Software Update: Malwarebytes 3.1.2.1733

Malwarebytes has released version 3.1 of Anti-Malware. This program is aimed at fighting malware, such as malicious software that pretends to be a bona fide antivirus or antispyware solution, but in reality has less good intentions, such as ransom– or scareware. In addition to the free version, there is a paid variant, which offers additional functionality, including real-time protection.

Since version 3.0 there is a new user interface and the program has dropped the name ‘Anti-Malware’ and is now simply called Malwarebytes. The tools Anti-Exploit and Anti-Ransomware, which were previously offered as separate programs, are now integrated and the scanning of the computer should be much faster. The manufacturer believes that the product can now also be used as a replacement for traditional antivirus software, where it previously recommended to use it alongside. The changelog for this release looks like this:

Performance/protective capability

• Multiple enhancements result in reduction of memory usage
• Faster load time and responsiveness of third-party applications
• Improved performance of Web Protection
• Faster Malwarebytes 3 program startup time and responsiveness of user interface
• New detection and protection layer with machine learning based anomaly detection (to be deployed gradually even if it shows “enabled” under Settings)
• Improved Self-Protection by requiring escalated privileges to disable protections or deactivate a license
• Enhanced malware protection techniques and remediation capabilities
• Added an automatic monthly scheduled scan in Free mode

usability

• Added ability to control the priority of manual scans on the system
• Added setting to turn off ‘Real-Time Protection turned off’ notifications when protection was specifically disabled by the user
• Added ability to exclude the last website blocked by Web Protection via the tray menu
• Fixed several defects related to configuring Custom Scans, including selecting child folders and fixing issues with touch screens
• Fixed problem where a right-click context scan appeared broken after scheduled scan due to misleading “Cannot start a scan while another one is in progress” message
• Fixed issue where you could not add or edit a scheduled scan in Spanish and some other languages
• Fixed issue where scan could appear stuck on Heuristics Analysis when it had actually completed successfully
• Fixed issue where Self-Protection setting would fail to toggle correctly after an upgrade

Stability/issues fixed

• Fixed several crashes in the Web Protection module
• Fixed issue where Ransomware Protection would be stuck in ‘Starting’ state after a reboot
• Fixed a conflict with Norton that caused web pages not to load and plug-ins to crash in Chrome
• Fixed issue with WMI protection technique in Exploit Protection that could cause Office applications to crash
• Fixed several crashes related to the service and tray
• Fixed security vulnerabilities that could be chained together to perform local privilege escalation
• Fixed many other miscellaneous defects and user interface improvements