View Full Version : Running Two or More Anti-Virus Programs
micjmac
07-21-10, 10:58 AM
As the title indicates, I'm looking for tips on how to do this....correctly. I have read that having two anti-virus programs running at the same time can work against you, but if there is a safe way to do it one at a time, then I think having two or more different scanners is more effective than one.
Also, while I have your attention, I noticed that you guys recommend safe mode. This leads me to ask, do you run scans in safe mode after you found out that you are infected in the normal mode? Or do you always just do scans in safe mode?
Antivirus programs are like underwear one at a time is all that is necessary. Doubling up just causes issues possibly as bad as a BSOD. Yes if you're infected run scans in safe mode but there is no reason to scan in safe mode otherwise.
I wouldn't recommend running two anti-virus programs. I'm not sure why you feel compelled to honestly? Do you think you have an infection already?
Running a virus scan in safe mode can allow them to remove some threats that they cannot normally. I never run mine in safe mode unless I cannot remove something in regular mode.
That said, I never seem to have any virus problems. I have Windows 7, avg free, and I run spybot once in a great while when I think about it. As long as you have your firewall on and you don't click on every crazy thing you see I don't think there is any reason to even think about running two of them.
micjmac
07-21-10, 12:27 PM
...because I've been recently infected according to AVG...I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials per someone's recommendation, and because I've heard AVG's detection rate is sub-par (I realize the irony here lol). When I uninstalled AVG and ran MS, it found a completely different infection, but the other two infections that AVG found were not detected. Either AVG removed them, or they were false positives...
I think this is reason enough to want to run a few different scanners to see what is going on. I didn't say I want to run two at the same time. I feel that I have been misinterpreted. What I meant: is there a way to have one anti-virus as your live protection, but then every once in a while, you turn it off and use a different program to run a scan. Once you are done with your scan, close the different program and then reopen your main protection anti-virus program.
No we understood you and its still a bad idea. Scan your drive from another PC if you wish to double check that its clean. That will give you a better chance of removing the infection anyway if there is one. One antivirus program at a time installed
TollhouseFrank
07-21-10, 12:42 PM
many people do it, but you have to be selective.
For example, ClamAV/Clamwin works great as a secondary AV. It has no active scanning or any such abilities. It is just an on-demand scanner only.
Other people will swear by a 'cloud based' AV as a sorta rider/backup to their main AV like Threatfire.
There are AV solutions that are designed to be a 'backup in case the main one fails' like Clamwin and Threatfire... but there aren't a lot of them.
PeddlerOfFlesh
07-21-10, 04:23 PM
You could use TrendMicro's housecall, too.
micjmac
07-23-10, 01:04 PM
What about running two spyware programs such as Adaware and Spybot: Search and Destroy? I would assume the same logic that you guys shared with me, however I read a sticky on this forum, and the author recommended using several spyware programs to scan a computer.
Depends...just having the free versions installed and running them from time to time is fine. By the way Adaware sucks and has for a few years now Malware-bytes Antimalare is the current king.
TollhouseFrank
07-23-10, 08:00 PM
Depends...just having the free versions installed and running them from time to time is fine. By the way Adaware sucks and has for a few years now Malware-bytes Antimalare is the current king.
they all have very nearly the same exact detection rates. Adaware does not suck.
However, it is a bloated, very system intensive application. There are solutions out there that are much less bloated and do not suck up as much CPU power.
Malwarebytes is one of those.
Metallica
07-23-10, 08:08 PM
they all have very nearly the same exact detection rates. Adaware does not suck.
However, it is a bloated, very system intensive application. There are solutions out there that are much less bloated and do not suck up as much CPU power.
Malwarebytes is one of those.
Agreed. Malwarebytes+Ad Aware+MSE = a very well protected machine in my opinion.
Mr.Guvernment
07-23-10, 10:49 PM
malware +spybot +MSE :D
althought lately i have seen teatimer taking up 150MB of ram sometimes!
PeddlerOfFlesh
07-24-10, 01:12 AM
Depends...just having the free versions installed and running them from time to time is fine. By the way Adaware sucks and has for a few years now Malware-bytes Antimalare is the current king.
To clarify, the problem is not with multiple on demand scanning programs. The problems arise with multiple real-time scanning systems. Not only is it more resource intensive, but they can mess with each other for various different reason.
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