Community Newsletter: Q&A: 7/29/05 Is it OK to run more than one antivirus utility?
- 7/28/05 4:16 PM
What's that mysterious stuff running? A great resource
by lodave - 7/29/05 12:31 PM In reply to: Virus Software + Pest Patrol by Armand AlciatoreFor a comprehensive compendium of all those acronymic services found listed in Task Manager, go here:
http://dhost.info/kyeu/mirror/blackviper/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
—with explanations and recommendations on what really needs to be retained and what can be removed or disabled. Double-click on the individual services filenames for complete details of each. [That link is a temporary mirror of his excellent, informative website]
FWIW, the confusion over AVG & AVG-Free is easy to understand considering how well ''hidden'' is the free version on the main Grisoft website. One can't really blame them for doing this, as _somebody_ has to pay the bills, so I'd encourage folks to opt for the paid version to ensure that the free one survives for those on limited budgets (not just to please the cheapskates!), and have the advantage of better support. Working around problems with the AVG-Free can be quite time-consuming, particularly its ''refusal'' to update on some systems.
Have you Defragged your drive?
by r_rayjr - 7/30/05 6:18 AM In reply to: Virus Software + Pest Patrol by Armand AlciatoreSometime not defragging your hard drive can slow your system down. Or it could even be your cookies and/or history. Try clearing your cookies,history, and you tempfiles. All can be found by opening your explorer clicking Tools and then Internet Options. In that window on the General tab in the area that say Temporary internet files, click the Delete cookies. Then when that is done in the same area click delete files. And then then that is done got to the section below that it should say History click the button that say Clear History. And this should help with the slow down. I am a student at ITT Tech in Omaha and the instructor at the school prefer that you do this everytime your are done with the computer before logging off. The do not inforce this, but I know when someone at the school compalins that the computer is slow that first thing they say is have you tried clearing the cookies and history...
Just a note about this history though for those that do not know, if you use the clickable links in the addres bar, clearing the history will remove everthing list in this. So if you have addresses that you go to alot, I save them to my favorite, then that way when I clear history I can just click on the link in favorites and then when that window opens I click in the address bar so that it put the curser thing at the end of the address, and so that it is not highlighted anymore, then click the backspace key on the keyboard to remove one letter then I retype that letter in and press enter, That will put the address back in the list. Just in case you like using the Address bar, and do not what to have the favorites list open all the time, or have to keep opening the favorite to go to the links.
Hi Armand ~ From Courtney
by cpulitzer - 10/7/05 12:26 PM In reply to: Virus Software + Pest Patrol by Armand AlciatoreHi Armand -- if/when you get this, I'd love to hear from you. Just wanted to say hi and I only found this link! ~ Courtney at Pulitzer dot com
Not necessarily true
by mrmetal122083 - 7/29/05 8:10 AM In reply to: 7/29/05 Is it OK to run more than one antivirus utility? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This isn't always true. I have 2 stand-alone antivirus apps running as well as an all in one (antivirus, firewall, spyware remover) and a seperate firewall. They all run independantly, not one of them interferes with the other. My system resources are still plentiful with all of them runningat the same time. I like to have a lot of good apps such as these running to give myself maximum protection. Some software will NOT find what others find and visa versa. Example is I run spy-bot search and destroy and lavasoft's ad-aware on a regular basis. ad-aware will not not find files/spyware programs that spy-bot finds. Same thing with antivirus. Some programs are more ''picky'' as to what is a virus or could be a virus. Firewalls are a good example of when you should have more than 1 running at a time. Sure you'r internet connection will be a little slower. Most people have broadband now so it really shouldn't matter anymore. But hackers can and will break through a firewall no matter how good it is. The reason why it is better to have more running at the same time is to slow them down in trying to hack through one of them. This is not to say you need to have 10 or so of everything running at the same time. But if you'r computer can handle it, then try to get a couple good applications from each catagory and try it for yourself. You will find that everything I just said is for the most part totally true. Then make your own judgement as to what to do. Also do not use Norton or Symantec software as it uses way to many system resources for what little it does, there are several programs out that are in fact better and use less resources than the popular norton/symantec software.
Better AV resources? What are they?
by goodgracia - 8/12/05 4:58 PM In reply to: Not necessarily true by mrmetal122083Also do not use Norton or Symantec software as it uses way to many system resources for what little it does, there are several programs out that are in fact better and use less resources than the popular norton/symantec software.
____________________
Which are they? I've seen this done on these boards before--where the poster says there's something better and then doesn't say what it is!
I'm new to all this. I had McAfee until it expired yesterday, and I was going to go to AVG/Grisoft until I read the agreement and saw that the owner/arbiter was the Czech Republic! (Does everybody know this? Does anybody care?)
I'm using FireFox with a v-e-r-r-y slow modem, so many of my downloads just corrupt before they ever get to my computer.
I tried installing ZoneAlarm firewall, but you can't download it with Mozilla, it says.
I would like to try Avast for the anti-virus. I haven't seen any cons about it. Are there any?
