Another Malwarebytes Update

Another Malwarebytes Update: a reader asks…

I just got and installed an update to my Malwarebytes Premium protection program as you recommended. I’m showing version 3.4.5. Am I good to go now?

Sorry, in a word, no. The current version is 3.5.1 and is most likely not going to show up with the program’s automatic update notifier for awhile. I’m guessing that the folks at Malwarebytes do this on purpose so that they can have folks (early adopters) test out the program and identify any bugs before they send it out wholesale to the masses. But unfortunately it does leave ‘the masses’ who are using an outdated version to live with compromised security.

My recommendation is that as soon as you hear there’s a new version available (like now, for instance), you should head over to https://malwarebytes.com and download and install the latest version. It’s as easy as clicking the free download button, and running the file you download. That will replace your older version with the current version, preserving any Premium licensing you already have.

So why should you get the update to the Malwarebytes software sooner than when they tell you to update? Here’s my reasoning:

1. hackers and other nefarious netizens can get Malwarebytes just as easily as you can – the software is freely available to anyone
2. they can then reverse-engineer the software or otherwise figure out how to defeat it or create malware that it can’t detect.
3. As a result, the folks at Malwarebytes have to constantly update their software to keep it working well.

I should say that these days, you run a risk running any older versions of software, and this includes Microsoft Office. For example, Google has recently stopped their popular Gmail service from working with Office 2010, since it opens a security vulnerability. The only way to use Gmail with Outlook 2010 is to lower your security settings in your Google account online. That is NOT recommended!

So I highly recommend that everybody make sure that they are always running the latest version of their computer’s operating system and all installed software. In the case of Malwarebytes, their only weakness is the delay they have in warning users to update to the latest version, forcing us to visit their website on a regular basis to check for a new version. FYI, it seems like they issue a new version every 3 months or so. Every once in awhile (like now), they’ll issue a new version sooner – this version was released just last week, and the version 3.5.4 was released in April 2018. Just guessing but I bet they found out about a significant security vulnerability that was discovered after the April version release.