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Hi guys, I needed help with anti-virus. I am running AVG 7.5 home edition then I decided to switch to Avast Home edition for a change. I downlaoded Avast and runs it on my laptop. I did not uninstall AVG but did preventing from running during windows start-up but the windows security centre reports that both Avast and AVG is turned on and running.
Now, if I'm right, running 2 anti-virus program is not recommended and it may cause conflicts so I tried to turn off AVG but I couldn't find any way of doing it. I do not wish to unistall AVG if possible.
BTW, I'm running on Vista Home Premium. I am a novice in this and suggestions is appreciated.
Thanks
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Using both AVG and Avast As Security Against Viruses
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#2
mphenterprises 
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Posted 22 April 2008 - 06:30 AM
Hi IvanC and welcome to the PCWorld Communities. :D
First, I have changed your Discussion title to give a clearer indication of your question. For future reference, please be as descriptive as possible in both the heading of your Discussion as well as the post itself.
Now, let's evaluate your assumption more closely:
"Now, if I'm right, running 2 anti-virus program is not recommended and it may cause conflicts..."
This statement, in theory, is not correct. It is not recommended to have two applications of the same nature providing real-time protection of your computer; however, one can have as many security applications installed as one wants.
So what am I saying? You can keep both AVG and Avast installed and you can use both of them to protect your computer; however, you should only use one of them as real-time virus protection. Whichever one you want to use as real-time protection, disable the real-time protection of the other application and you will be fine.
Similar concerns have been addressed within several separate Discussions. Please review the Privacy & Security Community to review some of the other security concerns that have been discussed so far.
http://forums.pcworl...ftware/security
First, I have changed your Discussion title to give a clearer indication of your question. For future reference, please be as descriptive as possible in both the heading of your Discussion as well as the post itself.
Now, let's evaluate your assumption more closely:
"Now, if I'm right, running 2 anti-virus program is not recommended and it may cause conflicts..."
This statement, in theory, is not correct. It is not recommended to have two applications of the same nature providing real-time protection of your computer; however, one can have as many security applications installed as one wants.
So what am I saying? You can keep both AVG and Avast installed and you can use both of them to protect your computer; however, you should only use one of them as real-time virus protection. Whichever one you want to use as real-time protection, disable the real-time protection of the other application and you will be fine.
Similar concerns have been addressed within several separate Discussions. Please review the Privacy & Security Community to review some of the other security concerns that have been discussed so far.
http://forums.pcworl...ftware/security
#3
rgreen4
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Posted 22 April 2008 - 07:17 AM
IvanC - I also run AVG and Avast, but not on the same machines. My newer installations are Avast as it's update are less intrusive and it seems to offer more customization than does AVG. I will check tonight when I get home to see if I can find a way to disable the real time protection, if it's even on. Mine seems to like to bug me to scan the drives periodically. I do know that AVG Home as a free item tends to give very limited customization options.
As to uninstalling it, there really is no downside that I can see. If you later decide you want to return to AVG, just download the free version again, it will probably be updated anyway. In fact, I think I got a flash about AVG 8 being available last night when I got back on my system (I was away for 5 days).
As to uninstalling it, there really is no downside that I can see. If you later decide you want to return to AVG, just download the free version again, it will probably be updated anyway. In fact, I think I got a flash about AVG 8 being available last night when I got back on my system (I was away for 5 days).
#4
SpiritWind
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Posted 22 April 2008 - 08:32 AM
:D Hi :
Novices should NEVER have 2 different antivirus programs on their computer, even IF One
is "disabled" and/or is NOT providing "real-time" protection. Almost all antivirus programs
will detect the "Presence" of another antivirus program and alter the effectiveness of the One
that is currently providing "real-time" protection . Better to have ONLY 1 antiVIRUS program
and supplement that program by adding antiSPYWARE/antiTROJAN program(s), such as
the FREE Version of "SUPERAntiSpyware" from www.superantispyware.com .
IF you are interested in the degree of "effectiveness" of the 2 programs, I recommend you
view the Test Results of the INDEPENDENT Testers at [http://www.av-comparatives.org] ,
where their latest "Retrospective/ProActive" Test done in Nov 2007 showed Avast with
37% and AVG with 25% .
Novices should NEVER have 2 different antivirus programs on their computer, even IF One
is "disabled" and/or is NOT providing "real-time" protection. Almost all antivirus programs
will detect the "Presence" of another antivirus program and alter the effectiveness of the One
that is currently providing "real-time" protection . Better to have ONLY 1 antiVIRUS program
and supplement that program by adding antiSPYWARE/antiTROJAN program(s), such as
the FREE Version of "SUPERAntiSpyware" from www.superantispyware.com .
