mine by clicking on the user icon in the top right corner of the interface and following the prompts on the webpage that opened.
Overall, the installation and activation process was smooth and user-friendly, which is always a good start when trying out new software.
Interface
One of the first things that struck me about Malwarebytes was its clean and intuitive interface. The main dashboard greets you with a simple, light-colored design that immediately draws your attention to the protection score - a percentage that indicates how secure your system is.
The main Malwarebytes interface, showing the protection score and key features With all options enabled, my protection score was at 100%. There's a handy button you can click to see detailed security recommendations, which I found quite useful. It informs you about the status of various features like VPN, browser extension, real-time protection, and software updates.
The interface is divided into three main areas:
- Detection History: This section provides information about items quarantined during the last scan and the total items in quarantine.
- Scanner: Here, you can initiate a scan with the prominent blue "Scan" button. It also displays information about scheduled scans, which by default occur weekly during idle time.
- Real-Time Protection: This card shows switches for various protection services (Web Protection, Malware Protection, Ransomware Protection, Exploit Protection). All of these are enabled by default, and I noticed that unchecking any of them drops the Protection score by 31%.
At the top right corner, you'll find buttons for account settings, notifications, and general settings. While you can change the window size, I found that there's not much point in doing so as the interface elements don't expand and remain close together.
The Malwarebytes interface customization options include theme selection One feature I particularly appreciated was the ability to customize the interface's appearance. From the Display settings, you can choose between dark mode, light mode, or system mode. There are also three background options: Exosphere (the default, showing a world map), Data Web (another world map design), and Clean Sky (a minimal purple-ish skin).
For those concerned about performance, there's a hardware acceleration option in the display settings that can boost your device's display performance.
Overall, I found the Malwarebytes interface to be user-friendly and visually appealing, striking a good balance between simplicity and functionality.
General Settings
Diving into the General Settings of Malwarebytes, I found a range of options that allow for quite a bit of customization. Here's what caught my eye:
The general settings display various configuration options - Automatic Updates: This option ensures your antivirus is always up-to-date with the latest threat definitions.
- Language Selection: With 25 languages to choose from, Malwarebytes caters to a global audience. This is quite impressive compared to many other antivirus solutions, such as Bitdefender and TotalAV.
- Manual Scan Performance Impact: You can choose whether manual scans take priority over other applications or not. This is handy if you want to run a scan in the background while working on other tasks.
- Tamper Protection: This feature prevents anyone from uninstalling or modifying Malwarebytes without permission. It's a crucial security measure against potential attackers trying to disable your protection.
- Beta Updates: For those who like to live on the edge, you can opt to receive beta updates.
- Usage and Threat Statistics: You can choose whether to share this data with Malwarebytes to help improve their service.
- Proxy Server: A useful feature for those needing to route their connection through a proxy.
The Notification settings also caught my attention. Here, you can customize how Malwarebytes alerts you about completed scans, new threats, and when protection is turned off.
One feature that stood out to me was the Play Mode. When enabled, it stops notifications and updates when you're playing a game, giving a presentation, or watching a movie. However, I was a bit disappointed that you have to manually add programs to the Play Mode list - most other antivirus solutions detect these automatically.
In the Security settings, you can adjust the threat intelligence update frequency and choose whether to automatically quarantine threats. There are also options for scanning archives and using AI to detect threats, which are enabled by default. Interestingly, scanning for rootkits and using expert system algorithms to identify malicious files are disabled by default.
The advanced features include brute force protection (blocking unauthorized remote access attempts) and exploit protection (blocking potentially malicious email attachments, but only for Outlook desktop).
Lastly, there's an Allow List where you can add files or applications that you want Malwarebytes to skip during scans. This came in handy when I had a few harmless files that were being flagged.
Overall, I found the General Settings in Malwarebytes to be comprehensive and user-friendly, offering a good balance between simplicity for beginners and advanced options for more experienced users.
Major Features
Up next, we’ll dissect the main elements of Malwarebytes. What makes this software unique, and why should it be on your radar for safeguarding your devices?
Web Protection
Web protection is crucial in today's online environment, and Malwarebytes addresses this with its Browser Guard feature. It's a free browser extension available for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, offering web protection and ad blocking.
Browser Guard includes protection against ads/trackers, malware and scams. What I particularly liked about Browser Guard is that it's free for all users, not just those with a paid Malwarebytes subscription. However, there are two premium features: Content Control (for blocking access to specific websites) and Import & Export (for exporting Browser Guard settings). Personally, I don't think these are compelling enough to justify an upgrade.
