Pros and cons ou using two AVs

Pros and cons of using two AVs

Hi everybody

I've noticed that many people here uses two AVs. Do you consider that the addtional protection compensates for the addtional expense? What are the pros and cons of using two AVs? What about conflicts that may exist betwen different AVs? I have KAV Personal Pro and I am awaiting anxiously for official release of KAV 5 next April 20. Is anyone using KAV and another AV? If so, which one? Feedback from members using KAV and another AV will be most welcome.
Thank you all for your cooperation,
Rui

 

Hi Rui

I have used NAV along with AVG (free) at www.grisoft.com at one time and it didn't seem to cause any conflicts (but i always kept all functions shut off in AVG, and only used it as a second on demand scanner) Now i just use the online free scanners for a second opinion such as Panda's Active scan at www.pandasoftware.com Hope this helps.

 

If I was at your place , the only AV I would choose for backup is the
freeware F-Prot for DOS or nothing...
(I use DrWeb and find it overkill to have another paid AV software)

 

Re: Pros and cons of using two AVs

Take a look at this site for lots of info:

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/softwarereviews/tp/aaonline.htm

I think F-prot for DOS wont work on NTFS partitions.
If you are going to use 2 AV I suggest never run them together.
If you look for a second AV, then choose one who is strong on the other ones weak points, as I believe no scanner is 100%.
Have a look for Trojan Scanners as well.

Gerard

 

On one of my laptops here I am running NOD32 as my main scanner with KAV as the backup AV scanner and trojan detector. No problems here with this mix and a good combination as AMON is a RTM with little effect on system performance and KAV acts as a virus and trojan backup.

In the past I have used KAV as a backup scanner to a number of other AV programs including F-Prot for Windows and Command AV, both of which are relatively weak in unpacking and trojan detection ( but getting better ). In other words choose a combination where one AV covers the weak points of the other AV.

Therefore, if you have a low-spec computer ( where the KAV Monitor may be a drag) use a lighter AV guard with KAV as backup.

However, if you have a relatively new computer and the KAV Monitor runs happily on your computer with no noticeable slowdown I would use KAV as your main and ONLY scanner. There can be the occasional false positive but this can be easily checked and the 'long scan times' of the KAV scanner is not a real problem. In addition KAV will cover BOTH virus and trojan detection.

Either save your dollars or if you want a layered defense, rather than choosing another commercial AV,

go with Process Guard,
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/processguard/

or a separate AntiTrojan program, http://www.wilders.org/anti_trojans.htm

or simply an on-line AV scanner, http://virusall.com/downscan.html

Your decision will also depend upon your surfing habits. If you practise safe computing and do not use P2P, two AV programs would definitely be overkill.

 

Everybody should be using 2 av's one on the PC(choose a good one!)and one in our heads(called common sense!)
The latter of the two is the more important because no matter how good/powerful the av installed on the pc is if you dont use some"common sense" you can still manage to get it infected!

 

I have a fast PC (3.6 GHz P4EE), but I still prefer to go with layered protection that's resource-wise.

I use NOD32 for on-access scanning (resident), and TDS-3 for resident Anti-trojan given that's NOD32's weak point = great on-access AV and AT/AW

I use KAV Pro for on-demand scanning and full system scans, and an an ancillary benefit it scans my IMAP4 and TheBat (SSL), which NOD32's IMON does not (currently) = great second AV/AT/AW layer, plus specific port scanning for my major data traffic, email.

I also have Wormguard 3 installed on my system = a third layer of Worm protection (it doesn't run as a process at all, so no system performance impact).

The net is imperceptible performance issues for daily productivity. Of course, I keep a separate install of WinXP with NOTHING on it for gaming

 

Re: Pros and cons of using two AVs

Hi
10390bc, Trans, gerardwill, Blackcat, steve1955 and adamsfbay!
First, let me thank you for your time, patience, and advice.
Of course I agree with steve1955 whern he says the user is the first and most importante layer of a computer security.
As Blackcat wisely points, using KAV can slow down considerably the system and occasional false positives do appear. However, KAV Monitor and CC run merrily on my system and, concerning false positives, the KAV Support Team seems unsurpassable in helping customers!
Anyway, if anyone more is using both KAV and another AV, I would like to share their feedback about this combination.
By the way, I am still wondering how KAV detected my mail database was infected with Mydoom.A, as - as far as I know - I did not download any infected message. I use PocoMail, and after compressing mailboxes and performing a full system second scan, the problem seems to have been resolved. Can anyone explain that?
Special thanks to Blackcat
Regards

Rui

 

