Malwarebytes Just Installed. Some Questions?

(3) While Avast 4.8 now includes some "anti-spyware" protection, I still think of Avast as being primarily an anti-VIRUS program.   in contrast, MBAM is an anti-MALWARE program.   So it's not a matter of which one is better/best to scan with, but rather, what type of "ailments" are you trying to detect.   In short, I would scan with both, since, as just explained, they focus [for the most part] on separate/distinct problems.

 

(2) Spybot --- it depends on which aspect of SpyBot you're referring to... keep in mind that SpyBot offers 4 separate aspects (assuming you use/enable them all):

a- resident TeaTimer, which continually monitors your registry for changes

b- immunization, which can be used either alone, or in conjunction with SpyWareBlaster's

c- IEHelper BHO [helps prevent known bad downloads]

d- on-demand scanner

If you're referring to its on-demand scanner, it wouldn't hurt to run it occasionally [updates are typically made available weekly, on Wednesdays], but when it comes to removing the "hard stuff", I don't put as much "faith" in it, as I would MBAM or SAS.

As for the first 3 aspects, I use them all, and believe each complements the likes of Avast & MBAM.

For some more details/elaboration, see my post here: 

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_virus&message.id=63275

 

(1) I believe exiting the MBAM tray will turn off your resident protection, but I'm not positive about this.

O.K. Will get rid of Spybot. Don't like to many programs running.

I'll leave tray icon.

All this at my own risk. 

As far as I can tell, if you Exit MBAM it disables Protection Mode. Of course, if you don't have Protection Mode enabled to begin with, it won't.

I don't recommend Spybot to any of the users that we clean. It has tended to do incomplete removals of the malware that we are seeing on the HJT Board. I still keep Spybot updated on my computer so I can advise people who have it and need help with configurations. I never use it to scan because I have MBAM, and if that doesn't do the job, I go to SAS.

I'm not sure what "too many programs" you are referring to. If you don't want MBAM's realtime protection, disable it.
If you don't want Spybot's realtime TeaTimer, disable it. You can always use Spybot as an on-demand scanner if you need another opinion, although it is just one more program to keep updated.