Antivirus/spyware question.

[Guest]

I was reviewing different postings on the Zone Alarm forum and some of them
said you should not install and run more then one one adware/spyware or anti
virus program on a system at a time due to them conflicting and giving false
positive readings. Others said it was recommended to have Adaware, Spybot
S&D, MSAntispyware and CWShredder installed and updated frequently. Others
yet said they used different programs in different combinations. What is fact
& what is fiction?

 

[kurttrail]

I was reviewing different postings on the Zone Alarm forum and some
of them said you should not install and run more then one one
adware/spyware or anti virus program on a system at a time due to
them conflicting and giving false positive readings. Others said it
was recommended to have Adaware, Spybot S&D, MSAntispyware and
CWShredder installed and updated frequently. Others yet said they
used different programs in different combinations. What is fact &
what is fiction?

With computing, there are few facts.

Generally, you do not want to run more than one AV program as a real
time scanner, though you should scan your computer with different AV
programs [there are quite a few free online scanners.]

Generally, you do not want to run more than one software firewall,
though running firewall/NAT as part of your router, and software
firewall on your computer is recommended.

Generally, you do want to scan your computer for spyware with a few good
programs, but use only one for real-time protection.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

 

[David H. Lipman]

| I was reviewing different postings on the Zone Alarm forum and some of them
| said you should not install and run more then one one adware/spyware or anti
| virus program on a system at a time due to them conflicting and giving false
| positive readings. Others said it was recommended to have Adaware, Spybot
| S&D, MSAntispyware and CWShredder installed and updated frequently. Others
| yet said they used different programs in different combinations. What is fact
| & what is fiction?

It is contraindicated to have more than one active anti virus application running at the
same time. The reason being is that the programs will interfere with each other and they
will fight for resources and consume needless resources. There *may* be situations where a
combo can be used but only if you are experience at the software and know both extremely
well enough to make sure that only one AV application will be performing "On Access"
scanning. Unless certain conditions can be met, having two anti virus applications
installed and running at the same time should NOT be done.

It is OK to use multiple tools if there is one active AV application running with multiple
other "On Demand" scanners. For example TrendMicro Sysclean is an "On Demand" scanner that
will not compete with an actively installed and running anti virus applications. All online
scanners are also "On Demand" scanners and are OK.

As for anti spyware, they usually don't perform "On Access" scanning for malware therefore
having multiple of them installed at the same time is not only OK but is highly suggested.
Use of SpyWare Blaster, SpyBot Search and Destroy, Ad-aware SE v1.05 and BHODemon are good
examples of recommended applications and can be used in conjunction with each other.

Any further questions you have should be posted in the appropriate malware News Groups. that
follow...

microsoft.public.security.virus
alt.comp.anti-virus
alt.privacy.spyware

 

[Sharon F]

I was reviewing different postings on the Zone Alarm forum and some of them
said you should not install and run more then one one adware/spyware or anti
virus program on a system at a time due to them conflicting and giving false
positive readings. Others said it was recommended to have Adaware, Spybot
S&D, MSAntispyware and CWShredder installed and updated frequently. Others
yet said they used different programs in different combinations. What is fact
& what is fiction?

You can have as many installed as you want. You can run each of the
programs manually as often and whenever you want.

When it comes time to choose which will run all of the time in the
background, antivirus is an obvious choice. Some folks will continually run
one anti-spyware program in addition to their antivirus.

And yes, problems could arise from running two of the same type of programs
together all of the time. The method used by one antivirus program to
"touch" system files could accidentally by interpreted as "virus activity"
by a second antivirus program.

 

[Haggis]

I was reviewing different postings on the Zone Alarm forum and some
of them said you should not install and run more then one one
adware/spyware or anti virus program on a system at a time due to
them conflicting and giving false positive readings. Others said it
was recommended to have Adaware, Spybot S&D, MSAntispyware and
CWShredder installed and updated frequently. Others yet said they
used different programs in different combinations. What is fact &
what is fiction?

With computing, there are few facts.

Generally, you do not want to run more than one AV program as a real time
scanner, though you should scan your computer with different AV programs
[there are quite a few free online scanners.]

Generally, you do not want to run more than one software firewall, though
running firewall/NAT as part of your router, and software firewall on your
computer is recommended.

Generally, you do want to scan your computer for spyware with a few good
programs, but use only one for real-time protection.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

i'll reserve my own opinions for now :> but you can do some reading here and
draw your own conclusions

http://www.aumha.org/secure.htm

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "kurttrail" <[email protected]>

|
| Actually SpyWare Blaster, Spybot, and MSAS have active spyware blocking
| features.
|
| --
| Peace!
| Kurt
| Self-anointed Moderator
| microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
| http://microscum.com/mscommunity
| "Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
| "Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
|

I didn't mention MS AS because it is Beta software and Beta software should not be used.

As for SpyWare Blaster, SpyBot S&D aqnd BHODemon, while they may load in the background
(and/or load a DLL) they don't compete.

 

[kurttrail]

I didn't mention MS AS because it is Beta software and Beta software
should not be used.

The OP did.

As for SpyWare Blaster, SpyBot S&D aqnd BHODemon, while they may load
in the background (and/or load a DLL) they don't compete.

I was just clarifying the "on access" part of your comment.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

 

[Ron Martell]

I didn't mention MS AS because it is Beta software and Beta software should not be used.

I consider MSAS to be a Beta product "in name only". It is in fact
the latest commercial version of Giant Antispyware, which was
purchased by Microsoft, with a few cosmetic changes to the screens and
a modified automatic update component.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[kurttrail]

I consider MSAS to be a Beta product "in name only". It is in fact
the latest commercial version of Giant Antispyware, which was
purchased by Microsoft, with a few cosmetic changes to the screens and
a modified automatic update component.

Obviously MS considers differently than you, and has given it the "Beta"
status.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

 

[Plato]

I was reviewing different postings on the Zone Alarm forum and some of them
said you should not install and run more then one one adware/spyware or anti
virus program on a system at a time due to them conflicting and giving false
positive readings. Others said it was recommended to have Adaware, Spybot
S&D, MSAntispyware and CWShredder installed and updated frequently. Others
yet said they used different programs in different combinations. What is fact
& what is fiction?

It doesnt matter how many you have installed. But if you're into it,
just run one anti-virus and just one firewall 24/7. In other words, dont
run apps 24/7 that do the same thing.

 

[Steve N.]

I consider MSAS to be a Beta product "in name only". It is in fact
the latest commercial version of Giant Antispyware, which was
purchased by Microsoft, with a few cosmetic changes to the screens and
a modified automatic update component.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Unless it has been changed significantly since the first release as a
public "BETA" it doesn't scan for tracking cookies, it issues false
positives because it scans files based on filename, not content, and it
doesn't do as good a job as several other free a/sw programs out there
do. So yeah, it is BETA in form, not just name.

Steve