Why would WebRoot "miss" a bunch of "bad" files found by AntiMalwareBytes.

Hello ?,

Webroot and MalwareBytes differ on detections.

MalwareBytes may classify something as Bad that Webroot does not, this is generally the case with cookies and Potentially Unwanted Applications.
 
Webroot will only detect programs that are malicious and meet our detection criteria, and every company has a different detection criteria.

I hope this explains it better for you and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need anything else.

Regards,

Hi James / Hi Ken45140
 
If I may add...for the sake of completeness...the Webroot philosophy is, as I understand it, that only active malware is a threat (obviously) and that therefore if malware resides on a system but is not active then it is not a threat (again, obviously), and only when it tries to activate does WSA jump in to block/neutralise it.
 
This difference with other securirty vendors' approaches means that they will flag up dormant malware when WSA will not, hence WSA will seem to detect less...in effectit does bit only detects what it needs to to keep you safe.
 
I hope that further clarifies the difference for you, Ken45140, as already explained by James.
 
Regards, Baldrick 

OK, thanks to you both for the information. Missed this disctinction when I was making my purchase decision. It seems that to remove "troublesome" files that are not immediate threats, then I will need a second scanning program, not exactly the best use of my limited funds for this task.  But the 100% scores for WR on some of the tests will provide protection.
Thanks again,
Ken

?, if I may also comment.  A lot of the items that were found were cookes, temp internet files, yes?  You can easily clear those, quickly and easily, and at no charge, by going into your browser settings and clearing browser history.
 
This is suggested anyway as doing so not only helps keep you more secure, but it also helps keep browser performance at its best.

Ken,

You do not need a secondary program for this.

The only way to get these PUAs and PUPs, is to agree to install them. Just make sure that with anything you download, you are reading the fine print, and unchecking any boxes that agree to install them.

You can also see our KB article about removing these by yourself here.
 
Hope this helps!
 
Regards,

Hi Ken45140
 
If you do want to use a program to remove cookies, etc., and other items that WSA does not focus on, rather than relying on browser settings and the like then Private Message me and I can provide you with a short list of freeware apps that will do the job when run as second opinion scanners.
 
But as has been said previously in the thread...WSA focuses on protecting you from what will really hurt your system, your privacy & security...and that is the key thing.
 
Regards, Baldrick

There is a utility that has been mentioned before here on the Community, so I will toss the name out here.  It is NOT an antimalware program, but it IS a utility that will help remove the temp files, browser cache, cookies, etc.   CCleaner.  I do not currently use it, though I have in the past and it is well reviewed.  You would run it first, and then run a scan with WSA.