rnfolsom
January 27th, 2006, 09:01 PM
For the record:
It is entirely possible that I am over-protected, but I did want to report that I am running the following simultaneously:
Eset's NOD32 2.5.25
Webroot's SpySweeper 4.5
Sunbelt's CounterSpy 1.5.82
My understanding is that running more than one anti-virus program simultaneously in real time causes conflicts (e.g. one AV program thinks the other AV program contains viruses, because the other virus program's signatures look like viruses), so I've never done that. I switched from NAV (within SystemWorks) to NOD32 (by uninstalling SystemWorks), rather than run them both. (I run SystemWorks Norton Utilities from CD when I need to.)
On the other hand, my understanding and experience is that at least for some anti-spyware programs, running more than one is not only feasible but also is recommended. (In the past, I have seen that recommendation on either Webroot's SpySweeper site or on Sunbelt's CounterSpy site --- I don't remember which, and have not taken the time to look for it again.)
In my own case, on a Windows 2000 Sp4 Rollup1(v1) Dell Latitude C800 laptop (max 500mb RAM; Pentium III 1.1ghz), running the three programs listed above (and remembering that NOD32 includes not only AV but also some anti-spyware capability) has not caused any problems.
I am running CounterSpy because Brian Livingston's Windows Secrets newsletter, as of roughly 4-9 months ago, reported that major computing magazine testing gave CounterSpy the best ratings. More recently, late in 2005, Livingston noted that SpySweeper now gets the best magazine ratings. So I am running them both (along with NOD32) in real time "guard" (my term) mode.
However, when I do an on-demand scan using either of the three programs, I stop running the other two programs.
Cordially, Roger Folsom
P.S. (Admittedly a bit off-topic, so please don't reply to it in this thread, but I've included it in the interests of full disclosure): There is an annoyance (rather than a problem) with running SpySweeper and CounterSpy simultaneously. SpySweeper deals with adware by diverting it into the computer hosts file, where its address is given as 127.0.0.1, which as I understand it is my own computer's address. So adware, instead of sending its "phone home" messages to the sponsor of the adware, dumps it into my computer where it apparently dies.
But CounterSpy thinks that SpySweeper action is malware invading my hosts file. So I needed to tell Counterspy that additions to my hosts file to address 127.0.0.1 are acceptable. So on each reboot or even logon to a different account (user vs admin), CounterSpy continually (and proudly, in a "green band on top" message) reports that it has accepted at least some those host file modifications. On each reboot, those CounterSpy messages are a bit tedious, and they do take time.
My hosts file is now about 33kb large, and has not grown significantly in recent weeks. So I am looking for a way to tell CounterSpy to stop those reports. But I haven't been looking very hard, because for me, these reports are not a major issue.
It is entirely possible that I am over-protected, but I did want to report that I am running the following simultaneously:
Eset's NOD32 2.5.25
Webroot's SpySweeper 4.5
Sunbelt's CounterSpy 1.5.82
My understanding is that running more than one anti-virus program simultaneously in real time causes conflicts (e.g. one AV program thinks the other AV program contains viruses, because the other virus program's signatures look like viruses), so I've never done that. I switched from NAV (within SystemWorks) to NOD32 (by uninstalling SystemWorks), rather than run them both. (I run SystemWorks Norton Utilities from CD when I need to.)
On the other hand, my understanding and experience is that at least for some anti-spyware programs, running more than one is not only feasible but also is recommended. (In the past, I have seen that recommendation on either Webroot's SpySweeper site or on Sunbelt's CounterSpy site --- I don't remember which, and have not taken the time to look for it again.)
In my own case, on a Windows 2000 Sp4 Rollup1(v1) Dell Latitude C800 laptop (max 500mb RAM; Pentium III 1.1ghz), running the three programs listed above (and remembering that NOD32 includes not only AV but also some anti-spyware capability) has not caused any problems.
I am running CounterSpy because Brian Livingston's Windows Secrets newsletter, as of roughly 4-9 months ago, reported that major computing magazine testing gave CounterSpy the best ratings. More recently, late in 2005, Livingston noted that SpySweeper now gets the best magazine ratings. So I am running them both (along with NOD32) in real time "guard" (my term) mode.
However, when I do an on-demand scan using either of the three programs, I stop running the other two programs.
Cordially, Roger Folsom
P.S. (Admittedly a bit off-topic, so please don't reply to it in this thread, but I've included it in the interests of full disclosure): There is an annoyance (rather than a problem) with running SpySweeper and CounterSpy simultaneously. SpySweeper deals with adware by diverting it into the computer hosts file, where its address is given as 127.0.0.1, which as I understand it is my own computer's address. So adware, instead of sending its "phone home" messages to the sponsor of the adware, dumps it into my computer where it apparently dies.
But CounterSpy thinks that SpySweeper action is malware invading my hosts file. So I needed to tell Counterspy that additions to my hosts file to address 127.0.0.1 are acceptable. So on each reboot or even logon to a different account (user vs admin), CounterSpy continually (and proudly, in a "green band on top" message) reports that it has accepted at least some those host file modifications. On each reboot, those CounterSpy messages are a bit tedious, and they do take time.
My hosts file is now about 33kb large, and has not grown significantly in recent weeks. So I am looking for a way to tell CounterSpy to stop those reports. But I haven't been looking very hard, because for me, these reports are not a major issue.