Prevention not applied or unsuccessful. Be sure to reboot the PC after applying protection before testing.
What Windows version are you exactly using? As far as I know, "group policy editor" is only a feature for Windows
Pro,
Ultimate,
Enterprise or
Serverversions, so I don't know whether using an application which creates rules in gpedit will work with "Home" versions, since I'm only using "Pro" versions.
If you're using Windows 7 Home you might try to get gpedit first:
http://www.w7forums.com/threads/install-gpedit-on-win-7-home-editions.10839/.
however SAS never found anything that Malwarebytes did not find, exept tracking cookies that MBAM does not target...so i just dropped it
The same here + you can just run the cleaner you trust to regularly clean the
c:\users\your_username\cookies and the
c:\users\your_username\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\cookies\ folder, though it was thanks to SAS that I figured it out, so I didn't have to run it again anymore.
Though after using
mvps HOSTS file and automatically removing LSOs with
BetterPrivacy (except for the Flashplayer settings that I want to keep), I practically haven't encountered tracking cookies at all.
@ topic:
In theory, Windows MSE/Windows Defender in 8/8.1 with the Windows FW+Router FW should suffice if you're using "brain 2.0". Avast or any other third party AV programm might add a little bit more "active protection" and/or "detection", but it does not replace "brain 2.0".
On the other side, there are cases where neither "brain 2.0" nor Avast or any other AV program helps. For example, drive-by downloads, which often happen by exploiting programs coming from infected ads.
For that reason, I'm always checking whether Flash, browser or any other security relevant program is up to date and I consequently block any ad on the net as well as third party JS with NoScript (I only turn on the scripts I really have to for the site to work properly after I checked any unknown website at
http://urlvoid.com/ and/or
https://www.virustotal.com/. BTW:
VT has a nice utility to directly upload files <20MB from your computer and check it with over 40 AVs or <64MB if you're using the website ).
There are more things for active and for passive protection.
Active protection is for example your AV. Another would be HIPS from third party firewalls. It's up to you how many active protection you really want, since they might slow your Computer and/or create more problems for example with Blue Screens or with having to click more messages away, especially during new installations which aren't in the HIPS rules yet.
Passive protection is more like a check to see whether everything's still O.K. and here lies the answer to the question:
Malwarebytes is a great tool to check for potential unwanted programs (PUPs, especially Adware/toolbars bundled with installers) and newer trojans. While it is not mandatory, especially if you're having a good active protection, I would recommend using Malwarebytes as a "second opinion" to your main AV-scan.
Additionally, you could scan your computer with programs such as
Farbar Recovery Scan Tool, though you might not be able to find traces of malware if there is shown, but you can check every unknown entry with Google and VT like I do or just ask for help, though you need to be aware that you're sharing potentially private information which might show in those logs, for example which programs are installed.
Also, you might try out
SARDU to create a multiboot USB/CD with many bootable scanners to scan once in a while, which are more effective than any started within Windows where potential rootkits could still be hiding from your AV. You might need to pay attention for Adware bundled in this installer and turn Avast protection off while creating the USB stick to format it correctly.
While we're on the topic of adware:
Adwcleaner and
Junkware Removal Tool (JRT) do a great job in removing browser hijackers, adware, toolbars and any other "junk programs".
And last but not least: It doesn't matter which and how many "security programs" you're using, since you won't get 100% protection anyways. For that reason, I would also recommend to regularly backup your important files and/or use image recovery software in a worst case scenario, for example with
Macrium Reflect or with
Paragon Backup & Recovery, so that you can get back to a properly working state without wasting hours of time to re-install and set-up all programs, updates and settings again.