The free version of the program doesn’t include any real-time protection, and you can’t schedule regular scans either, so it’s no substitute for a full antivirus package. Anti-Malware is great to have around to offer a second opinion, though; if you think you might be infected by something, but your regular security package is saying nothing, then launch it instead and you’ll quickly get a verdict on your system health.
Alternatively, you could upgrade to the full version of the program, which includes real-time protection, automatic malicious site protection, a scheduler to run scans when you like, and priority customer support. As of version 1.51, Anti-Malware now includes a 14-day trial option so you can see how the system works for you (click the Protection tab), and if you decide to buy then the program can be yours for $24.95. That’s a one-time fee for personal users; commercial users must buy an annual licence.
v1.70 is a minor release. New features/fixes include:
– New program logo and icons
– Heuristics for 0-day exploit detection now implemented in protection module for PRO version
– Threats detected by the protection module are now quarantined automatically by default
– Malwarebytes Anti-Malware now shows Windows 8 START screen notifications
– Malwarebytes Anti-Malware now identified in scan logs, registry and About tab
– More Tools tab enhanced with tons of new content and more to come in the future
– Option to allow a threat to run temporarily (Allow Temporarily) added to filesystem protection prompts
– Option to add a detected item to the Ignore List (Allow Always) added to filesystem protection prompts