I trusted Malwarebytes to protect my PC for a month – here’s how it worked

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It never hurts to have a friend watching your back, whether it’s in the real world or online. Undoubtedly, it is very important on the Internet, where just one click in the wrong place can expose you to all kinds of online threats. We’ve all come across spam emails, websites with graphics, or suspicious links. That’s why having a reliable antivirus program is important, and few do the job better than this one Malwarebytes.

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For the entire month of May (and June), I used the Malwarebytes Ultimate program as my primary security solution. It was remarkably quick to identify and block threats, often catching on before I realized anything was wrong. I have never felt so confident browsing the internet.

Before this, I relied on Windows Defender and the free version of Avast. Going forward, I may have to buy a subscription.

Simple but strong

Malwarebytes is about as easy to set up as any software I’ve used. Download the installer, run it, sign in, and you’re ready to go in minutes. Once installed, you are greeted with a clean, clear interface. The developers have done a good job of organizing the structure into clearly defined sections. It’s easy to find what you’re looking for.

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The software has many features, so I will focus on the main features that made the strongest impression.

One of the first things you’ll see is the Dashboard, the central hub of the app. Here, you have quick access to specific tools like system scanner, VPN, and Trusted Advisor. The latter provides a security score that shows how well your PC is protected and offers recommendations to improve it.

At first, Trusted Advisor revealed that my system was very insecure. As you can see from the picture below, I was 49 years old, which is considered poor.

Clicking Boost Your Score took me to a page that highlighted the specific settings I needed to adjust to improve my PC’s security. It recommended that I enable strong User Account Control settings in Windows, so that I receive notifications whenever an application tries to make changes to my system. After making that adjustment, my safety score jumped to a much safer 83.

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On the left side of the interface are four additional sections: Privacy, Identity, Tools, and Scam Guard. The Privacy tab contains settings that control how Malwarebytes works online. Here, you can customize settings such as whether third-party content appears in the Windows 11 Start menu and whether promotional content is shown in notifications.

The Tools tab provides quick access to program management controls where you adjust which applications appear at startup and the power of your firewall. Scam Guard is an AI-powered assistant suite. It provides detailed but easy-to-understand answers about service security. It can even analyze screenshots of suspicious emails to determine if they are a scam.

To see how well it works, I tested Scam Guard using a screenshot of an email I already knew was a scam. AI correctly identified it as a pay-advance scam — also known as the Nigerian Prince scam. What impressed me was that the AI ​​explained how it came to that conclusion and even explained the steps I should take next.

The Identity tab was the most interesting to me. It houses the tools to monitor the identity of the suite.

At the top of this page, you can enter an email address to see if it appears in any known data breaches. If a breach is detected, Malwarebytes will show when and where it happened. Clicking the Manage Identity button opens a browser-based dashboard where you can access Identity Theft Protection.

Here, you can enter additional information to improve monitoring and receive alerts if your data is involved in a future breach or if suspicious activity is activated.

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Personal Data Remover is another part of the Identity tab. As the name suggests, it removes personal information from data vendor websites. It is very similar in form and function to PrivacyBee. During testing, Malwarebytes found dozens of instances where my information appeared online and began automatically submitting removal requests.

Progress is shown with status indicators, so you can see which requests are in progress and which are complete.

As much as I liked Personal Data Remover, the tool isn’t perfect. Sometimes it makes false claims, highlighting the records of someone with the same name. You can let the AI ​​know it’s not you by expanding the record and selecting Not You.

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In its first scan, Malwarebyte identified 22 instances of my information from data broker sites (another seven were fake). By comparison, PrivacyBee found more records during its initial search, eventually reaching the hundreds when more personal information was added. Malwarebytes could not break 30.

What makes this remarkable is that the email address I used with Malwarebytes appeared in 12 known data breaches, while the email I used with PrivacyBee was exposed in only eight. Malwarebytes data removal is not as complete as the services that specialize in it.

Stop threats

Now, how does Malwarebytes work as an antivirus? Very well. It works quietly in the background, using minimal CPU resources and blocking threats before they become problems. In a few cases, the malware bypassed the protections built into my browser and provided by my ISP, and was stopped by the software.

When I checked the Malwarebytes history report, I found a long list of blocked threats, including riskware, Trojans, and phishing attempts that I didn’t even know had happened. It was like having a digital guardian angel.

If you would like to hear another opinion on the effectiveness of Malwarebytes, MRG Effitas, an independent organization that evaluates the performance of security software, has published a report that evaluates eight leading antiviruses. Effitas wanted to see how good these programs are at stopping phishing, detecting malware, and avoiding false positives.

According to its March 2026 consumer test, Malwarebytes passed all major tests with flying colors, successfully blocking all malware samples with no false positives.

Few services have achieved the same level of consistency. Malwarebytes will achieve MRG Effitas’ Consumer Assessment Level 1 certification — a rating reserved for the most effective anti-virus products.

ZDNET shopping advice

The prices of Malwarebytes Premium start at $60 per year for the standard plan. The Plus plan is $80 per year, and the Master plan is currently discounted to $140. Each category is also available in Family and Small Business options.

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Malwarebytes positions itself as a powerful cybersecurity suite that combines strong anti-malware protection with a comprehensive set of security tools that go beyond what you’d expect from a typical antivirus. Generally, I can give recommendations for alternatives, but honestly, I don’t think you can do better than Malwarebytes.

Bitdefender is a solid alternative. It will provide coverage for five devices for one price. That is one area where it beats Malwarebytes. But if you don’t need that much protection, stick with Malwarebytes.