Question I had to use a few second opinion scanners alongside Kaspersky premium. Any chance of Kaspersky corruption.

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nonamebob567

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During an emergency a few days ago I had to use a few second opinion scanners to scan my PC and make double-sure that it was clean of any infections.

Programs I used are norton power eraser, emsisoft emergency kit and hitman pro(Not hitman pro alert).

After that, I spend some time reading about second opinion scanner compatibility with real-time antivirus, and it seems like these portable apps can cause system instability, false positives, and even damage to critical files belonging to the main antivirus in rare instances.

Additionally, some of the sources suggested turning off the main antivirus as a crucial step before running a second opinion scanner. Is this a necessary thing to do?

As a Kaspersky user, even Kaspersky articles mention that it's better to stay away from second opinion scanners if you don't know what you're doing.

I unfortunately didn't turn off the antivirus before running them, so now I'm concerned that I accidentally did some harm to my Kaspersky Premium installation.

I did reach Kaspersky support on this, and they just said something like, 'You're going to be okay, but don't do it again, and uninstall those second opinion scanners right away.'

So I did remove all the second opinion scanners from my PC… But still I feel a bit uneasy. I do regular backups of my PC, so clean formatting it and installing Kaspersky again is not a huge problem, but would this really be necessary?

So far Kaspersky works fine without any errors, and I didn't notice anything unusual with my PC, and I need to be clear that all 3 second opinion scanners came up clean, so I imagined if they didn't detect anything, then how could they harm Kaspersky Premium system files? Anyway, some clarification from expert users would be nice.

Any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
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nonamebob567 said:
During an emergency a few days ago I had to use a few second opinion scanners to scan my PC and make double-sure that it was clean of any infections.

Programs I used are norton power eraser, emsisoft emergency kit and hitman pro(Not hitman pro alert).

After that, I spend some time reading about second opinion scanner compatibility with real-time antivirus, and it seems like these portable apps can cause system instability, false positives, and even damage to critical files belonging to the main antivirus in rare instances.

Additionally, some of the sources suggested turning off the main antivirus as a crucial step before running a second opinion scanner. Is this correct?

As a Kaspersky user, even Kaspersky articles mention that it's better to stay away from second opinion scanners if you don't know what you're doing.

I unfortunately didn't turn off the antivirus before running them, so now I'm concerned that I accidentally did some harm to my Kaspersky Premium installation.

I did reach Kaspersky support on this, and they just said something like, 'You're going to be okay, but don't do it again, and uninstall those second opinion scanners right away.'

So I did remove all the second opinion scanners from my PC… But still I feel a bit uneasy. I do regular backups of my PC, so clean formatting it and installing Kaspersky again is not a huge problem, but would this really be necessary?

So far Kaspersky works fine without any errors, and I didn't notice anything unusual with my PC.

Any helpful comments would be welcome, and thank you.
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Hey nonamebob567,

I totally get why you'd be feeling uneasy after reading up on those potential conflicts—it's always better to err on the side of caution with security tools. Let me break this down based on what I've seen and know from similar discussions here on MalwareTips.

First off, you're right that second opinion scanners like Norton Power Eraser, Emsisoft Emergency Kit, and Hitman Pro (the non-Alert version) can sometimes clash with real-time antivirus programs. This is because they might scan and interact with files or processes that your main AV (Kaspersky in this case) is actively monitoring or protecting. In rare cases, this could lead to false positives, temporary system slowdowns, or even file quarantines that affect the AV itself. That's why some guides recommend disabling real-time protection on your primary AV before running a second scanner—to minimize those risks.

Kaspersky's own advice to steer clear unless you're experienced makes sense; they're protective of their ecosystem to avoid support headaches. But from what you've described—everything working fine post-scan, no errors in Kaspersky, and your PC behaving normally—it's unlikely any lasting damage occurred. Their support team's response ("You're going to be okay, but don't do it again") aligns with that; they're essentially saying it wasn't ideal, but no big deal this time.

As for reinstalling Kaspersky or formatting your PC? I'd say it's not necessary based on what you've shared. If there were real issues, you'd probably see symptoms like Kaspersky failing to update, scan errors, or system instability by now. Since you do regular backups (smart move!), you're in a good spot anyway. Just keep an eye on things for the next few days—run a full Kaspersky scan, check for any unusual logs in the app, and monitor your system's performance.

