Can NOD32 co-exist with CA antivirus?

You're gonna love this one.

I do remote administration of a production network for a company which has FINALLY given me VPN access. That's the good news. The bad news is that they use Checkpoint Connectra VPN which uses Internet Explorer and ActiveX scripting and an online scanner which checks out your system before it lets you connect.

NOW -- if you want to cut to the chase, just read the last paragraph. If you want to know why I'm asking the question I'm asking in that paragraph, then the explanation is between this point and that last paragraph.

I'm a longtime user and lover of NOD32. It's not on the list of AV software that Connectra VPN recognizes. I get to choose amongst Symantec, ZoneAlarm, McAfee, Trend, Sophos. The only ones of these that has detection rates as good as NOD32 are Symantec and McAfee, but I just can't bring myself to use them. Hell, the SAV client is installed on the production network, and it has caused us some pretty stupid problems -- like not wanting to let go of user hives when the user logs off, for instance. I've had problems with McAfee before, though haven't tried it recently. Trend has a decent user interface and has a reasonable reputation, but they've had some security bugaboos recently, and their user interface under Vista has done some really spooky things as I was testing it. They also don't do heuristics very well. I'm not about to spend the money on the corporate Sophos (5 license minimum for over $200 US). In short, I decided that the only half-way realistic choice on the list was the CA product, but it doesn't have much of a detection rate, at least from the very few comparison tests I can find that include it. It has a nice user interface, but I'm not confident enough in it to use it as my first line of defense.

LAST PARAGRAPH: Does ANYONE know from actual personal experience whether or not I can install NOD32 and CA AntiVirus (NOT the suite, just the anti-virus) on my Vista system and just turn off the NOD32 AV and turn on the CA software just for connecting to the VPN? I'm gonna give it a try and report back if I learn anything. But I'd really like to know if any of you NOD32 gurus has any particular suggestions to make that might help me along my way. (Yeah, I know I'm lame. I'm feeling whiney. I can't believe I have to make a choice like this. Damn fool technology companies and their freaking partnerships. Can't everybody just get along?)

 

Hello,

If Computer Associates' anti-virus programs supports a custom installation mode where no memory-resident (on-access) scanning technologies are enabled you could try that. I do not know if this will work, though.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

I'm not sure if Kaspersky Antivirus can be recognized by Connectra VPN...But I know that KAV 6.0.2.xxx has customerized installation options where you can choose to install it as an on-demand scanner only, i.e. no real-time monitor to avoid conflicts. KAV has a reliable detection rate and serves you well as a second defense line. A friend of mine has tested this combo on his 32bit Vista platform with positive results so you know

 

However you must install KAV prior to NOD or it won't install...You may have to uninstall NOD, reboot, install KAV and then NOD again