Running AVAST and Microsoft Security Essentials together

[SHRED]

So far no conflict.

Any negatives to doing this you think?


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[Earth Bound Misfit]

1. Even if they do not conflict or degrade performance...

...which practically every Security Pro sez they WILL eventually...trying to achieve 100% protection 100% of the time is unrealistic and unachievable IMHO plus you'll spend more time maintaining multiple products (and multiple POSSIBLE false-positives/bad definition updates, scheduling said updates, etc) than the effort likely will be worth.

One other thought comes immediately to mind: RESOURCES. I suppose running two real-time AV's...PLUS Dog-knows what else...might be okay if you've got a Quad core with a Bazillion GB RAM, but the average user...not so much.

How does your firewall feel about...

"The Situation"

Edit to add: Does/did running 2 AV's in real time noticeably increase your boot-time and/or hinder anything else that loads at boot?

[Earth Bound Misfit]

2. Here's the best reply I've read so far re: 2 AV's Yes or No??

Googled running two antivirus programs same time and read through about 2 dozen or so randomly picked links on the first page and there seems to be no DEFINITVE yes or no "answer"---just a LOT of opinionated ASSHOLES trying to win a seemingly impossible-to-win argument with little more than "Because I said so" arguments. One I've read comes closest to "proving" you should only use 1, IMHO.

I'd be interested to hear from the dozen or so resident DU puter' GURU's that frequent this forum. (I am NOT one of them, I'm just an average user)

Reply # 29 by GoodTimeCharlie @ http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6132_102-309240.html

One needs to keep in mind the difference between products. Generally:

1. Firewall products monitor communications ports ... They must run at (are hooked into) the operating system level.

2. Anti-Virus products monitor a lot of things: File reads/writes, Software installs, E-Mail activity/attachments, Registry changes, Some network activity, Browser add-on install attempts, etc ... To provide 'real-time' protection they must also run at (hooked into) the operating system level, however they do not need to do so just to do an 'on-demand' scan of your system.

3. Anti-Spyware/Anti-Adware tend to look for attempts to access or execute known 'bad' program files, etc ... they are almost always run on-demand thus you may have multiple products installed as they will be self-contained in their own directory (not in the operating systems directory); however, some products offer real-time protection (IE: SpyBot S & D "TeaTimer") and the 'real-time' functions must be run at (hooked into) the OS also.

Each of these toolsets may 'modify' specific parts of the operating system by replacing the operating systems default program with their own (ie: inserting the 'hook') ... I say MAY because obviously a product designed to be manually fired up from an on-line site or the local C: drive usually does not modify the OS, but those products that 'run in the background' (ie: are started when you boot the PC) typically do hook into OS files.

Given this:
4) If you install multiple products that are designed to 'stay within their world' (ie: a firewall product that does not include a built in anti-virus tool and an anti-virus tool that does not include a firewall) you will be OK; however,
5) if you install multiple products that: a) hook into the OS, and b) overlap in function (ie: 2 anti-virus checkers) they may overlay each others 'hooks' in the OS and you may not be OK.
6) keep in mind that every product installed will also modify the system registry (often used by the OS to find the program to be executed for a specific function), reconfiguring it to 'point' to that products executables when a certain condition occurs (ie: an 'open .exe file') ... thus the 'registry hooks' can also be reconfigured multiple times.

Additionally, should you install 2 anti-virus products, when you uninstall one of them, you may really be left with a mix of program files & registry entries that may trash your system effectively.

Note: due to anti-trust laws, etc., the Microsoft defender/firewall tools can 'exist' with other products; however, you should configure your system to have the Microsoft products disabled or you may run into problems and/or have horrible response issues.

I say this based upon working over 40 years as an IT specialist.

Goodtime Charlie, VA