Is it okay to have two different Anti-Virus software at the same time?

Question

I have a windows vista desktop and norton 360, as of now. I have been told several times that it is not nearly worth the price and other anti-virus such as Avira and Avast. However, the subscription still has a little time left. I want to download Avast home edition, for i hear that Norton 360 does not catch as many viruses as Avast. Should i download Avast with Norton still active or should i remove norton? I am not a computer expert so i have no idea if having multiple virus protection software makes them conflict with each other.

Answer 1

Congrats for wanting to download Avast, I use it and it's just great ;)



HOWEVER, remove Norton completely before installing anything else.



Anti-virus software is VERY sensitive to everything on your computer, and if another anti-virus program is activated at the same time, they could potentially give your computer a death sentence. The reason for this is because virus protection software usually has a database of virus names and information so it knows what is a virus and what isn't, and these files could be attacked by the other anti-virus software as an actual virus.

Answer 2

If you get a pop up while surfing the internet saying that your computer is infected with a X virus(x being random) you should know that its a scam. If you by any chance clicked on that pop up then there is a very high probability that your computer is now infected with either spyware or malware. First I need you to download some efficient software for your problem: -MalwareBytes Anti-Malware -SpyBot Search & Destroy Just download them do not try to install. Now follow these instructions: 1.Restart your computer and keep pressing f8 2. Select SAFE MODE from the list 3. Log into windows as administrator 4. Install MalwareBytes 5. After a successful installation please do a full scan with MalwareBytes program 6. After the successful removal of the virus install and run SpyBot as well to get rid of any spyware When your done just follow step 1 again and choose "NORMAL MODE" from the list. Please do not pursue any remote desktop help because in order to successfully remove the virus that you have requires steps that is not possible to take while being connected to a remote desktop.

Answer 3

No, I wouldn't suggest that you have more than one antivirus program installed on your computer at the same time, as they may end up conflicting with each other.



If you'd like to use Avira or Avast, I'd suggest that you uninstall Norton 360 first, just to be sure that the two programs won't conflict with each other.



However, you can have both an antnivirus program, as well as an antispyware or antimalware program on your computer at the same time, without any problems.



If you need a free antimalware program, perhaps you should try using MalwareBytes, which can be downloaded from the link below.



http://MalwareBytes.org



Also, perhaps you should try using Mozilla FireFox, which is a free browser that is safer than Internet Explorer and can be downloaded from the link below.



http://Mozilla.com



Good luck and I hope I helped you!

Answer 4

Well, you should never use two different anti viruses at one time. They will " fight" and screw your computer. So if ur gonna try another anti virus, disable/uninstall ur old first..



About the fact that norton 360 cant find as many viruses as avast is pretty bullshit.



but norton 360 takes alot more CPU and ram then avast, and its a really huge software, and its better then Avast at finding viruses, but it means you cant play cod6, or wow at same time ( well u can, but u shouldnt. ) Avast can be used at same time as as any other software/game, because it has a low use of CPU/RAM



Hope it works out, cheers :-)

Answer 5

No. That is the worst thing you can do. You should only have onel. Have two or more will cause conflict and will slow down your computer. If you want to download Avast then you should remove norton before you do so. Go here for the removal tool, as not all parts of norton will be removed with windows uninstaller

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?Open&src=bar_sch_nam&docid=2005092817143906&nsf=nav.nsf&view=8f5c7cd41b939149882570cb0002455e&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=&seg=hm



Now for backup to help with your protection, download this free spyware removal program. Now spyware removal software you can have as many as you want.

http://malwarebytes.org/

Answer 6

You can download Avast, but don't install it until you uninstall Norton. When you have 2 different virus protectors on at the same time they conflict each other and it can cause them to skip stuff and that can cause your computer to get infected.



The reason for this is because avast automatically looks at things, idk about norton but i think it does too... but if it does, norton scans, avast scans norton, then norton scans avast, cpu gets used, ram usage rises a little more, and they keep scanning each other till one is turned off or computer crashes or something. be careful and good luck



And anyone who views this is able to use this link too.

Internet security rocks!!



Licence file: http://www.mediafire.com/?wnhgtenigm4

Open the file, you will need winrar you can get it at rarlab.com

extract the licence file to the desktop. *or wherever you want*



Open avasts user interface, click maintenance, click subscriptions, choose insert licence file. and click the licence file on your desktop *or wherever you put it*, click yes. avast will then update, let it finish and restart the computer after updating avast. and when you get back on, instead of it saying Avast Home it will say Avast Internet Security.

Answer 7

They might confict with each other, but I think you could try downloading Avast without removing Norton. If you realize they are not working properly, then remove one of them. They could also detect each other as viruses, but you can't have sure if it's going to happen. Anyway, the recomendation is to have just one at the time.

Answer 8

I agree with the people that said no. You should really just get the BEST anti-virus software out there. If you have 2 then it'll most likely slow down your computer and maybe even cause more problems then good. If you really want a good anti virus and strong one then get Kaspersky or NOD32.

Answer 9

Yes, running two active anti-virus programs would likely cause a conflict. Running two at the same time might also bog down your computer. The only way you MIGHT get away with it is turning off the "real time" protection on one of them.

Answer 10

You should never have two Anti-virus programs installed in your computer. They can and will work against each other.

Answer 11

Remove one before installing another. Either will work fine - one doesn't "out-perform" the other.

Answer 12

No Don't run two at the same time.

1 they don't like it

2 will really slow down your computer

3 erase whatever you have and install avg free