| Quick scan vs Full scan: When do you really need to do a full scan? | Never, seriously. We've designed the quick scan to detect everything. The full scan is there for people who won't believe us. |
| Why are not all threats immediately chosen to quarantine? I hate going through every single one and clicking the box next to it. If this isn't an option, why isn't there a "Choose all" option? | By default, any actual threats should be pre-checked. Right click on the item and you'll see more options to check every item. |
| If MBAM doesn't take care of everything, do you have a next go-to program? | An antivirus can go a long way on older, less aggressive threats that we have not seen. If you're looking for pure cleanup tools, I would recommend ComboFix as a last resort. |
| What's the record for most infections? Ours is 350,000 on a single computer. | You probably hold the record. I don't know if a congratulations is in order or ... |
| Then why do I run quick scans, and after they turn back nothing, I run a final full scan and it comes up with stuff? | What are you finding? If it's archived malware, there's your answer. If it's live infections, we can definitely tweak our heuristics a bit. |
| So the 4 hour full scans I've been running have been...completely...FOR NOTHING?!? | Version 2.0 is going to make all the pain stop, I promise. |
| The threats that aren't checked usually are .PUP and little spyware things like that. On fresh installs of MBAM, they do not have some of those checked. But now I know there's a "check every item" option so that's good to know. | Also, check out Settings -> Scanner Settings -> Actions for PUP software. |
| You said layered security is always better. In addition to Malwarebytes, what other software would you recommend running on a computer to help keep it safe? I'm always looking for the best combination to protect my less computer literate parents and friends. To put the question another way, if you were working with a fresh install, setting up your parents computer, what programs would you install, what "package" would you create, that would best protect that computer after you walked out of the house? What AV? Any other malware/spyware programs (spybot comes to mind)? Any programs that lock down settings and files? | Avast, Malwarebytes, LastPass, and TeamViewer. The first 3 to help protect them, the last one to log in when shit hits the fan. |
| I'm curious why you feel Avast is the go to Antivirus software. Care to elaborate for us? | I have the most experience using it when fixing friend's computers. Just like any other techie, I use what works! |
| We use to have avast in the office, but the IT guy came and changed it to AVG, i felt better with avast, what are your thoughts on AVG? | I used to use it a long, long time ago. Not so much anymore. |
| Did MB make you a rich person, and is so, how did/is that changing your life? | I reinvest most of my money back into the company to help it grow. It did not make me a rich person, but it did get me out of my parent's house. |
| Did you have a hand in making combofix? Whoever came up with that is my hero. | Nope, but he works for us now! |
| How did you handle the transition from sole creator of Malwarebytes to becoming CEO of a company? Are you still involved at all on the technical side, and if not, do you miss that? | I don't let anything get out the door without understanding how it works technically. I love programming, but I love growing Malwarebytes even more. It was a hard transition, and they have to remind me every couple of days that I'm no longer a programmer. |
| What are some of the worse viruses you have seen? | Any rootkits or ransomware. Focusing on being able to remove those is what made us so popular. |
| Whats the most common way people get viruses? | Key generators, definitely. There are easier ways to get free products, i.e. promotions or simply asking. |
| What is your favorite joke? | This one made me laugh yesterday: Link to www.lolroflmao.com |
| There are easier ways to get free products, i.e. promotions or simply asking. Sooo... Could you PM me a Malwarebytes PRO license? ;-) | Let me get through this IAMA and you've got yourself a deal. |
| You and I are standing at a bus stop, I tell you I have three daughters and their ages, when multiplied together, equal 36. A * B * C = 36. My bus comes, seeing the number, I mention that my daughters ages, when added together, equal the bus number. A + B + C = Bus number. As I hop on the bus you tell me that you haven't enough information to calculate my daughters ages. I respond, "My eldest daughter has brown hair". What are my daughters ages? [edit] reformatted. | Is it sad that I stared at this for a few minutes instead of continuing the AMA? Kudos. |
| Could you please comment on the fact that some of the more vicious malware nowadays tries to block the user's installation of malwarebytes - and what you guys do to combat that? | I thought you'd never ask! |
| Chameleon |
| Why did you stop allowing offline updates for Malwarebytes? Often times the infected computer needs to be booted into safe mode, and it's safer to take it off the network while doing so. We used to be able to get the most recent definitions from the website and transfer them over (say via USB) but that practice stopped years ago. Any chance you could start it up again? Why did it stop? | Majorgeeks still offers it. I know we had some technology changes but I'll see if we can restart this. |
