is it possible to install more than one anti virus program in my computer.? will it affect system?

Question

My present antivirus programe fails to delete a detected virus. so I plan to install one more antivirus programe in my system.I fear it may cause problems as the two antivirus programes may clash.I expect advice from experts in the field

Answer 1

The answers are "yes, you can install as many AV programs as you wish" and "yes, installing more than one will affect your system".

There is no limit to virtually any kind or number of programs you may install on your computer, at least until the hard drive is full or you run out of memory!

However, multiple AV programs may not work efficiently, because they might detect each other as being viruses! Furthermore, when they detect a real virus, you may have to deal with both to resolve the problem, not to mention that having two such programs running in the background will slow down your computer, considerably.

As long as you keep one AV program up-to-date (and it should be a "popular" one, so you know it's legit), you shouldn't need a second AV program.

P.S. Plus one for using the right word, "affect" as opposed to "effect", but minus three for misspelling "program" (or "programme" if you're British) three times!

Answer 2

SECOND ANTIVIRUS COMMANDMENT
THOU SHALL NOT USE TWO MEMORY RESIDENT ANTIVIRUSES AT THE SAME TIME

Never use more than one memory resident antivirus at the same time, though others may be stored in the hard disk.

This is so on account of the fact that the memory resident code of an antivirus occupies the same critical control areas of the virus invasion. If another antivirus is loaded in the memory it may display false alerts of virus or yield unpredictable results or lock up the computer.

Always uninstall a previous antivirus before installing a new version of the same product or a new product.

Answer 3

If you installed a new HD, your PC will be as clean...as that new HD. In theory, viruses are thought capable of nesting anywhere that there's memory - including system RAM and on your video card, but your HD is the place to worry about. Like the others say, getting a new HD is uneccessary if you can simply reinstall your OS. I did this the other day w/XP and it was pretty simple. You need to back up your media files - make sure you don't copy applications for the PC (that might include the malware). It won't run normally because in the time you've had it, you probably had to install software or drivers (or codecs) to allow it to handle many functions you consider normal.

Answer 4

Yes it is possible, however; having more than one antivirus program active in memory uses additional resources and can result in program conflicts and false virus alerts. Your best defense against computer viruses and malicious programs is to keep your virus definitions up to date!

try Avast! or the Avast! Virus Cleaner http://chrispfeffer.com/geekhelp4u/virus.html

Answer 5

Dont have two resident (background) antivirus programs running on the same machine it causes conflicts and false readings

Answer 6

yes,because of the way they work at a low level and integrate with the operating system, one resident antivirus system at a time s all you should use.

But if you want to run a check on an entire disk or file at a time,that should work.

But I'd look into why your virus wasn't deleted properly - everything up to date?

Answer 7

yes and yes- why would you want more than one on there?
I install one, run a scan and then uninstall it... AV programs slow systems down and can create issues with installs etc.