Pros & Cons
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- Fast scan
- Detects most malware infestations
- Browser Guard blocks fraudulent and dangerous pages
- Digital footprint scan for exposed data
- New collection of system tools
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- No real-time malware protection
- Missed some active malware infestations in testing
- Left behind some traces of detected malware in testing
Malwarebytes Free Specs
| Malicious URL Blocking | |
| On-Demand Malware Scan | |
| Phishing Protection | |
| Protection Type | Clean-Only Antivirus |
| VPN | None |
If a malware attack takes advantage of your unprotected PC, you rush to install antivirus protection and get rid of it. Sometimes, though, the malware has hooked into the system deeply enough that you can’t even do that. Other times, you’ve done your best, but the malware slips past your antivirus. Malwarebytes Free aims to rescue you from those situations when a regular antivirus fails, and does a solid job of it. With no real-time protection, however, it’s not intended as your only defense. You should use it alongside a full-powered free antivirus like Avast One Essential or AVG AntiVirus Free, our Editors’ Choice winners.
Getting Started With Malwarebytes Free
After the quick and simple installation of the main antivirus app, the installer offers to add Browser Guard to your default browser. Don’t turn down this offer—Browser Guard does a lot for you, as you’ll see below. If you use more than one browser, you’ll want to install it in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Note that anybody can download Browser Guard and use it independently of the antivirus reviewed here.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)This app’s main window features a simple menu on the left. Where the previous version only sported menu items for Dashboard and Settings, the current version also offers items for Identity Protection and Tools, both of which I’ll discuss below.
On the right, a large panel houses the Malwarebytes Trusted Advisor feature. Much like the AutoPilot feature in Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, Trusted Advisor reports on the status of your protection and offers advice on how to do even better. Everyone wants to earn a top score; if you follow the advice of Trusted Advisor, you can reach 100%.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)In the middle are three large panels titled Scanner, Detection History, and Real-Time Protection. In this free edition, the Real-Time Protection component is disabled, as is the large panel below it devoted to VPN protection. Out of the box, Malwarebytes uses a light or dark theme matching your overall Windows theme, though you can override it to force one or the other.
Independent Testing Lab Scores
Simple-minded signature-based malware detection alone isn't enough in the modern world of zero-day attacks and polymorphic malware. Every successful antivirus adds heuristic detection, behavior-based detection, and other non-signature protection layers. In Malwarebytes Premium Security, machine learning and detection of anomalous behavior catch many malware samples. Exploit protection watches attack vectors and heads off exploits. The Premium edition's anti-ransomware engine strictly uses behavioral detection.
At one time, Malwarebytes took the position that normal testing procedures simply weren’t appropriate for the company’s emphasis on active, prevalent threats and advanced detection methods. Over the past 10 years, Malwarebytes has appeared in reports from AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives, with mixed results. SE Labs and MRG-Effitas both included this antivirus a few times, but it hasn’t participated with any of these four labs in the last couple of years. It has, however, repeatedly earned excellent scores from AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation, a lab that I'm now incorporating into my own reporting.
My lab score algorithm maps results from each of the five labs onto a 10-point scale. For those antivirus apps with more than one score, it returns an overall labs aggregate. With a perfect score from AVLab, Malwarebytes scores 10. Of course, receiving high scores from multiple labs is even better.
Excellent scores from all five labs give Avast a well-backed aggregate score of 9.8 points. Also tested by all five labs, Norton AntiVirus Plus and Microsoft Defender Antivirus come in with 9.6 and 9.1 points, respectively. Like Avast, ESET reached an aggregate score of 9.8 points, based on results from four labs. Tested by three labs, Bitdefender and McAfee AntiVirus came close with 9.8 points.
Remember, though, that even if Malwarebytes Premium earned top scores from many labs, those scores wouldn’t directly apply to this review because they evaluate an antivirus tool’s ability to defend against malware attacks using real-time protection. You call on Malwarebytes Free for those occasions when your real-time antivirus failed to defend you, perhaps because you forgot to renew it. Malwarebytes Free does not offer any real-time protection.
Malwarebytes Free Can’t Help With Ransomware
With the rise of ransomware attacks on businesses, governments, and individuals, ransomware protection is more important than ever. However, ransomware is intrinsically different from other kinds of malware. Most types of malware want to use your computer's resources, whether for mining bitcoins, launching DDoS attacks, or stealing your personal data. Typically, they aim to avoid notice, which means they carefully avoid any visible harm to the computer. A post-infestation antivirus cleanup can scour the malware from your computer's crannies and crevices, restoring it to a safe, secure state.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)Ransomware, on the other hand, only stays quiet until it has done its nefarious work, locking away your important files in an unreadable, encrypted form. Once finished, it displays its ransom terms. Removing the ransomware at this point doesn't help. It could even interfere with your ability to get your files decrypted, should you decide to pay the ransom. Malwarebytes Premium eliminates ransomware before it attacks. Like other cleanup-only antivirus tools, Malwarebytes Free can't do anything once your files are already transformed into encrypted gibberish.
