More Than 1 AntiVirus?

[stephentony]

I have a question that I'm sure has been posed here before. Can you really install more than one antivirus, and truly have no compatibility issues? I run NOD32 all by itself, but I will admit I have been tempted to install a second antivirus, and use it as a backup or "On Demand" scanner. Thanks much.

:D

[Blackcat]

You can install multiple AV scanners but you must only use one running continuously as your on-access RealTime Monitor. Any others must be used as only on-demand scanners after a custom install of each, after disabling your primary scanner.

There are combinations of AV which seem to work better than others but overall, IMO, if you are a low-risk surfer, keep to your present AV and supplement with an on-line AV scanner.

NOD will give you excellent protection by itself. However, if you are looking for a layered approach, go with NOD and an Antitrojan combination ;)

[RejZoR]

Well i found out that NOD32 and avast! work together in real-time without any problems. Maybe you have to discard one or another popup message if both detect same sample,but in general i didn't notice any other problems.

[Blackcat]

Although RejZoR states he has no problems (so far!), running any two AV's together, with their Guards running at the same time is not recommended, particularly for newbies.

RejZoR, is this with all options enabled in the two RTM's? e.g. email scanners etc

[RejZoR]

Well,usually you get warning at installation time,but i didn't.
Real-time scanners were both fully operational,but i didn't use any mail modules.
I suggest that you use only one or another,since mail checking isn't the same as file checking (port locking,different mail interception methods) and can lead into problems.

[mercurie]

BlackCat and others too,
I run EZ AV on one PC and Command AV on the other. Does anyone have experience running a free one with these. I know EZ AV is free but it will be for only 9 more mos. By the way that one on that PC can be considered the free one and the suggested one pay. The PC that has that has EZ is slower and older. I would kind'a like to run more then one too with the precautions stated above of course.

Note: This was so on point, I did not see any reason to start a new thread. stephentony was really looking for addition to NOD32.

Thanks all. :)

[the mul]

I am sorry, but I cannot give u any info on running a free av, but I run both NOD32 and KAV 4.5 together without any problems at all, only KAV has the real time monitor enabled and NOD I use as an on demand scanner.
I can switch between the two without any problems either as well.
There are many threads on what av programmes are the best or work together without issue, but as all windows systems are different and each of us have different software and hardware installed, it could have different effects on how your av programmes work together compared to others, It is just a game of trial and error.

Your friend

THE MUL

[synapse]

i have no problem running NOD32, SOPHOS, and eSCAN at the same time ......

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "NOD will give you excellent protection by itself. However, if you are looking for a layered approach, go with NOD and an Antitrojan combination ;)" }-
It's not a second AV, but this is excellent advice. Pairing one of the big 3 or 4 AT's yields a powerful punch. For lightness, I personally recommend BOClean (I use TDS-3 on demand and for it's other tools).

If you're really looking for a second AV, I've been fairly impressed with mks_vir's on-line scanner (http://english.mks.com.pl/products.html). You need to use IE to use it since ActiveX is part of the equation, but it's a good option among the many on-line scanner options and serves well as a pure demand scanner.

Blue

[mercurie]

-{ Quote: "It's not a second AV, but this is excellent advice. Pairing one of the big 3 or 4 AT's yields a powerful punch. For lightness, I personally recommend BOClean (I use TDS-3 on demand and for it's other tools).

Blue" }-BoClean is always on the job on both PCs.

[jlo]

Hi,

I am using Dr Web at the moment for on access but if I download a file I always put it through http://virusscan.jotti.dhs.org/ as it is tested with 10 up-to-date AV products plus Norman's sandbox technology.

Cheers

James

[stephentony]

Not really looking for a second antivirus, although I did say I was tempted. My question was directed more to the issue of safely installing more than one on a computer. I have heard many times over the years that doing so was unsafe because of a multitude of issues. Even if one is solely used as an on demand backup. I have seen so many posts here, in the past, that refer to running multiple antivirus software. I guess I was really asking (especially with so many knowledgeable people who frequent this security forum) wether or not it was a sound idea. I was not looking for the name of an antivirus that would run well with NOD32. I apologize if I was unclear. Thanks.

[WSFuser]

i just thought id post that like RejZoR, im currently running both nod32 and avast in realtime. so far there hasnt been any slowdown or conflict. they work great together. running 2 AVs in realtime isnt necessarily a bad thing, i guess it rele depends on which combination of AVs u pick.

[bigc73542]

-{ Quote: "BlackCat and others too,
I run EZ AV on one PC and Command AV on the other. Does anyone have experience running a free one with these. I know EZ AV is free but it will be for only 9 more mos. By the way that one on that PC can be considered the free one and the suggested one pay. The PC that has that has EZ is slower and older. I would kind'a like to run more then one too with the precautions stated above of course.

