[sg09]

Antivirus is a essential tool for computer security. There are virus, spywares, trojans, backdoors, dialers, keyloggers, rouge antispywares, worms which are always ready to destroy your computer. These can enter through internet, removable storage, email and even during installation of innocent looking application. So it is very essential to have an antivirus. But due to the variety of malwares developed every day and the variety of techniques applied by them make the life of antivirus vendors miserable. Ideally there are no antivirus software that can give you full proof protection for long. Whether it can apply signature based protection or behavior based it can't be 100%. So, it is always wise to rely on multiple antivirus software. But due to the well known conflict between multiple antivirus giving rel time protection, it is wise to install one antivirus with real time scanner and others as backup antivirus.
There are a number of backup scanners available free in the market, like
1. a-squared free (dual AV engine a-squared and ikarus)
2. malwarebytes antimalware
3. bitdefender free edition
4. clamwin
etc. All four have can be updated manually (1,2) or automatically (3,4)
also there are backup scanners
1) Dr. Web Cure-it (no installtion required)
2) Kaspersky removal tool
3) Norman Malware Cleaner (no installation required)
these you have to download before scanning each time. There are no updater manual or automatic. but all the above provide detection and removal.
For detection only purpose you can have
Norton Security Scan & Prevx 3.0.
Of course there are a number of web malware scanners provided free of cost by most AV venders.


Probably you are well aware of what i have told until now. But today i want to share something new and interesting too.
I don't know how many of you have seen it, but today while browsing Gecko&Fly website, i've seen a very interesting blog.
How To Install Two Or Multiple Antivirus Programs

It tells about a software multiscan 1.6.1 (423.98 MB), which supports 10 top antivirus softwares (A-Squared, Avira AntiVir, BitDefender, ClamWin, DrWeb, Ikarus, McAfee, Solo, Sophos, VBA32) inside it. Obviously it will not provide realtime protection. So you can get 10 backup scanners inside one app. But you have to download it from rapidshare. I've googled for it's developer page but didn't get it. So. i'm not sure about its reliability. But i'm going to download it tonight. You can read this blog here
http://www.geckoandfly.com/2009/07/1...irus-programs/

I've also gone through another older blog which tells about a similar app bue here the installer is only 880 KB
The blog is named
Scan Your Computer with Multiple Anti Virus for FREE
you can red it from here
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/...irus-for-free/

Thats not all, i am also going to share there apps

ESA Antivirus Security 2010 10.5.0 (226 MB)
ESA Internet Security 2010 10.5.0 (394 MB)
ESA Total Security 2010 10.5.0 (406 MB)

all these security suites are completely free and provide realtime protection
In these case there is a valid developer page
http://esasecurity.ucoz.com/
and the download site is Softpedia. Also the product is supported by about 20 AV venders and you'll get all kind of backup and online scanner inside it.
It also provides
ESA Portable Security 2010 10.5.0 (298 MB)

the comparisons are given here
http://esasecurity.ucoz.com/index/0-15

Thank you all

[Jason08]

It's best to have an anti-virus and an anti-malware/anti-spyware program on the computer, but 2 anti-viruses should never be installed at the same time on a computer.

[kitkin15]

inti virus's dont really react good with each-other....it just dont work...beleave me really mssed me up, im still having probloms getting it off lol

[kitkin15]

good thread though =)

[sg09]

more than one antimalware conflict each other for sure, but only when they all provide real time protection. But back up scanners, which are for on demand scanning only, will not conflict with the existing real time scanner, if during scanning you keep the real time protection off or if you perform the scan in safemode (second option is better). Obviously too many backup scanners may slow down the computer even when they are not in startup so too many backup scanners are not recommended for slow computers.

[sg09]

anyway thanks kitkin15

[TOGG]

It might be possible to have two AV programs installed on one computer, but only one of them could be set to run in 'real time' while the other was kept for 'on demand' scans. Almost certainly overkill because it is possible to have your real time AV backed up by one or more online scanners.

As for the other programs 'recommended' in the the original post, 226, 394 and 406MB files are out of the question for those of us on dialup.

[Blackmirror]

One AV
one good Antispyware program like Malwarebytes
winpatrol spywareblaster WOT

However user knowledge is so important as no amount of protection will stop someone who is bent on ignoring the warnings

[Cookiegal]

It's just plain best not to have two anti-virus programs installed on one computer.....period. Even when they're not actually running they can have services or other components that are started and this is just asking for trouble. Many anti-virus programs won't even install properly unless the other is completely uninstalled.

[Blackmirror]

Originally Posted by Cookiegal

It's just plain best not to have two anti-virus programs installed on one computer.....period. Even when they're not actually running they can have services or other components that are started and this is just asking for trouble. Many anti-virus programs won't even install properly unless the other is completely uninstalled.

Yes it can be a real problem just to uninstall one to exchange for another

They seem to leave all sorts of bits behind
Is it intentional she asks ?

[Rich-M]

Coookiegal is right simply because an antivirus program is not running in the background does not mean it is not running so again it is not a good idea to have two antivirus programs installed in any manner. Spyware programs are different as they work differently and there is no issue with installing a few of them as in fact in most cases for spyware removal. you wind up suing more than one anyway.

[kitkin15]

i got 3 av's going now(my comp is pretty bad) but i would never keep them permently

[Gizzy]

I agree that a user shouldn't have more than one AV,

Instead you should install different types of protection to help strengthen your setup.
Some examples
Anti-malware/spyware scanners like mentioned above
A Behavior Blocker/HIPS
A Sandbox
You can scan with Online Malware Scanners
And Virtualization
There's many other forms of computer security than just an antivirus, a good combination of a few will give you great additional security to your antivirus.

A combination of different programs is better than using multiple programs that do the same things, you'll cover more ground and there will be less chance of conflicts.

And don't forget your common sense and safe browsing habits.

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by Gizzy

And don't forget your common sense and safe browsing habits.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

[Gizzy]

Originally Posted by RootbeaR

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

I never said everyone had it.