Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1 Message
0
6475
March 13th, 2009 19:00
too many antivirus/spyware?
I was told by a rep from a popular computer repair company that I have too many programs for anti-spyware. He said that they may be countering each other, or canceling each other out, and that I should uninstall at least one of them. I have Symantec Antivirus, Spybot, and AdAware, w/ the default Windows firewall. Both Spybot and AdAware have live protection (teatimer and AdLive) and are the free versions. I'm not sure if symantec has live protection. The implication the rep. made was that I should uninstall Spybot AND AdAware.
1. Is it possible for anti-spyware software to react negatively against each other so that they do not protect the computer?
2. Is my configuration putting me at risk?
3. If yes to both above, should I uninstall either Spybot or AdAware?
4. Or, should I just simply toss this new computer and get a Mac? - Just kidding about #4. :)
0 events found
joe53
2 Intern
•
5.8K Posts
•
17.3K Points
0
March 13th, 2009 21:00
Hi ramonbannister, and welcome to the forum:
It is possible to have too many defensive programs that cause conflicts, but I 'm not sure it applies to your situation.
That said, I don't think you have the best real-time anti-spyware and AV protection available.
Before I comment on your questions, I need some clarification:
1) Which version of Symantec do you have, and is it a standalone Norton Antivirus, or one of Symantec's security suites?
Which version of Spybot, and which version of Ad-Aware?
Which operating system (XP or Vista?)
2) You really only want one good real-time firewall, one antivirus, and one anti-spyware running in real-time.
3) Are you having any problems at present, or were your questions just of a general nature?
rtlemurs
4 Posts
0
March 20th, 2009 12:00
I'm no security expert so you are better off listening to some of the other experts here as to what is best use and how t to use it. I just thought I'd offer an explanation of why this multiple programs that perform similar tasks in realtime can be a problem. This is how it was explained to me and it made sense.
Using antivirus as an example...
If you have two antivirus programs running, the first one may detect and quarantine a threat but the second one may scan that threat in the others quarantine/holding area. If it detects it and does a quarantine or delete this could take away a part of the program that the first program needs to run thus making it non functional.
This may also apply to similar programs. Some versions of Symantec/Norton do some spyware/adware/malware stuff and therefore these other programs could cause issues if they are not configured properly. I think it is Spybot that even warns you to make sure your antivirus software is not scanning it's holding area.
So, and please correct me if I am wrong but I think if you make sure they are setup to not scan the quarantine/holding areas of the other programs you should be fine.
As far as firewalls, one good one should be all you need. More than that and you can get into some strange and tedious issues with what is blocking what and how.