# Multi Anti-Virus Protection?



## YoKid (May 6, 2009)

Hey~
I'm just wondering what are the best anti-virus/spyware/trojan/etc around that works with other programs (No conflicts between one another).

Basicly, I want to have 2 or maybe even 3 virus protectors running at all times.

-1 for just general protection.
-Another with general protection aswell and has a extremely efficent & Fast (When I say fast I actually mean...FAST) "Quick scan", with a "Full computer scan" Option.

Of course, it would be best if both programs provide the user an option to disable the protections completely whenever the user wants to.

It's also best that the programs are light; does not slow down my computer in anyway (start-up, gaming, watching movies, streaming videos, etc).

*Note: I'm currently using NOD32 AntiVirus and BitDefender, and the reason I'm searching for complete different programs is because when I start up Bit Defender, it seems to freeze/Slow down A Lot the computer, so i searched for an answer and was informed that it might be having conflicts with the other programs I am using.

*Note2: 
My Comp:
Windows XP
AMD Athlon 2800+
2.07GHz
1.5GB of Ram

Thanks in Advance~


YoKid-


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## Flyordie (May 6, 2009)

Keep away from AVG... the newer Nortons are improving greatly... 
Avast is good..
Windows Live One Care is also good. 
More than one is alot of times *overkill... *


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## DonInKansas (May 6, 2009)

Just use Avast.  Over three years virus free for me.  

No reason for more unless you KNOW you're delving into virus-ridden pools.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (May 6, 2009)

I actually recommend AVG. However, I recommend Nod32 over all. 

Dont run more than one AV at the same time. They will interfere with one another and cause problems. Its probably why your computer is going so slow is because you have Nod and bitdefender running at the same time.


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## richardbel (May 6, 2009)

lol i dont see any benefits running 2 anti virus at the same time since it will cause some usage problem and your system will run slow.. and i dont know a guy who even tried it..


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## YoKid (May 6, 2009)

lol...more than 1 is too much huh....?xD I was using like 5 in the sametime before i reformated my comp. haha.

Anyways, say if i DO only run 1 AntiVirus a time. Is it still okay to have other ones installed; for virus scanning purposes? In case the one im running missed deleting/healing the infections? If so, which one would you guyz perfer as the backup scanner?


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (May 6, 2009)

No reason to. Just use one.


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## YoKid (May 6, 2009)

aw....kk... Thanks for all the replies btw~


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (May 6, 2009)

Since you got nod32, keep that one.


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## Mussels (May 6, 2009)

all the free ones (AVG, avast) and so on tend to get lots of false positives. Hell, you can name just about any file "keygen" and get a generic virus alert on some of these programs.


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## Hayder_Master (May 7, 2009)

kaspersky , nod32


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## Wolfdale (May 17, 2009)

Kaspersky is the best

But if you rely on PCWorld Anti-Virus Chart, you can choose Norton 2009 after all


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## freaksavior (May 17, 2009)

Kaspersky is by far the best i've used


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## oily_17 (May 17, 2009)

What I use is NOD32 for real time protection and Malwarebytes for a scan once a week or so.


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## jagass (May 17, 2009)

Just don't use AVG...


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## Tau (May 17, 2009)

you dont need more than one AV.  Anymore and you will have SERIOUS issues.

Most of the time you dont even need an AV as long as you are aware of what you are browsing/downloading.....

I personally use Nod32 on all my machines and love it.


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## hat (May 17, 2009)

Malwarebyte's anti-malware. I've used Avast! on my mom's computer which was throroughly fucked with viruses. Avast! found 4, and then I ran Malwarebyte's anti-malware and found 7 more! Dr. Web's Cure All is supposed to be good as well, I used it on mom's computer but between Avast and Malwarebyte's there was nothing left for Dr. Web.


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## YoKid (May 17, 2009)

Ya I have that installed, but i dont have it running. Its like a back up scanner.


