Can you use more than 1 antivirus or spyware software on your computer?

Question

I have a spyware software downloaded, but apparently it isn't doing it's job. I'm not sure which software is the best for antivirus and/or spyware and was wondering if I could use more than 1. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!

Answer 1

Typically you can use only 1 AntiVirus program on your computer, especially the big programs like Norton, TrendPC, etc because the engines that they use are not compatible with each other. This applies for firewalls as well, you don't want to have two.

That typically doesn't apply to spyware programs though. I have 1 AV program, 2 spyware programs, and a pop-up blocker/spyware program installed all at the same time. It's important because sometimes one catches what the other does not.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Antivirus, no! Anti spyware, yes! Unfortunately, no single anti spyware program detects all spyware. In fact, security experts recommend using more than 1 since what one program misses the other catches and vice-a-versa. The 2 anti spyware programs which have consistently shown to detect and remove >90% of spyware are SpySweeper and Spyware Doctor, both of which sell for about $29.99. Sadly, the free antispyware programs that are available do poorly with most detecting only 50-65% of spyware. The 3 most popular free sofware programs are Ad Aware, Spybot and Windows Defender. Other worthy mentions are Spyware Terminator and HiJackThis. You can find these programs and more at (www.filehippo.com).

There are some other options as well. Google Pack, a collection of free software programs offered by Google, includes a free version of Symantec Norton's Antivirus and PC Tools' Spyware Doctor (http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html?hl=en&gl=us)

There are no shortage of excellent free and commercial antivirus programs. Read this web article for a review on some great free security software (http://winston-blog.blogspot.com/2006/10/free-security-applications-for-windows.html)

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

Use only one anti-virus. Using more can cause a conflict and actually leave you with less protection not more, as both programs will be "fighting" to scan the same accessed file. Plus your computer will bog down.

Using 2 anti-spywares is OK, in fact it is recommended by experts and propeller-hatted geeks alike!

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For Anti-Virus......(Always use only 1 A-V)

I like the FREE, AOL ActiveVirusShield. Don't let the name AOL scare you. ActiveVirusShield is made by Kaspersky which is one of top-rated anti-virus vendors in the world.

In recent tests, the most popular free anti-virus, AVG, was only able to detect about 82% of a very large sample of viruses. On the other hand, ActiveVirusShield was able to detect better than 99% in the same test.
Full test results are here:
http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=82&mnu=82

ActiveVirusShield has excellent virus detection rates and is extremely light on using your computer resources.

Updates many times per day to detect new malware.

Free to anyone, AOL member or not from:
http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?

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For your Anti-Adware and Anti-Spyware needs...............(use 2)

Pick and choose, 2 anti-spywares from the list below and alternate scanning with them on a regular basis. New spywares are created literally hourly, so no single anti-spyware can really detect all malware. Have at least 2 on hand and alternate scanning with each every few days or so. All are free. All can remove as well as detect.

Spybot Search and Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

Ewido:
http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

Adaware SE:
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

A-Squared:
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

SUPERAntiSpyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/

Windows Defender:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Answer 5

You should not run multiple anti-virus products. Often each will flag the other's files as malware and they could render each other ineffective.

See below from Norton for example. There are numerous references of the dangers of running more than one A/V product.

"Symantec strongly recommends that you run only one antivirus program at a time. Having more than one antivirus program active in memory uses additional resources and can result in program conflicts and false virus alerts. "

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2000031316555206

As for your spyware software, some types do not provide active scanning. I use SpywareBlaster as a front end defense. It blocks a lot of spyware before it installs and uses no system resources

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Also you should still run regular scans with your anti-spyware product. You may also want to consider downloading Adaware, Spybot S&D and AVG Antispyware as well. All three have free versions and Spybot S&D also has a teatimer function to provide some realtime protection.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/20/lng/us/tpl/v5

Answer 6

I am a developer at Microsoft so I know a thing or two about computers. The best PC cleaner and antivirus program is PC Health Boost, it's very light and it's the only antivirus/cleaner with a 99.99% detection rate.

It's also a PC booster so your computer will be running faster than nomal. Download it here for free: http://www.pcboostsoftware.com

Answer 7

You can use as many antispyware programs you want. Three is usually enough, as one will always find what the other ones miss. You can only use one antivirus program or you will have serious conflict with your system.

Here are three antispyware programs I use and they are excellent doing the job.

1) Superantispyware. This program is known to find spyware missed by all others. Plus you will get automatic updates. Download their free version. http://www.superantispyware.com

2) A2Squared Malware out of Austria. Downlaod their free version. This program will protect you from malware, rogue, dialers, worms, keyloggers, trace spyware and rogue cookies. You will have to update on a manual basis daily.

http://www.emsisoft.com

AdAware SE Personal. Download their free home for personal use version. This company out of Sweden has been around since computers became commerical, in the spyware detection business.

http://www.lavasoft.com

If you want an excellent free antivirus program, download free from AOL, Active Virus Sheild, powered by Karpersky Labs. Russia, Rated # 1 in the world for virus detection. You will get auto., updates every hour on the hour, plus an excellent background scanner that really works in real times to kill viruses.

http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp

I am sure you will be very pleased with the above as they work excellent and are very low on resources.

Minddoctor, France

Answer 8

Running more than one internet security/anti-virus protection programme on a computer is very bad and you should remove one of it.
Antivirus applications are like PC guard dogs, sniffing around for suspicious intruders and ripping them to shreds before they can damage your files. Unfortunately, the only thing they hate more than viruses is other antivirus applications. Antivirus software works at a very low level to do its job properly; it snoops in portions of Windows, memory, and other places where high-level programs, such as Web browsers, dare not go.
When two antivirus programs start prowling around, all sorts of problems happen, ranging from program crashes to system lockups. Because these programs typically remain on all the time, they generally load as soon as Windows boots, which means if you install more than one antivirus application on your PC, both programs load automatically and lock up the system before there's a chance to troubleshoot.

More than one internet security/anti-virus protection programme can cause computer to shuts down improperly, computer froze, and many more problems. NOD32 and Kaspersky, Trend Micro are good anti-virus software.

For Anti-spy program, it's ok to run two together but it is not recommended since anti-spy software does not occur many problems to run together. Spy Sweeper and Trend Micro are good anti-spy software.

Answer 9

No on the antivirus program, bad news if you use more than one. As far as the anti spyware program you can have multiple ones.

I recommend Spybot and Ad-Aware for anti spyware.

Good luck!

Answer 10

Hello Karen,

I think that its better to advise you on this by providing you with a link to the PC-World antivirus reviews.... They have experimented with all the antirus softwares available and given a listing of them. That would be best helpful for you. Also you would be able to download some of them like AVG for free. Or you can get a trial version of softwares like Trend Micro pc-cillin, norton etc,...

The PC-World comparison page
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,124475-page,1/article.html

Free AVG Antivirus
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Trial versions of Trend Micro Softwares for Home & Home Office
http://us.trendmicro.com/us/home/home-user/