IF you are interested in the degree of "effectiveness" of the 2 programs, I recommend you
view the Test Results of the INDEPENDENT Testers at [http://www.av-comparatives.org] ,
where their latest "Retrospective/ProActive" Test done in Nov 2007 showed Avast with
37% and AVG with 25% .
#5
mphenterprises
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Posted 22 April 2008 - 08:38 AM
Hi Spirit. This has nothing to do with the technical expertise of the computer user. The applications do not know the computer knowledge level of the user. How would you propose someone with limited computer experience learn what those with higher computer experience know?
The fact is that if one of the two applications have the real-time functionality turned off, the only effectiveness that application will have is when the user actually runs that application manually.
I would equate this to having multiple music applications on the computer. You can have as many music applications installed on your computer as you want; however, you can really only listen to one player at a time. If you run another application and then play a different track within that second application, the sound will be jumbled....or conflicted.
The fact is that if one of the two applications have the real-time functionality turned off, the only effectiveness that application will have is when the user actually runs that application manually.
I would equate this to having multiple music applications on the computer. You can have as many music applications installed on your computer as you want; however, you can really only listen to one player at a time. If you run another application and then play a different track within that second application, the sound will be jumbled....or conflicted.
#6
lilxkid24
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Posted 22 April 2008 - 09:10 PM
Its ok to have as many installed as you want. What you dont want is having them both running at startup, because they will conflict. So disable one by either uninstalling it, or go to start>run>type msconfig>startup tab>untick avg or avast or whatever your not going to use.
#8
mphenterprises
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Posted 23 April 2008 - 07:27 AM
With pleasure. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
#9
phillypa800
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Posted 25 April 2008 - 07:47 AM
hello IvanC. i understand this thread has been answered but i wanted to give you something so that you can better manage your start-up programs and so forth. it's friendly user so pay particularly attention to the delayed start-up tab. any questions please feel free to ask me.
Start Me Up
Start Me Up
#10
piyushsingh
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Posted 25 April 2008 - 08:50 PM
There is a difference between having two media players and two anti-viruses (only one in realtime). The way the anti-virus applications are installed , they put in several services in startup - not only processes in startup that can be turned from msconfig but also services that need to be disabled separately. Even disabling real-time of one AV while keeping the other active will result in several unused services which will conflict but will use some resources.
While testing for the layered approach conflicts which came out with the conclusion that different AV and anti-spy wont conflict as you had said in the beginning. But i also tried to setup multiple AV scanners and see the results.
Ivan|~87143]
There is a free bit-defender edition which has only on -demand scan capabilities and no real-time detection. That would be better if anyone wants to use multiple AVs. But this BD also added three processes to startup -one for updates, a taskbar process and another management process. An AV application with no realtime inserted 3 in startup, you can see avg with avast or vice-versa will do more than that. So stay away from putting these two together. Use one of these which you prefer and use BD as a on demand scan. Remove BD from startup and update when you want and scan when needed.
This issue will come to a large number of users in a few weeks as most people use avast plus avg as one of their anti-spywares along with other anti-spywares. Have a look at [this link. The avg 8.0 is out and now avg anti-apyware wont be available alone. It will be merged with avg AV. So in order to use avg anti-apy you need to install AVG AV also. So get ready to tackle this your way. Either dump avg totally or use it with avast or something else.
I was able to update avg anti-spy today but i don't know till when this will stay.
While testing for the layered approach conflicts which came out with the conclusion that different AV and anti-spy wont conflict as you had said in the beginning. But i also tried to setup multiple AV scanners and see the results.
Ivan|~87143]
There is a free bit-defender edition which has only on -demand scan capabilities and no real-time detection. That would be better if anyone wants to use multiple AVs. But this BD also added three processes to startup -one for updates, a taskbar process and another management process. An AV application with no realtime inserted 3 in startup, you can see avg with avast or vice-versa will do more than that. So stay away from putting these two together. Use one of these which you prefer and use BD as a on demand scan. Remove BD from startup and update when you want and scan when needed.
This issue will come to a large number of users in a few weeks as most people use avast plus avg as one of their anti-spywares along with other anti-spywares. Have a look at [this link. The avg 8.0 is out and now avg anti-apyware wont be available alone. It will be merged with avg AV. So in order to use avg anti-apy you need to install AVG AV also. So get ready to tackle this your way. Either dump avg totally or use it with avast or something else.
I was able to update avg anti-spy today but i don't know till when this will stay.
#11
mphenterprises
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Posted 26 April 2008 - 01:27 AM
piyushsingh said:
>
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There is a difference between having two media players and two anti-viruses (only one in realtime).
>
>
Hi Piyush. Yes, that was a very loose comparison, I know. However, I was just trying to explain, in a very general way, that having multiple applications of anything is not necessarily a bad idea.
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