Is Avast free antivirus alongside with malwarebytes good enough?

[Diamond_G]

Ok so i want to play with malware in a VM but i was thinking that in case of it escaping the vm, would Avast free antivirus (for real time detection) + Malwarebytes (for removal of it) be good enough?

 

[R_1]

maybe but why risk it?
if you are wanting to play with that, boot to a linux distribution and run the VM from there, linux is largely immune to that and will survive even if it escapes the VM, or you make a mistake.
I am a huge fan of mint linux with cinnamon.

 

[gasaraki]

Yes. I think so. You don't want multiple anti-virus/anti-malware programs running at the same time. They will conflict with each other.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Depends on how you value your data. I look for consistently high readings at AVtest.org. Of all the free stuff Avast is probably the best. In the August 2106 test, Avast detected:

97.5% of 0-day malware attacks, inclusive of web and e-mail threats (Real-World Testing)
98.9% of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the last 4 weeks (the AV-TEST reference set)

That still means that:

Four (4) 0-day malware attacks got past the AV Protection
Thirty (30) widespread and prevalent malware got past the AV protection

The ones that consistently lead the pack scoring 100% in almost every test as 1) Kaspersky and 2) Bit Defender. Kaspersky runs about $10 per seat in a 5 pack and the latest offer I gt from BD was $17 for 5 seats.

 

[USAFRet]

Ok so i want to play with malware in a VM but i was thinking that in case of it escaping the vm, would Avast free antivirus (for real time detection) + Malwarebytes (for removal of it) be good enough?

Paired with a functioning brain, yes.

 

[azaran]

Yes. I think so. You don't want multiple anti-virus/anti-malware programs running at the same time. They will conflict with each other.

It depends on the program. Running a number of AV with AV can cause conflict, but MalwareBytes can run active next to an AV without a problem. I believe you still don't want active scans going on at the same point but having the programs reside together isn't an issue.

Also as for Avast, there are better AVs out there. Bitdefender has a free product and their engine tends to out perform Avast in the tests I've seen in the last year.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

When I served as a Wizop for Compuserve back in the day, before we could release any uploaded file to on-line libraries, all files had to be scanned with two (2) AV programs. SOP was to have one always active. The file was downloaded to a temp folder and manually scanned with 1st one and then the 2nd AV program. No harm in using any number that you choose as long as only one is designated to "actively" scan files as they are opened.

Another common technique used on networked data drives is to have the server run its scheduled scan at say midnight and then have a networked box scan the data dive remotely at 3 am.

We used BD for quite sometime until management of the site license became too labor intensive. Upon renewal each year, Id download once and then sit down at each box to install from network drive or USB if a remote site. About 2 years ago, they switched do that i had to download it directly to each box.... was too time consuming so switched to Kaspersky.

6 products scored 100% detection in latest test ...

4 scored 5.0 / 5.0 / 5.0 ratings (Avira, Kaspersky, Norton, Trend Micro). Avira and Kaspersky did it 3 times in a row on Win 10. Kaspersky did it 3 times in a row on Win 10 and Win 7.
https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

 

[JoshRoss]

It should be good enough, but I would strongly recommend hosting your forensic VM boxes on Linux. Avast with active-scans and Malwarebytes should deal with any potential issues, but if you are delving into the world of malware research, make sure you do enough research. Forensic VM boxes should be set up nearly perfectly to achieve maximum effectiveness. Monitoring software and everything else included, if setup well, it won't get out of VM. Some malware also has detection for VM's and simply shut itself down when detected.

 

[Avast-Team]

As others have said, Malwarebytes should play nicely with Avast if you decide to run both, but generally it's not recommended to run two active scanning programs at the same time. Avast has a lot of functionality in the way of real-time malware detection (CyberCapture and Behavior Shield as some examples)

Also, if you're delving deep into malware research, I'd really recommend air-gapping or isolating the system in some way, as a best practice (also as JoshRoss mentioned) -- regardless of which software you use.