Advice Request Why it isn’t a good idea to run multiple full antivirus products at the same time

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

Do you run multiple full AVs at same time?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 3.4%
  • No

    Votes: 72 81.8%
  • No but i did in the past.

    Votes: 13 14.8%

  • Total voters
    88
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Deleted member 178

Thread author
You’ve probably heard it before: Never run two antivirus programs at the same time, it’s trouble!

But what’s the logic behind this?

Is it sound advice based on technical reasoning? Or is it just a feeble marketing attempt by antivirus companies to dissuade you from installing competitors’ products on your PC?

Admittedly, some vendors in our industry use questionable methods to make some easy cash. However, that’s not the driving reason behind this principle, which has been around for more than a decade. Let’s take a look beneath the surface of protection software.

Read more here
 
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Deleted member 178

Thread author
To this day I still receive someone using two antivirus, I received my aunt's computer yesterday and there it was, Avast and Panda installed :rolleyes:
I was a repair guy long time ago, and i got so many systems to fix where 2-3-4 AVs were running...and when you try to explain to the users that isn't good, they won't believe you...
 

Faybert

Level 24
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Jan 8, 2017
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I was a repair guy long time ago, and i got so many systems to fix where 2-3-4 AVs were running...and when you try to explain to the users that isn't good, they won't believe you...
True, and if they do not believe in the great Umbra of Emsisoft, imagine in me :p but I try to do what I can, at least here at home everyone has already learned about the rule of only 1 antivirus per computer :)
 
5

509322

Thread author
I was a repair guy long time ago, and i got so many systems to fix where 2-3-4 AVs were running...and when you try to explain to the users that isn't good, they won't believe you...

People still do this. I was talking to my friend who does repairs. He says he deals with this all the time. Average Joe's mentality is "Multiple AVs = multi-layered protection = better protection." Average Joe doesn't know any better.
 

Weebarra

Level 17
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Apr 5, 2017
836
Good thing that even when I was a total noob, I never used 2 AVs at once.

I was obviously not as clever as you :rolleyes:

People still do this. I was talking to my friend who does repairs. He says he deals with this all the time. Average Joe's mentality is "Multiple AVs = multi-layered protection = better protection." Average Joe doesn't know any better.

I was one of those people, like @Lockdown said, i went from no security really to too many, i thought the more i had the more i would be protected, guess who got infected ? :oops:
 

ravi prakash saini

Level 13
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Apr 22, 2015
636
a couple of years ago I installed 7 internet security just to check how many my laptop can handle and i had to reinstall the os.
for time pass it is a good excercise to have more than one antivirus but for security purpose ,I think,it is better to have no antivirus install than having two
by the way who has more chance to get infection a person with single partner or one with multiple partners
 

DeepWeb

Level 25
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Jul 1, 2017
1,396
Regarding #1: I ran Emsisoft Emergency Kit one time and it performs a deeper scan than my AV which only does on-access scan. I did not have EEK whitelisted so it would scan what EEK would access as well and fun fact it picked up things that EEK didn't (mostly PUPs). It also picked up all the malware in EEK's quarantine and deleted it right away. That being said, it was a massive waste of CPU cycles.

I often find machines that still have the expired trial version of McAfee running along whatever.
 

Daljeet

Level 6
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Jun 14, 2017
264
I remeber I installed 2-3 AV in childhood I learn lesson my pentium 4 desktop computer going super slow. Unistalling Av is pretty hard because system hang and I try many times and finally I unistall Av from computer. I remeber Umbra words he mentioned many times ComdoEmsisoft :D
Imagine you have two antivirus products with real-time scans enabled. You download a dangerous file and both detect and alert a threat. But which is first to quarantine or remove the threat? You may encounter error messages as files suddenly disappear for one of the two programs as they attempt to quarantine. The best case scenario is that you’re left feeling confused; in the worst case scenario, neither of the antivirus are able to successfully quarantine the threat!
 

mlnevese

Level 26
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May 3, 2015
1,531
I remember seeing someone in a security forum, I don't remember if it was here or some other forum, who had 8 real time security programs running... and he was sure it was all working correctly and that there was no problem with his config... And nothing anyone said would convince him otherwise. I hope he never got locked out of his own computer with multiple blue screens.
 
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