Going forward, if you need a second opinion again:
  • Temporarily disable Kaspersky's real-time protection (you can re-enable it right after).
  • Stick to reputable tools and run them one at a time.
  • Tools like Malwarebytes (free version) are often recommended here as they play nicer with other AVs.

If anything weird pops up, feel free to share more details or logs, and the community can help troubleshoot. Hang in there—you did the right thing by double-checking during that emergency!

Cheers,
@Bot
 
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I've been using NPE and KVRT for years as well, with no problems. I do disable my AV Real Time scanning during those quick, on-demand scans. And they don't run in the background once they're done (no running processes). I'm using Avast free, quick and easy to pause protection from the system tray icon.

edit: and I think the key word is that I don't run anything else "alongside" of my main AV. Your thread title is a bit confusing (could just be me :) ), but your first post implies that you understand the difference.
 
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nonamebob567 said:
Not turning off AV real-time scanning is what made me uneasy, but I assumed since those programs detected nothing, then there shouldn't be any chance for conflict with the main AV. However, it's just my amateur understanding.
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I don’t see any conflict here. It’s just a scanner without real-time monitoring or behavior defense, so it shouldn’t clash with your antivirus.
 
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I did reach Kaspersky support on this, and they just said something like, 'You're going to be okay, but don't do it again, and uninstall those second opinion scanners right away.'
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@nonamebob567 and I think that's just Kaspersky being cautious, they don't know what a lot of us do on our devices, or of our proficiency level.

For years the Bitdefender forum would get the "can we run MBAM free version alongside of Bitdefender" questions, and the reply was usually, no, it could conflict with BD. Using it for a second opinion scan was "okay", if it was disabled to run at Windows startup, and disabled after the scan, but still wasn't recommended. BD just didn't want any conflict of anything that could have background running processes conflicting with their AV, and possibly causing the user and the forum undue grief.
 
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stonjean633 said:
On demand scanners for second opinion does not pose any conflicts with Primary AV. The primary one usually contains kernel drivers needed for RTP,Firewall,ELAM etc etc
The secondary one is purely a scanner without the extra components.
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The second opinion scanners generally need kernel drivers too. For example NPE has it, when rootkit detection is turned on (and requires restart).

This is generally not a problem, usually the problems described and suspected are racing conditions where 2 AVs try to do the same.

Though from time to time other incompatibilities may errupt.
 
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Trident said:
The second opinion scanners generally need kernel drivers too. For example NPE has it, when rootkit detection is turned on (and requires restart).

This is generally not a problem, usually the problems described and suspected are racing conditions where 2 AVs try to do the same.

Though from time to time other incompatibilities may errupt.
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Now I got a suspect why NPE does not load on my Windows ARM Test Machine. Could be the driver or really emulation issues due to compatibility (native x86,x64).
Others work fine thou.
 
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Just a thought for the online, 2nd opinion scanners that do take a while to scan like F-Secure and with ESET's Full scan option, I would probably disable the onboard real time AV, just to allow the 2nd opinion scanner to run more freely over that longer period of time.
 
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nonamebob567 said:
After that, I spend some time reading about second opinion scanner compatibility with real-time antivirus, and it seems like these portable apps can cause system instability, false positives, and even damage to critical files belonging to the main antivirus in rare instances.
Click to expand...
Not all sources can be trusted for security-related advice, so try to find a good and reliable source to read from.
nonamebob567 said:
Additionally, some of the sources suggested turning off the main antivirus as a crucial step before running a second opinion scanner. Is this a necessary thing to do?
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I have never turned off my main antivirus program, and I have never read anywhere that this is recommended.
nonamebob567 said:
As a Kaspersky user, even Kaspersky articles mention that it's better to stay away from second opinion scanners if you don't know what you're doing.
Click to expand...
I think Kaspersky meant false positives in these articles, which is why they mentioned "if you don't know what you're doing," otherwise they would say something like "don't use it at all."
nonamebob567 said:
So I did remove all the second opinion scanners from my PC… But still I feel a bit uneasy. I do regular backups of my PC, so clean formatting it and installing Kaspersky again is not a huge problem, but would this really be necessary?
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Don't listen to your feelings, but listen to what you definitely notice. If everything is going well, don't waste your time with what you feel.
 
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Microsoft defender has option to run as a secondary scanner as well, click on windows security or type in search box and you will see a outlined box, that in your case probably says something like Kaspersky is turned on,but in Blue letters below the box (Microsoft Defender Antivirus options) click that run ?full scan or so, then after done I would shut option off until you feel the need gl
 
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