Note: This was so on point, I did not see any reason to start a new thread. stephentony was really looking for addition to NOD32.

Thanks all. :)" }-

command will run with just about anything just don't forget to disable commands resident or it will lock your comp right up if it is running resident with another av resident also. I have used command as on demand and resident and it plays well with other av's

[Why?]

With NOD32, you don't need any other anti-virus. NOD32 is the best anti-virus in the world, this is not opinion but it is the fact, the fact that so many people can't accept.

You can see this fact in professional test such as Virus Bulletin and AV-Comparatives test.

In my opinion. Other anti-viruses are no where to near what NOD32 does. NOD32 uses less resources than other, faster than other but NOD32 gives the better job than other anti-virus in this world, gets VB100% more than other anti-virus in this world.

Don't you think why?...

[WSFuser]

-{ Quote: "With NOD32, you don't need any other anti-virus. NOD32 is the best anti-virus in the world, this is not opinion but it is the fact, the fact that so many people can't accept.

You can see this fact in professional test such as Virus Bulletin and AV-Comparatives test.

In my opinion. Other anti-viruses are no where to near what NOD32 does. NOD32 uses less resources than other, faster than other but NOD32 gives the better job than other anti-virus in this world, gets VB100% more than other anti-virus in this world.

Don't you think why?..." }-
be careful of wut u say, ppl will gladly argue ur point. how can u prove NOD32 is the best? you cant! and theres ppl that will argue the best way to judge an AV. personally, i dont know of nething that is perfect or the best. this is especially true of pc security. sometimes one products does better than another. many times u need to use multiple products to get better results. Im a happy user of NOD32, but theres a few AV like KAV that simply have better detection rates (although at the cost of pc resources). If u state something to be true than u should provide some good supporting evidence.

[Blackspear]

@Why?

Posting as you have is very one eyed, it is not helpful in any manner or form. All that you are accomplishing by posting in such a way is to start a flame war which is not helpful to the original poster who is seeking opinions and advice on weather or not to run a combination of anti-virus software.

It is no different than saying my car is better than yours. Your car may get to the line first today, and mine might get there first tomorrow, both have a function of getting from A to B, some come with more features than others, others use less resources etc etc, and we all have our own preferences as to what we like. Yes there are some major differences between some products, but on a whole there is a majority of fine software available that performs very well.

Please refrain from such comments in the future, opinions are welcome, starting a flame war isn’t.

Cheers

Blackspear.

[WSFuser]

couldnt have said it better myself.

[kevincc4]

I posted exactly the same question on another forum couple years ago and again couple of days ago on another forum and somebody ( kazzi ) was kind enough to to give me a link to this thread.

http://www.pcflank.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5011#post5011

I am wondering if anybody else is running Nod 32 with Norton or McAfee or another that is not mentioned here simultaneously and would like to share their experiences.

Also I am a novice so I went with Norton because of the popularity but I did not see anybody mentioning it here in this forum (which sounds like there are professional and very knowledgeable people in this forum) have any advice for me as to if there is another Antivirus that is definitely better than Norton and why.

I am glad I discovered this forum and thank you kazzi for the link to this forum.

Kevin

[Firecat]

I think you should rather stick to your current AV as realtime and use AntiDote Superlight (KAV engine) as backup (on demand).

[Mr2cents]

I'm running 2 on demand antiviruses...Avg 7.0 free and antivir personal free. My resident is bitdefender standard 8.0.137. I'm not having any problems whatsoever. This is the first time I've had more than one antivirus product on my computer at one time. I usually run one antivirus and do online scans at trendmico and panda.

Bitdefender is a great antivirus, but it's slow scanning my computer. It took it 58 minutes to scan 102,000 files ::) It takes avg about 27 minutes, antvir about the same. Why 2 on demand scanners? I wanted to try out avg and antivir both ;D

[Kye-U]

I was feeling adventurous today, so I removed NOD32, and I installed Antivir PE v6, Dr. Web 4.32b and F-Prot 3.16a. That's right, I installed 3 AVs at once! ^_^

I picked these three because they all use very little resources, and so far, I haven't noticed any decrease in system performance! (Might be a different story when the system scans start o_O)

[aagfr]

I run F-Prot 3.15b as my on-access scanner, and NOD32 with only IMON enabled. I have an old machine (500mhz, 384 MB RAM, WinXP). I like the super light effect of F-Prot, and I get email scanning protection from NOD32 IMON. NOD is light, but not as light as F-Prot; but F-Prot provides no email scanning.

I think I've hit on a good combination for my setup. The combination runs as fast as F-Prot alone. When I run an on-demand scan with NOD, I disable F-Prot Realtime Protector. No problems, so far.

