Our last look at the security software Malwarebytes dates back to 2019 when Malwarebytes 4.0 was released. The release had its fair share of issues that included incompatibilities with other programs, high memory usage among other things.

Malwarebytes for Windows 4.4.4 was released this week, and it is the latest of many releases of the program's 4.x branch.

The release is already available via the security program's built-in updating functionality. Users who download the offline installer won't get version 4.4.4 at this point but version 4.4.3. The online installer, which requires an Internet connection, will install the latest version.

Malwarebytes 4.4.4's memory usage changed significantly between states. Minimized, the program used about 150 Megabytes on a Windows 10 system; this went up when the GUI was shown and during scanning activity.

Malwarebytes 4.4.4

Malwarebytes 4.4.4 includes several feature additions. One of the main new features of this release is that it may protect against remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute force attacks. The feature is available for all Malwarebytes for Windows and Teams customers, and was disabled by default on our test system.

Select Settings > Security to enable the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute force protection.

Blocks Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) attacks from hackers attempting to access your computer over a network connection by guessing the username and password.

Once enabled, an advanced options button becomes available. The options allow you to change the port and trigger rules for the protection. By default, IP addresses are blocked if five failed attempts are made within 5 minutes.

Remote Desktop Protocol attacks have risen during the Covid-19 pandemic due to an increase in remote work environments, usually work from home. Administrators may reduce attack vectors through various means, including requiring strong passwords, using custom ports, monitoring logs or limiting access to certain IP addresses.

The second new feature in version 4.4.4 of Malwarebytes for Windows adds protection against unauthorized uninstallation of the program to all Windows and Teams customers.

Select Settings > General an enable the User access feature on the page that opens.

You may prevent access to settings and reports here, and the uninstallation or shutdown of the Malwarebytes application. Once activated, users need to supply a password that is set during setup of the protective feature.

Malwarebytes displays a threat summary notification every 30 days by default. You could disable the notification entirely already, but have now a new option to hide it if no threats were detected in the period.

Select Settings > Notifications and select the "Only show if threats were detected" option at the top of the page.

The new version fixed several issues that users experienced in previous versions. Several address issues of the Browser Guard extension, including one that caused high memory usage in Google Chrome when Chrome was reopened on Windows.

You may check out the entire changelog on Malwarebytes support website.