Can I have two anti-virus software running at the same time?

[duker]

I have Norton Internet Security and AVG free. I was going to go all free software but don't know if I should. Does having two anti-virus programs going at the same time fight each other? If so can I turn AVG off and scan with it occasionally? How do you turn AVG off if that is the case? Is there something else that would be better? Appreciate all the help I can get as I'm not computer literate. Thanks.

[morganlefay]

Not recommended to run 2 AV locally.

they tend to fight eachother

What I do is run one AV on the machine....and if I want a second opinion I disable the local AV and use an online scanner...

http://www.google.com/search?q=online+av&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8

I like the Panda scan...

MLF

[Aardpsymon]

Having two av programs running shouldn't crash anything, however having every file you open/save scanned twice is going to slow everything down. If you right click on the AVG icon in the bottom right (a square divided into four small squares of colour) and open the control centre you get options to disable the on-access scanning. If you need I can post more detailed instructions when I get home. I can't remember this sort of thing without it in front of me.

[duker]

Thanks. Can you send me details.

[dalek]

I have Norton Internet Security and AVG free. I was going to go all free software but don't know if I should. Does having two anti-virus programs going at the same time fight each other? If so can I turn AVG off and scan with it occasionally? How do you turn AVG off if that is the case? Is there something else that would be better? Appreciate all the help I can get as I'm not computer literate. Thanks.
You may want to read this.. http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/read.php?2,2797,sv=
post#7 Norton is very proprietory and will cause problems when there is 2 or more AV's trying to use the same resources, if you are going to keep Norton, then you don't really need AVG, if you want to run manual scans when required you can go to:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

or
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/ActiveScan.htm

Regardless, if you have a paid subscription for Norton then use it up, after it is over and you don't wish to use them anymore, but want to use the free AV's (AVG or AVAST) then you should read this info..

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

as a normal add/remove uninstall does not get rid of everything Norton placed on your PC

[nihil]

The collective wisdom is that you should not run more than 1 interactive scanner at once.............. so I only run three but, I do understand software conflicts, so this isn't a real problem:D

I run AVG 7.5 and Avast! and they work just fine because they work differently. I do not like Norton, and would not run it at all, given any sort of choice............it is a great resource grabber, and notorious for clashing with all sorts of things.

I also have ClamWin running...........doesn't seem to do much though:D

It is fun to watch AVG do its daily scan.............didn't find anything until today...........it opens stuff in a temporary file, and Avast! goes mad when it finds my collection of virus and trojan generators.......and even relatively innocuous stuff like John and Cain:D............I don't let Avast! scan that folder;)

AVG came up with a load of false positives today............ all of the installation files for FireFox 1.x as it happens......... I am actually running 2.x and it had no problem with that's installation file..............time I did a bit of housekeeping methinks?

I would NOT run two firewalls at the same time though.......... if you cannot set the rules correctly for the first you won't on the second. Might be justifiable with a network and a physical and software firewall, but not otherwise.

Having said all that, I don't have much faith in AVs these days......... Registry protection and anti spyware probably do most of the work. Also look at using virtual sandbox technology.

[douchrti2004]

Im using bitdefender right now.
I used Avast and Ad-Aware SE with Sygate firewall for years with great results.
Bitdefender seems to work well considering its a all in one.

Never had much faith in Norton, too many problems with the program itself.

[cross]

in my experience, not a good idea. For me, norton + mcafee = BSOD thats as far as I experamented with it. Granted this was a year or more ago, but still, I would recommend ONE av, and then use an online scan as a secondary opinion if you need it.

[marsbarz]

Suggest that you not use Norton.

[Aardpsymon]

I personally find that norton is more than capable of generating BSoDs on its own without assistance from anything.