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## mrw1986 (May 17, 2009)

Wolfdale said:


> Kaspersky is the best
> 
> But if you rely on PCWorld Anti-Virus Chart, you can choose Norton 2009 after all



I'm a huge Nod32 fan...but Norton 2009 runs leaner and has better detection/removal rates...read some reviews before you go bashing a product just because of its history. I tried the 30 day trial of Norton 2009 and I think its fantastic and works quite a bit better than Nod32. The only reason I didn't keep it is because its $40...I get Nod32 much cheaper. I've been using Nod32 for years and its not worth me spending the extra money to save 2mb of usage and slightly better detection. I've never had a virus in all these years...


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## hat (May 17, 2009)

I personally don't like ANY anti-virus OR firewall that runs in the background. Always updating, always blocking shit that doesn't need to be blocked, always causing funky problems, not to mention the only thing I find it good for is deleting any trainers I may have for my pc games. honestly the last real virus I remember having on my PC was some stupid shit virus that was hidden away in a keygen or no-cd crack or something to that effect. Viruses don't just magically appear on people's computers, they have to get there somehow, usually coming from free porn websites, malicious email and bullshit banner ads for free laptops and PS3s.


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## Akumos (May 18, 2009)

I used Avast too, I can highly recomened it. But as others have said, running more than 1 is just hogging resources.


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## GenTarkin (May 20, 2009)

I personally, do not like running AV programs AT ALL...they slow down machines in one way or another. AVG is a standard free program that I recommend. Its a pretty decent program, I would say in resource usage in real time monitoring its average. I personally am running Avast free on my home PC...i7 @ 4ghz, ... from what I can tell its a very light AV protection as far as resource usage in realtime scanning. See, I dont care how much RAM a AV uses (within reasonable margins of course) as long as its realtime scanning engine doesnt bog down the HDD / file system to crap...because I had nod32 installed a few months back and on my bigger iso files and such...to right click on them or open them...nod32 ran at 100% and its real time scanner was parsing the damn file for about 10 minutes. That bugged the CRAP outta me and is extremely ineffecient. AVG has nowhere near that amount of ineffecient real time monitoring. Avast is even faster on those types of files. 

On another note, even if norton 2009 is vastly improved, I will never touch / recommend that software again, its still garbage, I work in a PC shop and repair / virus clean machines all day long...the amount of stuff norton still messes up is amazing! My favorite software written by symantec has to be the Norton Removal Tool, I love running that little utility on machines...hehehe!

Mcafee is also another piece of complete garbage, I love running their removal tool as well.

As far as secondary protection, passive programs such as Spybot S&D without teatimer installed is, and Malwarebytes Antimalware are all awesome programs to have as passive / manual scanners.

I would NEVER recommend running more than 1 active / real time scanner. It will bog down the machine nearly 2x as much for each one you add. Think about it, you have windows requesting a particular file(fast), then 1 AV scanner tapping that file as well at same time, (slower) lastly imagine more real time scanners tapping that file while all of them are (extremely slow)....I would say only do that if you have SSD even then I wouldnt recommend it lol! 

As far as firewalls, sure there are great 3rd party firewalls out there even free ones that are better then paid ones...but I usually recommend just stick with windows OS firewall, primarily because it does a basic job fine. It is controllable through GPO(useful for configuration in a domain environment). It doesnt interfere with stuff, and it works. When you start adding 3rd party firewall, people start blocking interprocess communication stuff that needs to run for windows to run correctly, and then other issues can lead to it interfereing with windows firewall....its just a mess waiting to happen and rendering your network communcation in windows a mess and simply not working anymore!

Windows firewall and a basic router, is pretty much all the firewall protection thats useful for most people.


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## StormHammy (May 20, 2009)

I use AVG and have spybot S&D installed and use zonealarm free firewall. also my ultimate virus removal tool *cue dramatic music* a Bart PE Windows XP reformat CD. ^(O.O)^ *used only if i seriously cant find that/those buggers and if they really messing up my computer.* (only used once to date.) >.<


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