I'm not averse to paying for anti-virus, either, but I really would like to know what I should use?
Thanks for any help.
Avast
by swathingscientist - 8/19/05 1:00 PM In reply to: Better AV resources? What are they? by goodgraciaGG:
For the present,for quite a while,Avast is by far the very best AV there is.Never needs to be run everyday like most all others.Always updated regular and has a voice feature which tells you when it's been done.
What,pray tell,difference does it make today if a program comes from Europe or Asia or Mars??,a goodly number of the big 3 automakers vehicles are now made overseas and shipped in.It's a world market now.
Serious problems CAN occur
by PWSowner - 7/29/05 8:33 AM In reply to: 7/29/05 Is it OK to run more than one antivirus utility? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I was using Norton 3 months ago and decided to try something different. I disabled Norton AND set it to not start automatically, then installed a new one. The next day when I turned my computer on, Norton came up. I disabled it, then brought up my mail program. My business is on the internet, so I get a couple hundred emails a day, including virus attachments. I use Netscape and have many emails in many folders.
Netscape came up, started getting new email, then the new program told me there was a virus in one, (which I get daily), and I told it to delete it. But then suddenly Norton popped up and said "virus found - being deleted". I disabled it, but Norton tends to like jumping in where it's not wanted.
Well, my inbox, where the new mail was going, got damaged. Netscape couldn't read it anymore. I closed Netscape, UNINSTALLED Norton, then brought Netscape back up, but it still couldn't read the inbox. It was ruined and had about 400 emails, including business ones.
Luckily I back up my mail files weekly, but I lost the last 7 days of email, sort of. I also do data recovery, so when I knew the mail was gone, I closed everything, then started looking for the damaged clusters. It was going to be time consuming, so I copied all clusters marked unused to a file so I could find the missing mail later.
It's exactly 3 months later and I just finished restoring all the missing email last night.
2 programs at once will cause a problem some time.
If you're going to try a new one, you better uninstall Norton for now.
Why More Than one Anti Virus
by james.lyle - 7/29/05 9:02 AM In reply to: 7/29/05 Is it OK to run more than one antivirus utility? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I notice that you are recommending a number of free anti virus software. Why, if they are so good do you change from one to another?
AntiSpyware
by mooncrawler - 7/29/05 9:13 AM In reply to: 7/29/05 Is it OK to run more than one antivirus utility? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Great article.
I don't have experience with two virus scanners, but I have --and paid for-- Norman AntiVirus which kills AdAware when it detects a critical item (webbrowser toolbar) somewhere on my disk. So if I want to run a manual AdAware scan, I must shutdown my virus scanner first. Once in a while I just run an online scan on Housecall too.
That works fine and nothing is messed up.
I have AVG installed and it works great but
by anniepepper - 7/29/05 9:16 AM In reply to: 7/29/05 Is it OK to run more than one antivirus utility? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
but i did end up with a virus and non being a guru i dont know how to get rid of it AVG tells me i have it but it cant heal it or place it in the vault it doesnt even have it on the enclopedia listings i just seen an ugly little monster and closed the thing down
is there any way i can get rid of this thing it looks horrible and i keep thinking of this monster running around inside my computer i use xp and have the service pk 2
the virus name is trojan horse java/classloader and trojan horse downloader.1stbar.bu i am not good at fixing things but if instructions are in simple language and explained very easy i think i can do it
AnnieP
Annie
by MarkFlax - 7/29/05 9:47 AM
In reply to: I have AVG installed and it works great but by anniepepper
for help on removing trojans you may want to consider raising a new thread with your computer details and problem in the Virus and security alerts forum in this site, here;
http://reviews.cnet.com/5204-6132-0.html?forumID=32&tag=dir.forum
Good luck
Mark
Removing Trojan
by wscoaster - 7/29/05 11:10 AM In reply to: I have AVG installed and it works great but by anniepepperNortons seems to be better at removing trojans than AVG. Remove your harddrive , set it to slave & install it as a slave in a computer that has Nortons installed. Then run a virus scan & it should remove the trojan. harddrives that have an infection that interfears with the removal of said infection are often more easily cleaned running as a slave.
woah there.. that's going overboard
by saitokokeimei - 8/1/05 12:45 AM In reply to: Removing Trojan by wscoasteror you could try something a little simpler to start that doesn't consist of getting all nerdy and taking everything apart. try other antivirus programs? figure out the name of the virus and download a small trojan remover? but oh let's take the computer apart and plug it into another one with norton, cause that's definitely where you should start o_O
Yeah !!
by swathingscientist - 8/1/05 10:06 AM In reply to: woah there.. that's going overboard by saitokokeimeiYou said it all there fella.Good on yah!!
please, keep it user-friendly!
by bendis - 8/16/05 10:52 PM In reply to: woah there.. that's going overboard by saitokokeimeiif you read Annie's post, you will know she is a regular user not a tech. advising her to slave the hadd is ridiculous, to say the least!
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