| I have a friend w/ Windows 7 x64 and he has some kind of search engine hijack/rootkit that I just cannot remove using MBAM free, kaspersky or nod32. If I purchase MBAM, will support help isolate where it's coming from? | We'll help you for free, just contact support. |
| Any chance of that going into a regular release of MBAM? | That's the plan! Stop reading my mind. |
| But seriously, we're testing it standalone to ensure stability. |
| Lies! | Well I've been misinformed. Shoot me a message and I'll work with you to get your hands on it. |
| We need MB in the enterprise! Every enterprise antivirus/malware/etc solution out there is just bloated garbage. When is an enterprise MB product going to be available? | Already here! |
| What are your thoughts on wearing shorts to work or company events? | I highly encourage it. The shorter the better. |
| Your program has saved my ass more than once. so thank you! What is your take on malware for smartphones? Will that be a problem? Are you already working on that? | I don't think it'll be a problem, but if it becomes one, we're ready. Many people will disagree with my statement. |
| Any plans on making a Malwarebytes rescue CD in the near future? I've dealt with Malware that had made Windows completely unusable, even in safe mode. A rescue CD would help in this case. | I know we've been working on one. Shhh! |
| Who do I have to blow to get a job at Malwarebytes? | I would hope nobody. |
| Edit: Oh, and say hi to Duncan for me. |
| When I start it up and click the scan button, what is actually happening? In other words, in a nutshell, how does the detection process work? | Without going into proprietary details, we enumerate the items on your system and link them via environmental cues to get a holistic picture of your whole system. We then go through the files and registry keys/values in certain "hotspots" and scan them against our database and heuristics. |
| Do you think an experienced, safe user (Windows 7) could get away with running MBAM PRO alone? | Without knowing their actual habits, I would never recommend it. Layered security all the way. |
| Will the UI be receiving an update any time soon? | Oooohhh yes. |
| How do you feel about people that think they don't need any security software on a Mac? | Their day will come. |
| What's your thought on Microsoft Security Essentials ? | Meh. |
| I've noticed, on occasion, that MSE will happily fuck the dog until I run a Malwarebytes scan... but when that scan finds something, MSE wakes up and sees it too. What might cause this phenomenon? Is it most likely attributable to shitty MSE, ballin' Malwarebytes, or both? | That's a really good question. I'll see if we can try to reproduce it. |
| Honestly, I'd appreciate if you could expand on that. It's free, unobtrusive, and has low false positives. That makes it great for geeks to install on relatives computers. | I've seen zero-day testing on it and it is miserable. It can't detect many threats in the first 24 hours of their life. Once 24 hours have passed, it gets significantly better, probably because of honeypots it picks up. However, how many customers were infected in those 24 hours? |
| If the detection rate is low, could you provide a source or at least anecdotes? It would have more value coming from somebody with experience in the field. | These findings can be backed up by MalwareResearchGroup and some other places, i.e. VirusTotal. |
| Also thanks for doing this AMA for so long. We often get folks who answer ten questions and leave (I'm looking at you, Obama). | I'm in it for the long haul. Only break I took was to work out and eat! |
| What do you think most AV companies are doing wrong these days? What do you think would be a good solution to the shortage of highly trained workers in our industry? Are the schools doing enough? | As somebody just out of college, I can tell you schools are NOT doing enough. I took one security class, and it was optional. We need a security track at most schools. |
| What's your zombie plan? | Dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge. |
| What are some examples of the damage that malware does to an OS? It is usually just a matter of keylogging and stealing peoples logins? | Got a call from my mom a few years back saying that she saw a window pop up on her computer that told her the computer was infected. She paid $75 to purchase the tool that allegedly would help her fix the issue. I knew right away this was ransomware and we had to chargeback the credit card and more. |
| It can do more than stealing your logins. It can use your Facebook, Twitter, bank websites, you name it. Worst of all, it can make the computer unusable. |
| Big fan of Malwarebytes here! I can't count how many times that program has helped me in cleaning up malware that regular anti-malware programs would not catch and remove. My question: What exactly is implemented in Malwarebytes that makes it pick up malware that regular anti-malware programs normally don't catch? | Glad we could help. I think the fact that our engine was built just a few years ago helps our team detect malware that other vendors just suck at. We also have an evil genius at the head of research. |
| So, I have the 0Access Rootkit. Just wondering how easy this beast is to get rid of. Been too lazy to get rid of it, will it do any damage to any reg files or anything important? | Contact support, we've got a cool new tool in the works that can help you. |
