is 2 antivirus excessive

Two antivirus is mainly not recommended.
Antivirus programs by their very nature, have to integrate themselves into the file system of the operating system (Windows in this discussion) so deeply that they can intercept every call for file operations and check if that is legitimate. This introduces some performance penalty, so figure out that the decrease of performance of your pc will be at least doubly inflicted. Also and mostly important to think about is the problem that two antivirus introduce in the risk of compatibility issues and system inestability.

So the best option is installing a good antivirus (one) and an antispyware program for complement. This combination is the most accurate option.

Actually there are some good antivirus and most of them are free. Avast! is a good option but its actualization service consumes so many resources. Avira is another antivirus that is also very popular for its performance and few use of resources. The one of microsoft is also interesting. And there are more.

About the antispyware program, as many people answer you, Malwarebytes is the really efficient.

And always remember: an antivirus does not replace common sence.

JMH said:

Off topic observation -
This argument could also be used for the Windows back up facility, defrag etc etc yet many thinking people recommend alternate software.

The fact that it's made solely for MS products is neither here nor there really. The difference here though is that MSE is actually shaping up to be quite a good A/V.


Not that the other built in Win tools aren't good - but some 3RD party apps are either more user friendly, or have more advanced options which overcome the Win version limitations.

jhd17 said:

has anyone heard of ParetoLogic, rad that it's pretty good but just wanted an opinion

Steer clear

Jacee said:

jhd17 said:

has anyone heard of ParetoLogic, rad that it's pretty good but just wanted an opinion

Steer clear

Jacee's advice is worth an elephants weight in gold. If she says its no good, believe her.

freaky88 said:

richc46 said:

I will give my answer and then wait for all that will disagree. The answer is yes. Just use Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes with the Windows Fire wall. That is enough if you have the last component, common sense. Without that component a dozen A/V will not be enough.
The more you use the more Ram, and the slower the computer. Use enought AV, you can even slow down the computer enough to cause HD damage
Make a system Image once a month, on an external hard drive. If you make a mistake, just use the image.

Now lets wait for the disagreement to start.

disagree on windows firewall, you can use pctools and zonealarm which i like better, imo

No right or wrong, but I think windows firewall got a bad name, because a little more difficult to learn, at first.