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Are 2 Anti Virus Programs better than 1 ?

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rams's Avatar
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01-Jan-2008, 08:31 PM #1
Lightbulb Are 2 Anti Virus Programs better than 1 ?
Hi There,

Just wandering about your opinions concerning Anti Virus Free programs ?
.......................being this ? I use AVG free & I am considering installing a 2nd Anti Virus Free program(Avast Free). Does anyone feel this is not needed being that 1 program see's different definitions than the other ? Let me know how you feel concerning this ? and 2 Firewalls & even a few spyware programs too. Is just 1 of each enough ?


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01-Jan-2008, 08:38 PM #2
Hi two Anti-virus programs will conflict with each other and will slow your system down.

You could install Avast But Not have it running at the same time..Always disabled until you disable Avg to update Avast and scan your system with Avast [does that make sense and is it worth doing?]

But for me one Anti-virus program is enough plus an online scan once a month.
Trendmicro

Two Firewalls? No they too will conflict with each other.
Spyware programs more than one is Ok.
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Last edited by blues_harp28; 01-Jan-2008 at 08:44 PM..
golferbob's Avatar
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02-Jan-2008, 09:54 AM #3
antivirus
us advice already pasted ,use only 1 antivirus progam.
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02-Jan-2008, 05:53 PM #4
You can scan with two, that's a good idea, just don't have them running or scanning at the same time.
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02-Jan-2008, 05:55 PM #5
Quote:
Originally Posted by ferrija1 View Post
You can scan with two, that's a good idea, just don't have them running or scanning at the same time.
wouldn't even recommend that.....I'd just pick one and go with it. Now, with malware scanners, knock yourself out. But with AV, they write to the registry, and as the all use different algorithms and heuristics, even though one seems to be disabled, it could still affect the second.

Best way is to find one you like (preferably free, like avg or avast) and go with it.
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02-Jan-2008, 05:57 PM #6
And, to reiterate blues_harp's advice, shut down any autoprotect feature on the non-scanning AV before starting to scan with the other. Remember that autoprotect is simply a 'one-file' scan so, if it's running when you scan with the other AV program then you will have both scanning at the same time.

Or take Valis' advice. It hasn't happened in my experience, but I've seen his advice in other threads & I think he knows more about this stuff than I do.
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02-Jan-2008, 06:00 PM #7
Quote:
Originally Posted by valis View Post
wouldn't even recommend that.....I'd just pick one and go with it. Now, with malware scanners, knock yourself out. But with AV, they write to the registry, and as the all use different algorithms and heuristics, even though one seems to be disabled, it could still affect the second.

Best way is to find one you like (preferably free, like avg or avast) and go with it.
They're just scanning files, just disable the real-time protection on one and scan away.

Google agrees....

http://www.castlecops.com/modules.ph...topic&p=896784
http://www.kiran-world.com/is-it-goo...rus-softwares/
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/archi...p/t-27706.html
calvin-c's Avatar
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02-Jan-2008, 06:23 PM #8
And Google disagrees...
http://www.themssforum.com/Security/computer-54319/
http://www.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/...4-06/0367.html

Overall, I'd say that you can find any side of an argument that you want to look for on Google.
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02-Jan-2008, 06:39 PM #9
google fight it.
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02-Jan-2008, 06:47 PM #10
Those two links are both concerning running 2 anti-virus applications at a time, I am saying to scan and have real-time protection with one and occasionally just scan with another.
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