Online Antivirus scanner

[Someone]

Hello All

I have a question someone here might have some experience with. I currently have McAfee Security Suite installed on my laptop but I would like to use an online antivirus scanner such as Trend Micro or Panda for example, just as a second opinion I've become a little paranoid about McAfee after reading what some people post about it.
My question is will it be ok to use an online scanner whilst McAfee virus scan (active shield running in the background) is on or will the 2 clash / conflict with one another, basically do I have to disable the antivirus on my laptop to use the one online?.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[Adywebb]

You should never run 2 AV programs at once - so if you are going to use an online scanner, then disable McAfee first

 

[muckshifter]

Actually, you don't need to bother doing that ... the 'program' isn't being install or even 'running' on your system ... I find they are more problematic in getting them to scan at all in the first place as they don't seem to like you using Firefox.

Housecall just crashes my Firefox, despite the fact I do have Java. Mind you, so does the BBC when trying to view some video news.

If you are not confident with McAfee, replace it. I can confidently suggest KAV, Nod32 and Anti-Vir, the latter is free.

These 'all-in-one' security systems are not perfect yet, you really need some help and still need to use the likes of SpywareBlaster and a few others to beef up protection.

Helps also to get the latest updates from MS which does close the doors on some holes in the OS.

 

[V_R]

I scan my pc with Kaspersly online scanner and Panda Activescan. I have never had to disable AntiVir. But you do have to use Internet Explorer because they use activ-x to run the scanner engine.

 

[Someone]

Thanks for the advice Adywebb, Muckshifter and V_R
The McAfee suite came with the laptop when I purchased it and because I'm not that experienced with computers I didn't want to go uninstalling programs, especially when I read how difficult it can be to get rid of McAfee. So I paid for a subscription when the trial period ended and have give or take just over 7 months left, so to replace it now will just be throwing money away.
I do have Spywareblaster, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware and use FireFox after reading about the benefits of them on this forum. And I've not encountered any problems when I scan with the various mentioned programs its just like I said after reading about people ranting about Mcafee I just wanted to check with another antivirus to put the mind at ease.
Well I guess I'll give it ago and see. Are Kaspersky, Panda and Trend Micro good ones to use, I mean will they pretend to find something just to try and make you buy it or will they give you back a clean result if your computer is clean.
Again many Thanks for replying.

 

[Adywebb]

None of the ones you mention will pretend to find something to make you buy them, and nor would any of the other reputable makes - I would go with what Mucks said in his earlier post and go for Kaspersky or NOD32

 

[V_R]

I used to run Mcafee Virusscan. I ditched it in favour of AntiVir.

If you really want to remove it then you should be able to.

I used the Mcafee removal too from their website, That was just virusscan not security centre though.

After that i used Ccleaner to get rid of any registry entries that it left behind, It never caused me any issues after that.

They dont seem to have a removal tool for SC but i did find this.

http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1&resolution=1280x1024

 

[Someone]

Thanks for the link V_R that will come in handy as I mentioned earlier I'll see out the rest of the subscription then I'll weigh up the options.
I used the Kaspersky online scanner and I didn't disable the antivirus on my laptop and there was no problems between them. I got a clean result back from the scan and as V_R mentioned above I had to use IE.
Thanks all for your help and taking the time to reply.

 

[daveydoom]

Another good online scanner to try is F-Secure:

http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols3.shtml

 

[sultan_emerr]

http://www.virustotal.com/en/indexx.html

http://virusscan.jotti.org/



Note = Run them insafe mode if possible(click on link if "how to" steps needed) = http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2001052409420406 , then after running them and fixing any problem, disable system restore = http://vil.nai.com/vil/SystemHelpDocs/DisableSysRestore.htm , reboot, and then re-enable system restore.

The most important thing to keep in mind, regardless of which anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spyware and firewall you use is to keep it UPDATED, just as it is important to make sure you have all windows critical and security updates + =

http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us