Malwarebytes is one of the most popular anti-viruses that claims to be the worst enemy of malware. Millions of devices, including PCs and mobile phones, use Malwarebytes.
But when you dig down into the features of Malwarebytes, does it really keep your devices safe?
Well, in short, Malwarebytes does do a good job against malware and viruses, however, it lacks a lot of features that other antiviruses have to offer.
The free version of Malwarebytes doesn’t offer real-time protection, while the paid version isn’t as featureful as other software out there.
However, when it comes to just safety, Malwarebytes Premium does a solid job of keeping your devices protected from any cyber threats.
Table of Contents
- Malwarebytes Free vs. Premium Safety
- How Safe Is Malwarebytes Free?
- How Safe Is Malwarebytes Premium?
- Extra Safe Malwarebytes Features – VPN, Browser Guard, and 60-Day Trial
- Conclusion
Malwarebytes Free vs. Premium Safety
Like many antiviruses, Malwarebytes has 2 versions: paid and free.
The paid version is much safer than the free version, so let’s look into the extra features you get with a paid plan with Malwarebytes.
With Malwarebytes Free, you’re significantly behind in keeping your device safe as there is no real-time protection.
Realtime protection refers to an antivirus being always on the lookout for threats to your device and warning or eliminating the threats upon contact.
However, without real-time protection, you have to manually scan your device to make Malwarebytes find any viruses or malware in your device and eliminate them.
Here comes the second difference, Malwarebytes Free only features Threat Scan, contrary to the premium version also offers Quick Scans and Custom Scans.
This isn’t that big of a deal breaker though, as the Threat Scan is the most recommended option to find malware or viruses on your device.
How Safe Is Malwarebytes Free?
Without real-time protection, Malwarebytes isn’t that safe of an antivirus.
If you’re only looking for basic protection on your PC or your device already runs an antivirus that offers real-time protection, Malwarebytes Free could be enough.
However, as a standalone app, it doesn’t make sense to use it and be protected from cyber threats because you’re not.
You can download and install the worst of viruses out there and Malwarebytes free will easily let it happen until you make it manually search for threats through a scan.
Malwarebytes Free scans are still strong, though. Upon sampling, Malwarebytes identified 98% of viruses and malware stored in my device each time through its threat Scan, which is the only scan available for free users.
In conclusion, I wouldn’t recommend Malwarebytes Free because it doesn’t offer real-time protection while the best antiviruses out there do, even in their Free versions.
My recommendations for a safe free antivirus would be:
How Safe Is Malwarebytes Premium?
When it comes to Malwarebytes premium, the quality of protection you get is among the best antiviruses in the world.
Upgrading to premium gives you a number of extra features in Malwarebytes, however, the biggest advantages are real-time protection and quick scans.
With real-time protection enabled, Malwarebytes is constantly on the lookout to detect threats to your devices and instantly notifies you of any suspicious activity, providing an easy option of eliminating the threat altogether.
Secondly, with different types of scans unlocked, namely the Custom and Quick Scan, you can get more use out of your anti-malware tool.
Quick scans are especially useful when you’re in a hurry (let’s be honest, we’re always in a hurry when using a computer), while the Custom scans are helpful for tech geeks that can specify a location for Malwarebytes to go in-depth for and find malware and viruses from.
All in all, the Malwarebytes premium version offers users 4 layers of security:
Web Protection: Keeps you secure on the internet against scams, phishing, or malware.
Malware Protection: Prevents attacks of malware, ransomware, spyware, and more.
Ransomware Protection: Blocks ransomware from infecting your device to ensure you’re always in control.
Exploit Protection: Identifies vulnerabilities on your device and advises preventative action that could potentially expose you to cyber threats.
Extra Safe Malwarebytes Features – VPN, Browser Guard, and 60-Day Trial
Malwarebytes isn’t the most featureful antivirus out there, but it certainly has its many perks.
Malwarebytes Premium plans also come with a Premium + VPN plan, that gets you a great VPN on your device at a little extra cost.
Using a VPN can provide you extra safety while browsing the internet and can hide your IP to be visible to hackers.
Malwarebytes also features a Browser Guard, which is an extension on your browser that prevents you from accessing harmful websites.
The Browser Guard is one of the best web protection available in antiviruses, and even with a free plan, works perfectly safe and secure.
Malwarebytes Browser Guard prevents you from phishing scams, malware websites, potentially unwanted downloads, and even blocks ads that could potentially lead you to fishy websites.
But Malwarebytes doesn’t only work to protect your devices. It also protects you as a customer by offering 24/7 Customer Support and a 60-day trial to its premium plan with a money-back guarantee.
I tried the premium plan myself, and as soon as I requested a cancellation on the 10th day (only because I wanted to try the software out), my money was refunded to me without any hassles.
Conclusion
In summary, Malwarebytes Free wouldn’t really be a very safe software for you without any real-time protection, but Malwarebytes Premium is strong enough for any enterprise or personal needs.
Even for the free version, Malwarebytes scans are extremely accurate and find malware 98% of the time (which is an extremely high achievement relatively).
Interested in more? Check out 9 Reasons Why Omegle Is Not Safe.