The extension's interface is accessible by clicking its icon in the browser. It has three main tabs:
- Current Website: Here, you can enable ad tracking, malware prevention, and scam prevention for the site you're visiting.
- Statistics: This shows how many ads and threats have been blocked and when.
- Full Protection: This tab reminds you to update the extension and promotes Malwarebytes upgrades.
To test the web protection, I visited several known malicious websites across multiple browsers. I was impressed by how the warning page not only blocked access but also displayed the type of threat (riskware, malware, fraud, trojan, etc.) and provided recommendations.
When blocking a malicious website, Malwarebytes displays the type of threat detected In my tests, Browser Guard successfully blocked threats from sites like maliciouswebsitetest.com, wicar.org, and most links from the AMTSO (Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization) page.
One unique aspect of Browser Guard is its advanced security features, which I haven't seen in other ad blockers. These include blocking gTLD domains, advanced skimmer protection, and blocking various online scams including technical support scams and phishing attempts.
As for ad blocking, while it does block ads, I noticed it leaves a white rectangle where the ad used to be, along with the word "Advertisement" above it. Other ad blockers typically remove these elements entirely.
Browser Guard's ad blocker keeps placeholders instead of ad banners. Overall, I found the web protection offered by Malwarebytes to be robust and effective, with Browser Guard being a standout feature that goes beyond simple ad blocking.
Scan
Malwarebytes offers several scanning options to suit different needs and scenarios. Let's examine each of them:
Threat Scan
The Threat Scan is the default scanning option, accessible directly from the main interface. During the scan, you can see what types of files are being scanned, the duration, number of items scanned, and any detections.
In the Threat Scan results you can see the scan duration and items scanned In my tests, the Threat Scan took 1 minute and 8 seconds, scanning 250,000 files. It's worth noting that by default, it doesn't scan for rootkits or archives, though you can enable these options if desired (at the cost of increased scan time).
Quick Scan
The Quick Scan is designed for speed, focusing on your memory and startup objects for active infections. To access it, you need to click on the Scanner in the main interface, go to the Scanner tab, click Advanced scanner, and choose Quick Scan.
The Quick Scan results also shows the scan time, items scanned and you can access a detailed report. True to its name, the Quick Scan was incredibly fast, completing in just 16 seconds on my system. However, I wouldn't recommend relying solely on Quick Scans, as they're quite superficial compared to the more thorough Threat Scan.
Custom Scan
For those who want more control over their scans, Malwarebytes offers a Custom Scan option. To access it, click the Scanner in the main interface, go to the Scanner tab, click Advanced scanner, and choose Custom Scan.
The Custom Scan results are similar to full and quick scan. The Custom Scan gives you a range of options to personalize your scan. You can choose to scan memory objects, registry and startup items, within archives, and for rootkits. There's also the option to select how to treat Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) and Potentially Unwanted Modifications (PUMs): ignore, warn, or treat as malware. Additionally, you can select specific local drives and folders to scan.
In my tests, a custom scan that I set up finished in 28 minutes and scanned 809,000 files. It didn't detect any threats, but that's likely because previous scans had already cleaned my system.
Scan Scheduler
Malwarebytes allows you to schedule any type of scan. You can access this feature from the Scan Scheduler tab in the Scanner window. When you click on the Schedule Scan button, you can choose to schedule a Threat Scan, Quick Scan, or Custom Scan. The scheduling options are quite flexible - you can start a scan at any time in the future and have it repeat hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, once, or on reboot.
Reports
After each scan, Malwarebytes saves a report in the Scanner module. You can view these reports in order, with each report showing details such as scan type, scan time, items scanned, and items detected.
The scan reports provide detailed information about each scan Overall, I found Malwarebytes' scanning options to be extensive and user-friendly. The variety of scan types and the ability to schedule scans provide good flexibility for different user needs.
Ransomware Protection
Ransomware is one of the most concerning cyber threats today, so I was particularly interested in testing Malwarebytes' ransomware protection capabilities.
The ransomware protection is part of the Real-Time Protection module, accessible from the main interface. You can easily toggle the ransomware shield on or off from here. Interestingly, I didn't find any other settings related to ransomware protection in the security settings.
