mcafee installed on top of norton

This was a mistake on my roomates part, I wouldn't have let him do it. but last night he got mcafee virus scan and he installed it without uninstalling norton, normally it would tell you that you need to uninstall any other scanners (especially norton) well he says it didn't. my roomate went through the whole install process, restarted, and now his computer will grind to a halt when mcafee is trying to load. Safe mode doesn't work , no boot discs work either. He is currently reinstalling windows. Neither Norton or Mcafee will say a single word about each other.

-Why do these AV scanners have to have that much control over the system to make it crash when they're installed on top of each other?
-Has anyone else had this happen? What did you do?

Boot discs may work (knoppix or something to retrieve files), you need to enable CD booting the the computer's BIOS, before the HDD.
They usually crash when trying to scan the same file, sorta like 2 kids grabbing at a lollipop at the same time and fighting over it.

I have a hard time believing safe mode doesn't work. You did try F8 at startup, correct? What were the results?

Did you get into safe mode? Safe mode (as I last remember) does not load the antivirus.

Hi

Totaly agree with Soda .....This might be Due to Doth Trying to Scan the Same File ..... They shouldn't Halt thought......... I have seen live together and Share the lollipop :p .....But if Computer not working in Safe Mode and with Boot Disk......Then it's Probably something else you looking in the wrong direction.......because They are not Loded (During Safe Mode or with Boot Disk) So they can't Crash or halt the system ........

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normally it would tell you that you need to uninstall any other scanners (especially norton) well he says it didn't.

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No it wouldn't Overite Norton it's not like Upgrading to a Higher Verson of the same Software ....... if mcafee starts doing that Without the permission form Norton; Norton might Sue it......They are Two different Software .........And they might be installed together althow i don't think it's a good idea to have two AV at once

Well, my roomate tried to use his recovery disc that came with the computer and we found that it wouldn't boot from cd-rom. So we tried F8 and chose safe mode, then it said that the system wasn't fully installed. That didn't make any sense because he says he hadn't tried reinstalling windows yet. Do you think a virus could have actually had a part in this? My roomate said that his computer has been acting strange lately and his virus scans have been clean.
Also, cd booting always worked before this. but I am going to double check bios.

i have seen systems become pretty unstable when both were installed yes, but never have i seen it completely corrupt your laod to the point that safe mode will not even work. if you were unable to access safe mode before you messed with your recovery disks and such, then i would guess that yes, a virus probably had some part in it.

i have seen many people install multiple av programs as well as trojan hunters, etc, thinking this will double their protection. usually, all that happens is that the programs end up conflicting with each other, disabling each other, etc, nullifying the original purpose of installing them in the first place. you friend may be a good example of this; installing two systems, yet still getting hit with a possible virus.

i always say choose which ever one is your favorite and has the most friendly interface for you. make sure you are always up to date and run scans regularly.