Re: Pros and cons of using two AVs

I use KAV WS and NOD32 on two of the 4 PC's I have at home. KAV is the resident AV, NOD32 is used as a scheduled demand scanner only. I realize this is generally regarded as overkill, and don't disagree with that. My reasons for this configuration are
1. These two PC's have to stay absolutely clean. My wife teaches at a local college and seems a little more prone to problems that I do - so I added some backup protection on her machine and mine.
2. On occasion, with some automated updates, new installs, or less than graceful shutdowns, the KAV install has been compromised. I've always noticed this when it's happened on the PC I'm using - my wife hasn't. NOD32 is for the times she hasn't noticed. It's very infrequent and arguably not a significant issue.
3. OK - I admit it - I have a soft spot for NOD32. I love KAV WS and it would be the only AV installed if I could only have one, but I like to keep up with what the competition is offering. This is an easy way to do that.
4. A couple of times I have had a need to remove NOD32 from my PC and install it on one of the other 2 PC's at home when major incompatibilities have arisen. This hasn't occurred with KAV WS yet, and I don't expect it to, but you never know. I realize I could go with trial or free AV software in this situation, but I choose to have a purchased and supported solution available instead.

As far as functionality is concerned - this configuration is seemless. I don't use all of NOD32's functionality - but that's OK by me. For anyone thinking of doing the same, I'd recommend deciding which AV will be resident, editing the first installed AV config to reflect if it is to be demand only, disabling the loading of all resident AV applications and services (do the msconfig, check the appropriate boxes off, selective restart thing), rebooting (no AV should be running now), installing the second AV, rebooting, configure the second AV as desired (again - verify that only one AV will be resident), and once that is done, restarting to a normal startup (via msconfig again). I you mishandle this, a restart to safe mode should save you.

Blue

 

I think it's a good idea using two antiviruses on the same PC because 1) In my opinion none product gives a "total security"; combinig two products probably you reduce risks 2) only combinig two antiviruses you can use free antiviruses with a good safety. i.e. Avast + BitDefender Free Edition are a quite good choice. This aspect is rather important, in my opinion.

 

Re: Pros and cons of using two AVs

As far as I remember you can use F-Prot for Dos on NTFS partitions only scanning single directory. You can create a directory "Downloads" where You collect every file you downloaded, then you can scan it using F-Prot

 

Re: Pros and cons of using two AVs

I believe c0ltran3 is correct; I've never had any problem scanning a single-file-at-a-time (as in a context menu scan) with F-Prot DOS, but if you want a backup AV to do the occasional system scan on an NTFS partition, F-Prot DOS is probably not your best option. In that scenario, I'm happy with Bitdefender - despite the latest VB100 results (I believe it was linux).

 

I'm also using Bitdefender as a backup scanner and I'm very happy with this program (yes, the last yest was for Linux).
I agree with Optigrab: F-Prot for Dos ins't the best choice for NTFS partitions. I only wanted to suggest a way to use F-Prot with XP.

 

No one needs to install more than one AV utility; just install and use your choice, then use online AV scanners for backup. This approach is better in that (A) The chance of conflict is removed (provided you temporarily disable your real-time scanner while using the online scanner); and (B) Since there are so many online scanners available, you aren't restricted to just one backup scanner.

Here are a few online scanners:

BitDefender:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/index.html

Command on Demand:
http://www.commandondemand.com/eval/cod/index.cfm

Kaspersky (only scans one file or archive at a time; maximum 1 MB):
http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html

McAfee:
http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/scan.asp

Panda ActiveScan:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

RAV:
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/indexie.php

Trend Micro HouseCall:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Symantec (included grudgingly):
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/indexie.php

 

I have been a regular Kav lite user up till recent months and also a TDS3 once a week user . They were totally ok for my uses. However I wouldnt rely only on a anti virus for my protection now , but Use "Benign" for my email defence . Why ? , because on average 95% of infection comes through the mail . the rest downloaded from the Internet or transferred from disk. One might be a tidy user of their email, but are the rest of the users as tidy on that home pc?. With Benign its impossible to open an email without it being first processed through it , even if some one closes the programme down . There are no need for updates with such a programme unlike an anti virus which relies on the latest update
For a better comparison of how Benign® differs from anti-virus software, http://www.firetrust.com/products/benign/
An anti virus cannot stop all malicious content from your mail.
So my thoughts are that its not necesary to have two anti virus especially if you have a decent one in the first place like you have Rui , but if you were going to spend some dollars i would really get into the layered approach and have a try of benign . It is free to try for a month .
.

 

I have Nod32 installed but am trying out KAV Personal, but I need advice on how to implement this.

Is it sufficient to disable AMON while running Kapersky AVM, leaving IMON running? The only Nod process running seems to be Nod32krn.exe. Nod continues to update regularly. There seem to be no conflicts. Does this setup seem OK? Is this how you're supposed to do it?

 

Some anti-virus programs are not compatible. All are different, but I have found Nod32 v2 and F-Prot v3.14e work excellent together. Both are light on resources, Nod at 5MB and F-prot at a mere 2MB of Memory Usage. I have found that Nod has worm tracking to a science, and F-prot has an excellent trojan finder. Just a small review of most popular Anti-Virus Softwar, Although I never really rely on these anyhow:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/