In today’s world, we have established most of the lives
online and on digital devices. A major part of today’s population works on
computers and many businesses virtually have all their work recorded on
computers, be it website owners, online content curators, or social media
influencers. A whole economy and professions are based on digital platforms. We
even make our payments online and keep our money in e-wallets.
Not just work but even our personal life is recorded and
kept on digital devices. Our computers and mobile phones are archives of our
family photos, videos, and chats with our friends. This personal and sensitive
data is very close to many of us and is just as precious as many material
things.
We can say that we have been documenting and living our
lives via computers and mobile phones. This digital nature of our lives makes
our laptops and phones a very expensive and lucrative property to invade. This
is why hackers are constantly trying to break-in our computers and mobile
phones. Once they get hold of our data, they hold it as ransom.
Once upon a time hacking was very basic and normal
antivirus protection was enough to secure our systems. However, with time the
malware attacks have also become very sophisticated. Today’s hackers are well
aware of backdoor entries that are not detected by many antimalware programs.
The virus can be inserted in our computers via fraudulent emails, by luring
people to click on infected web links, and via Trojans.
Today one needs to be extremely careful while surfing the
net and downloading applications because the internet has many malwares looking
for an opportunity to infect a device.
These days the threat of malware is not just a threat to
our data but can also lead to serious problems such as identity theft. This has
caused big businesses to invest thousands of dollars in establishing safe
systems that protect their computers from malware threats. People have also
become cautious and are downloading antivirus software to secure their
systems. The best and the easiest way to
secure one’s system is by installing free and reliable antivirus software. One
of them can be Malware Bytes Free
Antivirus.
What is Malware Bytes Free
Antivirus?
Malwarebyte was initially called Malwarebytes
Anti-malware. The company was made in 2006 and it is now more than a decade
old. It is mainly a scanner that eliminates problematic software. It scans and
destroys the software, junk files, and links that can be infected. It scans in
a batch mode method. This company has considerable experience in terms of
making software that is most suited for beginners and amateurs. It’s the trial
download method is very smooth and does not require the user to give any
details, not even an email id. One should always signup for a trial run before
committing to any antivirus software. Its free download versions are available
for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android which covers all important operating
devices.
The best qualities about Malware Bytes Free Antivirus can be summed up in a few points and
they are.
– It is easy to
use and very user-friendly.
– It detects
ransomware very efficiently.
– It is very
compatible with other antivirus tools and does not clash with alternative
software that is installed in the same PC.
– It has an
excellent web browser scanning that makes online transactions and casual
surfing safe.
– It runs scans
very quickly that does not come in the way of the user and one does not have to
wait for the antivirus procedures to finish.
– It removes all
junk files and enhances the efficiency of the computer.
This software is present in both free of cost and paid
version. The free of cost version is run by the client when they wish to and it
is run manually. The paid subscription has additional features such as
scheduled scanning, blocking of IP addresses and websites, and automatic
scanning. Malware Bytes Free Antivirus
uses a good combination of the latest technologies that find out, remove, and
destroy malware infections and invasions. Its scanning abilities are considered
the fastest around the world. The software has been successful in making a mark
for itself.
Installation Process
The Malware Bytes
Free Antivirus is very easy to install. It takes only a few minutes to get
started. This swiftness is major of its appeal because people these days do not
have time to wait for lengthy up gradations. They want their systems to be back
to normal as soon as possible so that they can resume their work.
Malware Protection
The thing with Malware
Bytes Free Antivirus is that it is rarely covered by independent labs. In
the latest report titled as AV Comparative report of 2018, that tested more
than 200 antivirus apps, it is revealed that Malware Bytes Free Antivirus scored 87.2%. However, for over a
decade Malware Bytes Free Antivirus
has established its presence in the market, despite very tough competition.
Malware Bytes Free Antivirus
offers advanced features such as net filtering via web browser scanning for a limited period. It scans all URL links and blocks all websites that seem suspicious and dangerous. This especially helps one when they frequently shop online or make money transaction via net banking or other digital payment methods. There has been a massive increase in the number of cybercrimes related to financial frauds. This makes the issue of protected web browsing even more important.
Types of scans
Malware Bytes Free
Antivirus has only a
limited number of scans available but its premium version has all kinds of
advanced scans.
As of now, these are three kind of available scans. These
scans can be summed up in three types.
• The number one
scan type can be the Threat Scan. It is concerned with the most basic and
common type of infection areas. It primarily deals with hotspot, key files, and
blue tooth transferred files. This kind of scan is very quick; it gets done in
less than two minutes.
• The second
kind of scan is called a Hyper Scan. This scan deals with start-up objects and
memory only. This scan is called hyper scan because it gets done in just 10
seconds.
• A Custom Scan
is the third kind of scan. It concerns itself with certain files and folders.
The user, however, has very limited control over it. The option of whether one
can run the scans inside archives or not is not given. The Hyper Scan of
Malware Bytes Antivirus matches the quality of antivirus software like Avast
antivirus and Aviara antivirus.
One negative point about the scans of Malware Bytes Free Antivirus is that it
sometimes results in false positives. Sometimes it labels legitimate and safe
files as infected and dangerous. This causes minor inconveniences to the user.
This otherwise efficient system needs to update the limited definitions of malware
and should make more accurate malware detections.
The Malware Bytes
Free Antivirus is a very lightweight system. It weighs 210 MB that is a
great deal for an antivirus package. There are many antivirus software in the
market today that take 5 times more storage than Malware Bytes Free Antivirus and offer the same or fewer features
and qualities.
Since this software is so lightweight, it runs smoothly
on all kinds of computers. It does not slow down the system with its weight and
gets accommodated even in systems and devices that have very limited space.
Interface
One of the defining features of Malware Bytes Free
Antivirus is its interface. The interface is very simple to use and
straightforward. It works well with beginners and those who are not savvy with
computers.
However, its design can be improved. At first glance, the
interface looks complex. It has too many options and columns. The assortment of
various tabbed areas; scans, settings, and a loaded dashboard seem
intimidating. But when one starts using
the software it all falls in place and becomes easy even after just one use.
Most of the time, a user will only be concerned with scans and that can be activated
by clicking on a simple button. The other sections on the dashboard are also very
simplistic even if they look otherwise, for example, the Quarantine segment
keeps the quarantined files listed there. So if you want to see which files are
quarantined you should click there, this segment also has options for restoring
and deleting the quarantined files.
The Conclusion
According to experts the overall verdict about Malware
Bytes Free Antivirus is that even though it has excellent malware detection, it
is not 100% secure. One should make use of antivirus software to secure 100%
safety of their computer and other devices. Malware Bytes Free Antivirus is
primarily an anti-malware scanner. Important features such as protection of
files from ransomware, giving malware attack alerts, and protection from
privacy invasions get expired after 14 days when one signs up for a free
version. What remains is malware detection inside the device. This one feature
is not enough to protect a device completely. Hence, it is suggested that Malware Bytes Free Antivirus should be
clubbed with other antivirus programs.
