is 2 antivirus excessive

[Combine]

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.

 

[Darician]

Much like most have already said here. Two real-time Anti-Virus solutions at the same time is a bad thing. I've seen cases where systems will outright crash and BSOD when this is attempted so it's never recommended because even if you can get it to work, it will be far too resource intensive.

An Anti-Spyware complement however is always good to have. Additionally, if you want to have another anti-virus around on-demand, that's not a bad idea. A decent free one is Trend Micro HouseCall (housecall.trendmicro.com) and it's available for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Does a decent job of on-demand scans.

 

[JMH]

Based upon the opinion of most members MSE is best. It was made just for windows. The others are "one size fits many"

Not only is it made just for Windows, but MS has made multiple versions specifically for different versions of Windows (Win XP, Win Vista/7 32-bit, and Win Vista/7 64-bit). As you said, most other companies use a "one-size fits all" mentality.

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.

 

[smarteyeball]

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.

 

[Jacee]

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

Steer clear

 

[Petey7]

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]

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

 

[richc46]

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.

 

[freaky88]

im using 2 firewalls and peerblock

here comes the flame/disagree

 

[Darician]

With Firewalls, the way I see it you should run both a software and a hardware firewall as the more layers of protection you have, the safer you are. You will never be 100% safe but you must set a level of acceptable risk and then work your way from there.

 

[freaky88]

With Firewalls, the way I see it you should run both a software and a hardware firewall as the more layers of protection you have, the safer you are. You will never be 100% safe but you must set a level of acceptable risk and then work your way from there.

there is also a program called peerblock

PeerBlock – Peerblock Site which wont mess up your current firewall installation, and its free, andx also I-BlockList | Home

 

[malexous]

Also, it is a proven fact that MSE and Avira AntiVir free (another good AV program) can run side-by-side without issue.

Second time you have typed this but I believe you are confusing Avira with Avast!
Avast! and MSE play nicely with each other.

 

[Borg 386]

If you want you computer to be 100% free of threats then mission impossible. It is virtually impossible to keep up with all the threats, spam, hits and viruses that occur daily.

The only way NOT to get computer threats, hits or viruses is not to OWN a computer.

It is impossible to be 100% safe all of the time just because of the process involved.

The virus gets released into the wild, the virus has to be detected, samples need to be sent to the AV companies and an AV definition needs to be written and deployed.

All this takes time, sometimes days depending on the complexity of the virus/malware.

As for running 2 AV's, you can, but you'll take a hit on performance as well as cause possible problems since most conflict with each other.

I do see by some of the posts that MSE seems to "play well" with other AV's on the PC, which is a credit to MS. I keep MSE running on the system, even though I have another. It's caught things my "paid" version did not.

 

[piattj]

My 2c worth...

I am running my machine (W7 Pro 64bit) with: real-time AV from G-Data. Am using Windows firewall (it seems to work, passes ShieldsUp! and Eicar tests) but have toyed with Comodo FW (I used to have it on my old laptop).

I also use on-demand scans from free products - SAS, Malwarebytes, MSE and Sophos antirootkit and use these to scan once a week.

So far touch wood all stayed clean.

I agree that common sense / normal caution about surfing habits is important etc.

My bank asks me to install Trusteer Rapport. I read up and it seems to add extra protection from certain exploits (man in middle etc) so wondered if anyone had recent experience, especially with my security set up as above?

 

[jhd17]

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

Steer clear

thanks stuck with mes seems good