Why Using Multiple Antivirus Programs is a Bad Idea

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MalwareVirus

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Oct 6, 2012
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You might think that, much like a pirate going into battle, the more weapons you have at your disposal for your protection the better: cutlass in one hand, pistol and the other, knife held between the teeth (hence the expression ‘armed to the teeth’). But while that may work in old-fashioned combat, it is not the case when it comes to protecting your system from the sea of danger it constantly faces. Running two antivirus programs at the same time is, in fact, a very bad idea. There are three reasons why:
1.)They will try to kill each other. Because antivirus programs search your system for programs that are monitoring and sending information about your system, a competing antivirus program that is monitoring and sending information about your system tends to look like a virus, so it will attempt to block it and remove it...

Source
 
Here come the counter-arguments, in 3.. 2.. 1...
 
I agree. Using multiple antivirus program with real-time protection is a bad idea.Technically, when we want to execute a program, antivirus will intercept the call function. If there are two program intercept the call function, there will be more resources wasted. This is just an easy example, the worst case probably happen in kernel land, Windows look "stupid" because the system is manipulated over and over by antivirus.
 
poor article, wrote in 2mn...no examples, no mentions of exceptions (like companion AVs that let the main one do the job and kicks-in in case it misses a sample) ; etc... etc... etc...
 
Many AV installers will not run unless you remove other AV products first.

Using multiple AV products does not offer the user any better security, it usually just results in having high false positives, compatibility problems, system performance issues, etc.

It doesn't make a difference if the user configures the products in each others exceptions list just loading the boot drivers will still cause problems on most systems.

It is much better to just use one AV product along with some good common sense.

If you think you need multiple AV protection, use a AV product that already includes more than one AV engine like Gdata, Emsisoft, Trustport, F-Secure, Baidu or Qihu 360. These products are developed to have compatible AV engines.

Thanks. :D
 
@Umbra Polaris
Waiting for your comment since when i posting this article coz i know you like the combo :lolz:
 
MalwareVirus said:
@Umbra Polaris
Waiting for your comment since when i posting this article coz i know you like the combo :lolz:
Click to expand...

yes ^^

The guy is right in a way but it should be more detailed.

as if i say "having sex 3 times a day is lethal"

- depend the age
- heart's health
- attractiveness of the girl
- Drink alcohol or not before
- where, when, how

etc.. etc..

:D
 
Due to the conflicting issues, using multiple antivirus programs is considered as a bad idea. If you are using two incompatible protection tools then there are chances that it will slow down your computer, hamper memory as well as cause some conflict while executing. The result is computer/application hangs and freezes. So, it is advised to the user to either use one antivirus protection or use two compatible protection tools. Some of the light weight tools like Immunet, Avira, Kaspersky etc are compatible with almost every antivirus application. Choice is yours.
 
The message of this article needs to reach more users. I've been on many forums where people go for help, because their PCs crashed, or became unstable. And they were clueless to the fact that running (2) resident AVs was a recipe for disaster.
 
I am using
1.AVG internet security 2014
2.Iobit advanced system care 6
3.Adgurd 5
in my Windows8 PC. Does those soft-wares effect each other?
 
apaul said:
I am using
1.AVG internet security 2014
2.Iobit advanced system care 6
3.Adgurd 5
in my Windows8 PC. Does those soft-wares effect each other?
Click to expand...

No, as long as you're not using the advanced systemcare with antivirus you're fine.
 
Sorry all forum but is a basic rule not to use more than one antivirus on pc.

Or One AV and anti-Spyware but for me when i use some one antispyware or another malware remover is preferentially Portable.

One System one AV, One Firewall, One Defrag, CCleaner and the new Auslogics Boostespeed v.6
 
I both agree and disagree with the blog, as it depends on what constitutes the secondary AV. If the additional AV is actually installed on the computer and it at all times active, then I would agree that the risks may outweigh the benefits (and is particularly ludicrous in the absence of things like incorporated sandbox and BB).

But if the second product has only a Cloud AV component that will kick in when the primary AV misses (especially if an additive detection rate has been well established), then not adding this additional protection will be counterproductive.
 
the statement in the title would be true if you wouldnt know how the AV's work and thus how to config them.

guess what, im running 4 AV (total of 5 engines) and im happy about it and been happy for more than a year now.

no BSOD, no infection's, no slowdowns (though i have a good CPU and good amount of RAM).
 
IMO, the ideal scenario would be to run no AV, so running more than a single AV would defeat that.

For example,
Running 2 or more AV's is like buying too many of one (ie. identical) item, they are spares, but they don't have any primary use.

I bet most will disagree with me here.
 
Tools that are doing the same job are a bad idea, it's like defragging your disk with two defraggers at the same time, or listening to a song on both Winamp and Foobar at the same time.

However, multiple AVs can (arguably) add more detection capabilities. You have to analyze any combination very carefully, though, as the article and the general rule of thumb is absolutely right: two AVs together can be a recipe for sure disaster.
 
Gnosis said:
No AV for me. Still using TF and Sandboxie. Computer is silky smooth.
Click to expand...

Me neither. Just use a combination of Malwarebytes (real-time on, yes, but without website blocking) and WinPatrol PLUS nowadays.
 
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