| I know that there are a lot of destructive viruses/malware out there so what is the most "entertaining" virus/malware you have come across? | OK, so this is old school, and more adware than anything else. |
| Link to en.wikipedia.org |
| Clippy's cousin. | Worse. |
| Are there ever any criminal charges/follow up to the creation/dissemination of malware? Do you folks ever get involved in such an investigation? | We work with several government agencies and we help with hundreds of website takedowns monthly. |
| What would you rather fight: 100 duck sized horses or 1 horse sized duck? | What am I armed with? |
| A single copy of Malwarebytes Pro, of course | Bring on both. |
| I like you. | I like you too. |
| Hi marcin I would like to know at what moment you decided to hire your first employee? What was the element which made you decide to pass from a "one people - one software" model to a company? What was the very first economic model of malwarebytes? Freeware with donations and ads? | Yes, it was definitely freeware. The minute I opened my inbox and saw 200 e-mails from the previous night, I knew I couldn't do this alone. |
| Hey man best tv show? | Breaking Bad. I was also a House addict back in the day, it was a serious problem. |
| What is your web browser of choice, and why? | Chrome. I think it's really easy to use and I find it faster than Firefox. I like the syncing and the plug-ins I use, LastPass and StumbleUpon, are both compatible. |
| Just curious, have you tried any of the newer versions of Firefox, like Nightly? Using that now, it's pretty damn fast. | Nope, I'll install it on the laptop tonight. |
| Didn't you go to U of I? I wish I had run into you on campus. Did you ever work out a site license for the school? | Yes I did! You might still see me on campus, I visit quite often. |
| If I have a standard deck of playing cards and I keep drawing cards until the Ace of Spades appears, what is the probability that there will be no face card drawn? | 1/13, you've taught me well. |
| GeekSquad doesn't allow their techs to use your software...any plans on changing this? | Our door is always open. |
| You rebel, you. Was it like a suit and tie formal, or nice button-down shirt and jeans formal? | Like a button-down shirt and slacks. I wore a hoodie and cargo pants -- my style was lacking some 4 years ago. |
| Great AMA! question! I noticed that the free version used to be a simply download from site and go thing. Now you have to send a "request" for a download? whats with that? | If you go to our website and click Download Now, it takes you right to a mirror. |
| What percentage of people that download MBAM actually get the paid version? | Quite a few. Many of them understand that we can protect against what their antivirus had just let through and we cleaned up. |
| I feel like I'm a bit late, but do many people actually BUY mbam? | Quite a few, actually. Many of them understand that they are using our product to clean-up what the antivirus had let through. So, if we can clean it, we can protect against it to. |
| Would you recommend using a Limited User Account whenever possible? | Absolutely. I set one up for my parents. |
| Do you have staff that work outside of San Jose? You willing to hire people that can work remotely? | Yes to both questions. |
| Hey Marcin, cool last name. Are you a self-taught programmer? Also pineapple or mango? | Self-taught for the most part, then went through school and learned some more. Pineapple, all the way. |
| Will you ever provide an MSI file for Malwarebytes installation? | We do for business users, I'll speak with development. |
| Just wanted to say thank you. Spent three years working in a local computer shop and about every computer was fixed thanks to malwarebytes. | You're welcome! I worked at a computer shop where we reformatted every. Single. Machine. I couldn't take it anymore. |
| Marcin, Thanks to you and your team for allowing me to fix my computer after I browse shady porn sites. | That's what we're here for. |
| It is totally awesome for us users, also. Knowing the CEO can't be bullshitted by the team makes them work harder to get it right. | You have no idea how much I use that to my advantage. |
| I like you because your name is Marcin, I too am a Marcin. | We should take over the world. |
| one ball sack away from a lawsuit. | Sorry, I thought these were the cleverbridge guys making fun of me -- I wore shorts to one of their formal events once. |
| That would be me. If he says otherwise he's lying. | Clearly Robert is delusional. |
| Been using mbam the past years. But must say it dissappointed me last night. The realtime protection did not catch a trojan as it came into my system. Shame. | Get ahold of me and we'll clean it up and try to get brownie points. |
| Thanks for such a fantastic product. Even though I haven't had malware problems in years, I purchased a Pro license. Good products deserve support. Throwing money at a company like Symantec or McAfee doesn't generate better products, it just generates more bloated crapware. | Thanks for your support, we tremendously appreciate it! |
| As a computer technician I wanted to thank you for your magnificent product and wanted to ask you about your thoughts on Combo Fix. Just think how awesome it would be if it was a feature of malwarebytes. | The author of ComboFix works for us and some of the technology has been incorporated. We're trying to keep our tool user friendly and as safe as possible. |
| Convince me to use MB! | Free cookies? |