[Mr2cents]

My setup has changed in the last few days. I'm now running Nod32 as my resident antivirus, and Bitdefender free as on demand. I'm not having any problems. Why bitdefender free as on demand? It's a little better than Nod32 at catching trojans. Or so the test at http://www.av-comparatives.org says. ::)

This shouldn't concern me, as I run Boclean. I'm just having fun trying out different antiviruses :D

[Patrician]

-{ Quote: "I'm running 2 on demand antiviruses...Avg 7.0 free and antivir personal free. My resident is bitdefender standard 8.0.137. I'm not having any problems whatsoever. This is the first time I've had more than one antivirus product on my computer at one time. I usually run one antivirus and do online scans at trendmico and panda.

Bitdefender is a great antivirus, but it's slow scanning my computer. It took it 58 minutes to scan 102,000 files ::) It takes avg about 27 minutes, antvir about the same. Why 2 on demand scanners? I wanted to try out avg and antivir both ;D" }-


Would the reason for Bitdefenders slower system scan be due to the fact that it scans inside archives by default? Where neither AVG and AntiVir do?

[kloshar]

NOD32 and F-prot work together with no problems. The real-time scan is turned on.

[timnicebutdim]

-{ Quote: "I am sorry, but I cannot give u any info on running a free av, but I run both NOD32 and KAV 4.5 together without any problems at all, only KAV has the real time monitor enabled and NOD I use as an on demand scanner.
I can switch between the two without any problems either as well.
There are many threads on what av programmes are the best or work together without issue, but as all windows systems are different and each of us have different software and hardware installed, it could have different effects on how your av programmes work together compared to others, It is just a game of trial and error.

Your friend

THE MUL" }-

I don't suppose you could give me some instructions as to how to have both NOD and KAV running at the same time? I would also like to try having KAV as my real time monitor with NOD as a back up but i am not sure how to do this.
I did try installing KAV with NOD already installed but it crashed my system before i could find out a way to turn off real time protection for one of them... i had to go into safe mode and uninstall NOD.. now i have KAV running as my real time but would like to add NOD as a backup.

[Diver]

Not to rain on your parade, or anything, but what do you expect to gain by running KAV real time and NOD32 on demand.

Firefighter has done a bunch of tests where various AV's are combined. Either 2 AV's or an AV and Ewido, a trojan scanner. When it comes to KAV, there was hardly any improvement by adding Ewido. Furthermore, I would have to say that FF's test methodology while not unfair, was heavily weighted with trojans which would tend to cause Ewido to have a greater incremental improvement.

NOD32, is a good AV, but if it has a weak point it is in detecting trojans. So, if KAV missed something, NOD32 is not that likely to catch it. The sole exception might be a zero hour virus that the advanced hueristics snags. It might happen to you once every 15 years.

Perhaps running NOD32 real time and KAV as a backup might have a benefit. NOD32 has less of an effect on system performance. KAV can be saved to use only on questionable stuff. This one is easy to do because KAV 4.5 has a selective installer that can leave out the real time components, if I remember correctly.

[Stan999]

-{ Quote: "So, if KAV missed something, NOD32 is not that likely to catch it. The sole exception might be a zero hour virus that the advanced hueristics snags. It might happen to you once every 15 years.

" }-

I have NOD on one game machine and a KAV AV on two machines. Actually NOD's AH caught 4 zero-day infections prior to KAV over the last 12 months on my end, YMMV.

One example I did post:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=42010

Also:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=58482

[Diver]

Stan, you must be a lucky guy. Where do you find all these zero day thingies? By the way, there is simple way to deal with email attachments. Just do not run them ever. My ISP scans the mail, so I have not seen an infected email in years.

More software will not make you as safe as more awareness.

[ronjor]

Some of my luck.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=61710

[Stan999]

-{ Quote: "Stan, you must be a lucky guy. Where do you find all these zero day thingies?" }-

Hi Diver,

Actually on a game machine that is primarily used by a bunch of teens
who don't tend to practice safe hex.:) Also have BOClean running on that box but so far NOD has stopped all. Using the combination of NOD and BOClean on that game machine due to their low CPU impact.

[JimIT]

-{ Quote: "Stan, you must be a lucky guy. Where do you find all these zero day thingies? By the way, there is simple way to deal with email attachments. Just do not run them ever.
" }-

Very simple, but unfortunately, not always realistic. ;D

Stan's not a "lucky guy"--he sees the same thing a lot of users see on a day-to-day basis: zero-day malware that no av can catch relying solely on signatures. ;)

And regardless of how much "awareness" you pass along, there will always be the user who MUST click some attachments, because their jobs require it for communication. Excellent heuristic detection is paramount in this scenario. ;D