To test the effectiveness of the ransomware shield, I used a ransomware simulation app. In my tests, Malwarebytes blocked 15 out of 22 simulated ransomware attacks. While this is a decent performance, it's not the best I've seen from top antivirus applications like Norton or McAfee. However, it should provide adequate protection for most users against common ransomware threats.
VPN
Malwarebytes includes a VPN service, which they call "Privacy", with certain subscription plans. I installed it separately from the main Malwarebytes application using the installer provided in the purchase confirmation email.
The simpleVPN interface shows connection status and server selection The VPN interface has a blue color scheme and is easy to use. There's a large ON/OFF button at the top, a server location selector in the middle, and a world map showing your selected location. At the bottom, you can see your actual IP address and private IP address.
Malwarebytes offers over 500 servers in more than 40 countries. While this is a decent number, it's significantly less than what some dedicated VPN services offer. For example, Cyberghost has 6900 servers and NordVPN 5000 servers.
I tested the VPN speeds using fast.com, comparing the results with and without the VPN:
- No VPN: 520 Mbps download, 480 Mbps upload, 4 ms latency
- USA: 170 Mbps download, 210 Mbps upload, 128 ms latency
- Brazil: 250 Mbps download, 170 Mbps upload, 249 ms latency
- France: 220 Mbps download, 220 Mbps upload, 53 ms latency
These speeds are quite good for an included VPN service, though there is a visible drop in download speeds when connected to distant servers.
For privacy testing, I used ipleak.net and perfect-privacy.com. The results were satisfactory, with no apparent IP or DNS leaks detected.
In the VPN settings, you can set connection rules, enable the kill switch, and more. The VPN comes with several useful settings. In the general settings, you can set it to auto-launch on computer startup, auto-connect when the app is launched or when connecting to untrusted networks, and choose between dark mode and light mode. There are 10 languages available.
The network settings offer more advanced options like connection rules, a Kill Switch (which blocks all network traffic if the VPN disconnects), Connection mode (single server, automatic multihop, or manual multihop), Alternate DNS, and a choice of tunnel driver.
Overall, while not as feature-rich as standalone VPN services, Malwarebytes' VPN offering provides adequate protection and performance for everyday use.
One concern many users have about antivirus software is its impact on system performance. I was pleasantly surprised by how light Malwarebytes was on my system resources.
During a full scan, Malwarebytes consumes about over 25% CPU. During a full scan, Malwarebytes used between 25% and 70% CPU and around 1.5 GB of RAM on my Dell XPS laptop. When not actively scanning, the resource usage dropped dramatically to nearly 0.1% CPU and about 500 MB of RAM.
Malwarebytes offers a performance impact option in its settings, allowing you to choose whether "Manual scans take priority over other applications" or "Manual scans take less priority". In my testing, I didn't notice a significant difference between these two options - I was able to use other applications without visible lag during scans with either setting.
It's worth noting that my Dell XPS laptop with 16GB of RAM and an i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30 GHz wasn't significantly slowed down during scanning. Your experience may vary depending on your system specifications, but for a modern computer, Malwarebytes should not cause any noticeable performance issues.
Conclusions
After extensively testing Malwarebytes, I can say that it's a solid antivirus solution with some standout features, but also a few limitations.
Pros:
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- Fast and efficient scanning process
- Excellent web protection with Browser Guard
- Minimal system impact during scans
- Effective ransomware protection
Cons:
- Limited features compared to some competitors
- VPN has fewer server locations than standalone VPN services
- No file encryption or backup features
- Lack of parental controls
Malwarebytes excels in its core function of threat detection and removal. The Browser Guard extension is particularly impressive, blocking 99% of web threats in my tests. The scanning process is fast and efficient, with minimal impact on system performance.
However, Malwarebytes lacks some features that are common in other top antivirus solutions, such as a firewall, parental controls, and data encryption tools. The VPN service, while adequate, doesn't match the capabilities of dedicated VPN providers.
In conclusion, Malwarebytes is a strong choice if you're looking for a simple, efficient antivirus solution with excellent web protection. It's particularly suitable for users who prefer a "set it and forget it" approach to security. However, if you're looking for a more feature-rich security suite, you might want to consider other options. For robust antivirus alternatives, take a look at Norton or Bitdefender. Also, don’t miss our comprehensive list of the best antivirus software for 2024.
Octav Fedor (Cybersecurity Editor)
Octav is a cybersecurity researcher and writer at AntivirusGuide. When he’s not publishing his honest opinions about security software online, he likes to learn about programming, watch astronomy documentaries, and participate in general knowledge competitions.