[juliette salexa]

Hi,

I have Symantec anti-virus and spybot search & destroy installed on my computer. And now I want to install Sophos anti-virus in addition.

But I read this instruction: "Before installing Sophos you must remove any other anti-virus program from your computer," before installing Sophos.

Does anyone know the exact way in which Sophos would be incompatible with Symantec and Spybot ?? Will they both still work properly if I disobey this instruction ?? Has anyone tried having both installed simultaneously ??

Thank you,
Juliette

[midders]

It is a bad idea to run more than one anti-virus software simultaneously. Not only will it impact system performance, but the real-time scanners may conflict with each other and make the system more vulnerable, rather than less.

Spybot is anti-malware, not anti-virus, so can be used alongside any av software. You can also run multiple anti-malware programs at once, although personally I would only advise having one real-time malware scanner running at a time.

Slainte

midders

[juliette salexa]

Thank you,
That all makes sense, basically you're saying that while one scanner is trying to access a particular file (for the purposes of searching for viruses), the other scanner will not be able to access that same file properly .. and the overall result will be that the outcome of whether or not a file is infected won't necessarily be accurate ??

Or am I thinking about this in the wrong way ??

If I can only use one, should I use Sophos or Symantec ??

[midders]

Originally Posted by juliette salexa

If I can only use one, should I use Sophos or Symantec ??

Which AV software is the best is open to debate and there are many comparisons out there; just google "best antivirus software" and have a browse. Personally, I'd recommend Avira (or AVG) for free, or Kaspersky if you're going to pay.