Some Malware Missed
Usually, I test malware protection by challenging an antivirus utility to prevent the installation of my malware sample collection. However, as noted, Malwarebytes Free doesn't include real-time protection. With no help from the labs, I had to find some way to evaluate its virus-busting skills. So, skipping the ransomware, I launched my samples in groups of six or eight, allowed them some time to finish installing, and challenged Malwarebytes to clean up each mess using its full scan.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)The time required for these scans varied between about five and nine minutes. At the end of each scan, Malwarebytes displayed its findings. By carefully examining those reports, I determined which samples it detected. Due to the number of traces found, the app suggested running a deep scan for all but one of the groups. The deep scan time ranged from one hour and 37 minutes to two hours and 22 minutes. More than half the scans required a reboot to finish the cleanup process.
The current average time for a full scan is two hours, while the average time for a Malwarebytes deep scan came in about one hour and 45 minutes. Yes, the initial scan remains blazingly fast, but if it finds malware, it’s worth your while to let it spend all the time it needs to root out the traces.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)In a surprising number of cases, Malwarebytes deleted the malware installer without doing anything about the active malware processes spawned by that installer. That’s no better than a total miss in my book. Not counting those installer-only removals, Malwarebytes detected 82% of my samples. When last tested, with a completely different set of samples, it detected 83%—at least it’s consistent.
Had Malwarebytes perfectly removed every trace of the malware it detected, it would have scored 8.3 points. However, the scans left behind tons of malware traces, including both executable programs and data files. Leaving behind executable programs cuts the score for a sample in half, while leaving large amounts of data files shaves increments off the score. Overall, Malwarebytes scored 6.8 points, very close to the 6.7 score from its previous test.
Once again, though, Malwarebytes does not attempt malware blocking in its free edition. As a cleanup-only tool, Malwarebytes can be forgiven for eliminating the essential, active malware files, leaving the rest to be swept away by your regular antivirus.
For a different sort of test, I rolled back the virtual machine testbed to a snapshot before any malware samples were launched and ran a full scan. Malwarebytes detected and quarantined 99% of the samples, including every example of ransomware. It also eliminated 98% of my set of hand-modified samples, an unusually high detection rate for those. If you’re lucky enough to run a scan between the time ransomware enters your system and the time it springs into action, the free scan could help, at least in theory.
Browser Guard for Online Protection
When you install Malwarebytes, whether Free or Premium, the app prompts you to add the Browser Guard extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. If you skip this step at installation, you can download the extension later. Browser Guard aims to protect against malware-hosting URLs, ads and trackers, tech support scams, sites with bad reputations, and more. I put those aims to the test.
As far as ad-blocking goes, it seems to do the job. I installed Browser Guard in Chrome and then visited several ad-laden sites in both Chrome and an unprotected browser. The extension visibly removed ads. By clicking its toolbar icon, I could view specifics about ads and trackers on the current site or check statistics of past activity. The list of trackers is interactive—if you trust any of the tracking sites, you can click on them so Malwarebytes will stop blocking them. I doubt many will take advantage of this fine-tuning, though.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)My malicious URL blocking test uses a feed supplied by London-based testing lab MRG-Effitas, consisting of malware-hosting URLs discovered in the last few days. Most antivirus tools get two chances to fend off a malware download. First, they can divert the browser away from the malware-hosting URL. Second, they can use real-time protection to eliminate the malware payload. With no real-time protection, Browser Guard only gets one swing at each malware-hosting URL.
I found that when Browser Guard blocked dangerous pages, it explained why it did so, stating that the page contained a Trojan, or riskware, or suspicious content, for example. However, after that initial screening, it couldn’t actively check the downloaded file for malware. With this limited detection, Browser Guard fended off just 73% of the malware-hosting pages. That’s right in line with its 75% score when tested for my previous review.
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To be fair, Avast One scored just 75% in its latest run of this test, which is near the bottom among recent products. At the other end of the scale, four antivirus tools have scored 100% in their latest tests: Avira Free Security, Bitdefender, Sophos Home Premium, and the Chrome-specific Guardio.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)In the earlier malware removal test, I noticed that Malwarebytes did a better job recognizing and eliminating malware installers and startup files than it did removing active malware. Just to see what would happen, I ran a scan on the Downloads folder. That scan detected and quarantined all but one of the verified malware payloads. On-demand scanning isn’t normally part of this test, but Malwarebytes put on an encouraging performance.
Browser Guard Detects Phishing Frauds
I also put Browser Guard through my standard phishing protection test. Phishing sites don’t try to infest your computer with malware. Rather, they masquerade as popular secure sites, hoping they can entice you to log in. If you do, you’ve given the fraudsters your login credentials. Whatever the account was, whether for online banking, dating, email, or some other purpose, the creators of the phishing page own it now.
