Installing Multiple Antivirus Programs

[agoodfella]

I currently have Norton IS 2008 installed on my Windows Vista machine.

I was thinking about adding another AV program (such as BitDefender or Kaspersky). I was wondering if I can I have multiple AV programs installed on my machinge?

I mean I know that who can't have multiple ones running in the background at the same time, but I was wondering if installing multiple AV programs creates unnecessary conflicts with a system.

Thanks

[puntoMX]

To install multiple anti virus programs is a waste of machine power and can give you conflicts. I think that few people would do so but I would say drop that ugly Norton and get your self a good AV program please...

[Jeremy]

Remove all antivirus software and invest in a good hardware firewall, don't download off Kazaa or LimeWire, test things in a virtual environment, things like that.

I have been free of unecessary programs (whether resource friendly or not) taking up space, RAM and CPU usage when they are not relevant for what I do on my PC.

[[deXter]]

To answer your question: No, simply installing multiple antivirus by itself won't (rather, shouldn't) cause any conflicts in your system.

It's not that simple however, because most AVs load drivers, services and other programs at system startup. If you want to ensure that there's no conflict, after you install the second AV, make sure you disable all the autostarts before you reboot your PC. Also, while using the second AV, you'll need to disable the background scanner of the first AV.

For some AVs though, you can't simply uninstall or disable the drivers - they may be required by it for functioning properly.

Logically speaking, it's normal for wanting to have a second/third AV for the purpose of just scanning a file. (Although if that's your only reason, then just head over to virustotal.com or virusscan.jotti.org)

A safe bet then would be to install the new AVs in individual sandboxes in Sandboxie. This way, you won't be messing up your PC. You'll still however, need to disable your first AV when you're executing the other AVs from the Sandbox.

[D_block]

Norton works, no need to dump it. i have norton 07 and 360 an the results i get from it is amazing, plus my pc works at its peak !!!

why would u want 2 antivirus though ?

im using windows defender and norton , no need for a second one,

[nitroshift]

Norton works, no need to dump it. i have norton 07 and 360 an the results i get from it is amazing, plus my pc works at its peak !!!

That is YOUR view on the matter, maybe we are all stupid for recommending UNINSTALLING Norton products... What do you think that counts more: one opinion or a bunch of them?

[Zxian]

That is YOUR view on the matter, maybe we are all stupid for recommending UNINSTALLING Norton products... What do you think that counts more: one opinion or a bunch of them?

In fact... every opinion is just as valid as any other. The number leaning to one side of the argument doesn't necessarily negate the validity of the other opinions. Some people like Norton, others don't. It's as simple as that.

To the OP, you could install two anti-virus programs, but what for? In my opinion, an anti-virus program should be a backup to your own safe computing habits. If you're relying on it to keep your computer clean, then you need to re-think some of the things you do. I've been running all three of my Windows computers without any anti-virus for about a year and a half now, and I haven't picked up anything (short of a small piece of spyware on one machine, but that was my own fault). I think you're asking the wrong question here...

[D_block]

according to zxiam some ppl prefer it and sum do not. some ppl havent used it in ages and still dont like it either. oh well it works miricales for me and all the machines i ever used it on, my clients are happy