Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit is a rebranded and improved beta version of ZeroVulnerabilityLabs' ExploitShield, an easy-to-use tool which protects popular applications from zero-day exploits, web-based vulnerability exploits and more.

The full list of shielded apps includes browsers (Firefox, Chrome, IE, Opera), Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Media Players (Windows Media Player, VLC, Winamp, QuickTime), PDF-related tools (Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, Adobe Acrobat) and more (Java, Windows Script Host, Windows Help).

Better still, no special configuration or setup is required to make this happen. Just install and launch it, and Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit will immediately go to work.

Under normal circumstances, the program should then run entirely in the background, without you ever noticing anything at all (certainly, it's 3MB RAM use isn't going to present much of a problem for even the most basic of hardware.)

If you want to know more, though, right-clicking the Anti-Exploit system tray icon and selecting "Show Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit" will reveal a few details. You can see how many exploits have been blocked, for instance, or view the program's logs for more details.

The other key option is the ability to stop and restart protection, which could be useful if you notice any odd behaviour after installing Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit. If you notice any problems, right-click its system tray icon and select Stop Protection; right-click the icon and select Start Protection to restore normal operations.

Note that Anti-Exploit technology is now included in Malwarebytes Premium, but this Beta version is supported for testing purposes.