How Needed is an App like MalwareBytes?

[A1MB1G]

I'm pretty careful with what I launch and install on my laptop but it is for my business and I do have confidential client data on my machine. how important do you guys think it is to have an app like MalwareBytes to monitor for viruses and malware on MacOS?

 

[Apple_Robert]

There are no Mac viruses in the wild. Malware is something to be careful about. I would install Malwarebytes and run it occasionally (once a month) to check for Malware. There is no real need to go the paid route.

 

[planteater]

I ran MalwareBytes free for the longest time, only occasionally running it. I decided not long ago for the price of a subscription, I was better off having it run full time. I doubt I'll ever encounter malware on my Mac, but for the low price I felt one can never be too careful.

 

[IowaLynn]

Anything that can't filter text msgs and email isn't going to help. Also, the web is getting new tools and better. Your browser along with something to stop you from clicking on links in email - and sms / text web preview - goes a long way. I swear by AdGuard Pro - it keeps getting better, especially on Android and Windows, but they do keep current on iOS and Mac.

 

[KaliYoni]

I've had the free version on my machines for years. Here's why:

1. The major benefit for me, even though I try to be careful in my habits as well, is that I'm a human and make mistakes. It's easy to mistype a URL or open an attachment that looks like a trusted person sent it, especially if you're tired or in a hurry.
2. Just in case malware makes it past my other layers of protection.
3. Troubleshooting. Malwarebytes provides an easy way to check for malware when I'm trying to figure out why something suddenly stopped working or became really slow.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Anything that can't filter text msgs and email isn't going to help. Also, the web is getting new tools and better. Your browser along with something to stop you from clicking on links in email - and sms / text web preview - goes a long way. I swear by AdGuard Pro - it keeps getting better, especially on Android and Windows, but they do keep current on iOS and Mac.

This is what I do and have done for years. I highly recommend it as well.

 

[jive turkey]

This is what I do and have done for years. I highly recommend it as well.

For those of you who use Adguard, do you enable HTTPS and EV filtering? After the discussion in this and another thread and seeing the love for the app, I've been looking into it and am trying to get a grip on some of the settings and their usefulness/safety.

 

[BigMcGuire]

For those of you who use Adguard, do you enable HTTPS and EV filtering? After the discussion in this and another thread and seeing the love for the app, I've been looking into it and am trying to get a grip on some of the settings and their usefulness/safety.

Yes, filtering https protocol is turned on. I do not have "Do not filter websites with EV certificates" checked - I also have Phishing and malware protection on. I used to have Advanced Tracking Protection on but I'm not seeing much of a difference in my usage with that on/off (I use Duck Duck Go and Safari anyway).

DNS protection seems to drain battery significantly on iOS devices. So I usually leave that off.

This is on my Mac that I just upgraded in October (2020).

 

[IowaLynn]

From AdGuard change log:

AdGuard for Android is one of the first open-source implementations of DNS-over-QUIC — but it's perfectly functioning and we encourage you to try it.

You'll find it under DNS Filtering. Select AdGuard DNS and choose DoQ from among the available encryption protocols.

DoQ, is a DNS encryption protocol.

the most common ones are DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS (DoH and DoT correspondingly).

DoQ: out-of-the-box encryption, reduced connection times, better performance in cases of lost data packets.

 

[doobydoooby]

I use a virus scanner, intego, which is on continuously. I use malwarebytes free, I just set a reminder in my calendar to run it once a month. Who knows, but it keeps me sane

 

[The Hammer]

Beware of false positives with MBAM. I don't know about OSX but I've seen them crop up on windows machines.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Beware of false positives with MBAM. I don't know about OSX but I've seen them crop up on windows machines.

Agreed. I've used MBAM for years on Windows. I've only used it a few times on Mac OS but it does have the habit of false positives especially recently (on windows).

I run Eset Nod32 + AdGuard Pro on my windows machines and just AdGuard Pro on my Macs. As much as I would like to run an AV on Mac I don't feel the need.

On my Mac I run Objective See's apps. https://objective-see.com -

I highly recommend throwing some $ his way thanks to these free tools.