For this test, I scrape hundreds of recently reported fraudulent URLs from pages that collect and analyze such things. I make sure to include both verified phishing pages and pages that haven’t yet been analyzed and blocklisted. I use a hand-coded tool to launch each URL simultaneously in four browsers, one protected by the antivirus under test and the other three by the built-in protection of Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. The testing tool also lets me record how each browser handles the URL.
Keep in mind that every time I run this test, I use a different set of test URLs, but they're always the freshest ones available.
If any of the four browsers don’t load a page, I discard it. If an alleged phishing page doesn’t truly fit the profile, meaning it doesn’t try to steal login credentials, I discard it. After processing all the URLs, I calculate the scores.
Malwarebytes treated the phishing pages in much the same way it did malware-hosting pages, offering various reasons for blocking access, including phishing, riskware, and reputation.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)Malwarebytes scored a very good 96% on this test, the same score TotalAV Antivirus Pro reached in its latest phishing challenge. That’s good, but eight competitors achieve a perfect 100% in their own latest tests. This winning crowd included AVG, Avira, Guardio, McAfee, and Webroot Essentials, as well as the phishing-focused Norton Genie. NordVPN Plus and Surfshark One, both leaning more toward VPN than antivirus, also managed 100%.
Browser Guard also provides protection against fraudulent and malicious websites on the Mac. I tested Malwarebytes Premium Security for Mac with this same set of samples at the same time and found that it performed identically.
Digital Footprint for Identity Protection
New since my last review, all products in the Malwarebytes line include a page for identity protection. Those who purchase the top-tier Ultimate edition get full-on identity theft protection and remediation. The other apps, including the free one reviewed here, just get a digital footprint scan that reveals whether your email has appeared in a data breach.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)You can run the scan on as many emails as you like. However, in each case, you must prove your ownership of the address by supplying an emailed confirmation code. By observation, using this feature also opts you in to receive regular emails from Malwarebytes.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)After a quick scan, Malwarebytes summarizes its results with the number of exposures in five categories: Data breaches, SSN, Passwords, Personal Information, and Accounts. Clicking any of these lists provides details about the category. By default, it masks portions of the exposed data, but you can reveal those if you wish.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)For data breaches, you can dig one level deeper. At this point, Malwarebytes offers details about the breach itself and lists the specific elements of your private data that were exposed. Clicking the button titled Protect your identity simply sends you online to purchase the full identity protection service. The same happens if you click the Take Action button on the main report page.
It’s worth noting that the digital footprint feature in the Mac edition works completely differently. The scan launches in your browser, and the report is awkward by comparison. My Malwarebytes contacts confirmed that the Mac edition is slated to move the digital footprint inside the app, the way it is on Windows.
Powerful Experimental Tools
Since my last review, a collection of system and security tools has also been added. The Tools option in the main window’s menu has a "preview" badge. When you first open it, Malwarebytes warns that this feature contains “experimental new features” and that you should back up your system and create a system restore point before proceeding.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)Once you get past the initial warning, you see the full tools page, divided into Windows Firewall Control, System Tweaks, and Startup Applications. Even here, there’s a banner across the top warning that you use these features at your own risk.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)There’s not much meat to the startup control system. It lets you reversibly disable apps and components that launch at startup, something you can do just as easily using Task Manager. Norton’s startup manager, by contrast, lists resource usage and prevalence for each app launched at startup, and offers you the option to simply delay launch rather than disable it.
As for controlling Windows Firewall, I will grant that the firewall’s own user interface leaves a lot to be desired. Malwarebytes makes the current settings clear and lets you easily make changes. But how many users have even the slightest urge to configure Windows Firewall?
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)That leaves the system tweaks, by far the largest part of the tools collection. These are divided into four groups: Tools, Privacy, Gaming, and Miscellaneous. There’s nothing here that you couldn’t accomplish by delving into Settings or Control Panel, but the Malwarebytes developers have curated their own collection of tools they think you might find useful.
When you choose the Tools sub-page, you can perform various reset operations, run a system integrity check, or launch the built-in disk cleanup tool. Privacy options let you disable ads in the start menu and lock screen, suppress sending of your advertising ID, and put the kibosh on Copilot. The handful of Gaming tweaks may marginally improve your experience.
(Credit: Malwarebytes/PCMag)Not surprisingly, the Miscellaneous tweaks are a mixed bag. You can easily show file extensions or show hidden files, and dark mode is just a click away. If you dislike the Windows 11 two-tier context menu for files, you can flip back to the Windows 10 style. And so on.
You only get the full range of tools if you’re running Windows 11. On its initial release, this app didn’t even display the tools menu item under Windows 10. A quick update remedied that absence. Note, though, that the System Tweaks are not available in Windows 10.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Malwarebytes)
Malwarebytes Free
Malwarebytes Free has a reputation as the go-to solution for persistent malware infections, though it isn't intended to be your only line of defense.