All computers with Windows installed have an antivirus (integrated or chosen by the user) capable of stopping the most common infections. However, some threats manage to escape, nesting within the system, waiting only for the right moment to wake up and hit. To prevent the antivirus from missing out on some dangerous threats, we can increase security by adding a free program like MalwareBytes . It is presented as a simple, light, effective and also fast enough program that can scan our PC for all the malware, unwanted programs and Trojans that have escaped the antivirus. Let's see together in this guide how to use Malwarebytes on our PC, how to start a manual scan, how to schedule an automatic scan and what are the differences between the free version and the paid version.
How to install Malwarebytes
To download Malwarebytes, simply go to the official page and click on the Free Download button, present both at the top right and in the center of the page.
Once the installer is downloaded, we double-click on it and follow all the steps described, so we can quickly install the program on our computer. Immediately after installation the program will ask us if we want to start the trial version (valid 30 days) for Malwarebytes Premium; if we are interested in the free version, we decline the invitation and continue with the basic version (subject of this guide).
At the end we can open the Malwarebytes interface by clicking on the icon of the program that appears on the desktop or by looking for its name in the Start menu at the bottom left.
To access the program settings, simply click on the Settings menu; if we need to check the scanning operations carried out so far, we can take a look at the Report menu.
All the menus of the program are easily accessible in the left part of the window; as we can see, many features of the program are not available, because exclusive to the Premium version.
How to perform a manual scan
If we have to scan our PC for some well-hidden malware, we open Malwarebytes and, from the interface, click on the Scan button, present on the Dashboard screen.
The entire scanning process will start immediately: first the program will search for definition updates, proceed with a pre-analysis and scan all areas of the computer most prone to infections (Memory, Boot sector, registry and Folders of system).
The scan will be very quick and should not take more than 5 minutes: at the end we will receive a response, so as to know if our computer is clean or there are threats; in the latter case the program will ask us what we want to do with the detected threats (for a quick solution just select them and click on Quarantine ).
If we want to activate another scan module, simply go to the Scan side menu and choose between Search for harmful elements, Custom scan and Hyperfast scan .
The first two modules are also accessible in the free version, while hyperfast scanning is available only for users with Malwarebytes Premium. All malware discovered by the program will be saved in the special Quarantine section, where we can access at any time to delete all viruses permanently.
How to schedule an automatic scan
If we don't want to remember to scan with Malwarebytes every time, we can schedule a scan by going to the Scan menu and clicking on the Scan Schedule tab.
We can immediately activate the schedule already present, selecting the item Hyperfast and press the Modify button at the bottom, so that we can decide the time and day to scan. To increase PC security, we recommend scheduling a scan every week, so as to immediately find any threat that has escaped the antivirus.
Note : to plan the scans on Malwarebytes you need to have the paid premium version.
Differences between the free version and the paid version
The free version of Malwarebytes is an excellent solution to be added to the main antivirus, so that you can have an additional scan engine to be started every now and then to find new malware hidden on your computer.By switching to the Malwarebytes Premium version we will have the possibility to schedule automatic scans, in addition we will unlock the additional protection modules: Web protection (protects browsers and controls all download links), Exploit protection (protects from targeted hacker attacks), Protection from malware (replaces the antivirus used so far) and Protection from ransomware (protects the most important folders from viruses that ask for ransom).
We can purchase a Malwarebytes Premium license for € 39.99 (one-year license) from here -> Malwarebytes Premium license.
Conclusions
Malwarebytes Free can be used for free when you need it, launching a scan when we notice suspicious activity or after quite some time. With the version we can also replace our antivirus, since Malwarebytes Premium is in all respects a complete and effective antivirus.
If during the scans we find threads that are impossible to delete, we refer you to reading our guide on how to delete files in use "impossible to delete" on Windows .
As alternatives, in another article the list of the best free anti-malware for Windows PC
READ ALSO: In case of virus, how to use Malwarebytes even if the pc is locked
