Hello.

The number of viruses has long been in the tens of thousands, and every day they just arrive in their regiment. It is not surprising that many users no longer believe in the anti-virus database of any one program, wondering how to install two anti-viruses on a computer ..?

To be honest, such questions are sometimes asked to me. I want to present my thoughts on this issue in this small note.

A few words, why it is impossible to install 2 antiviruses "without any tricks" ...

In general, taking and installing two antiviruses in Windows is unlikely to work (since most modern antiviruses during installation check whether another is already installed on the PC antivirus program and warns you about it, sometimes just a mistake).

If 2 anti-viruses were installed, then it is possible that the computer will start:

Slow down (because a "double" check will be created);

Conflicts and errors (one antivirus will control another, it is possible that messages will appear with recommendations to remove one or another antivirus);

The appearance of the so-called blue screen - ;

The computer can simply freeze and stop responding to mouse and keyboard movements.

In this case, you need to boot into safe mode(link to article:) and remove one of the antiviruses.

Option number 1. Installing a full-fledged antivirus + curing utility that does not require installation (for example, Cureit)

One of the best and optimal options(in my opinion) is to install one full-fledged antivirus (for example, Avast, Panda, AVG, Kasperskiy, etc. -) and update it regularly.

In addition to the basic antivirus, you can store various healing utilities and programs on your hard drive or flash drive that do not need to be installed. Thus, when suspicious files appear (or just from time to time), you can quickly check your computer with a second antivirus.

By the way, before running such curing utilities, you need to turn off the main antivirus - see fig. 1.

Healing utilities that do not need to be installed

1) Dr.Web CureIt!

Probably one of the most famous utilities. The utility does not need to be installed, it allows you to quickly check your computer for viruses with the latest databases on the day the program is downloaded. Free for home use.

An excellent utility that helps not only clean your computer from viruses and malware, but also return access to the registry (if it was blocked), restore Windows, hosts file(relevant for network problems or viruses blocking popular sites), eliminate threats and incorrect Windows settings default.

Option number 2. Installation of 2 operating rooms Windows systems for 2 antiviruses

Another way to have 2 antiviruses on one computer (without conflicts and failures) is to install the second operating system.

For example, in most cases HDD home PC is divided into 2 parts: system drive "C: \" and local disk"D: \". So, on system disk"C: \" suppose Windows 7 and AVG antivirus are already installed.

To get to this also Avast antivirus- you can install another Windows on the second local disk and install the second antivirus in it (I apologize for the tautology). In fig. 2 everything is shown more clearly.

Naturally, at the same time you will have only one Windows OS running with one antivirus. But if doubts crept in and you need to quickly check your computer, then you rebooted your PC: chose another Windows OS with a different antivirus and booted up - checked your computer!

Installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive :

Dispelling myths….

No antivirus can guarantee 100% virus protection! And if you have 2 antiviruses on your computer, this also will not give any guarantees against infection.

Regular backup important files, updating antivirus, deleting suspicious letters and files, using programs and games from official sites - if they do not guarantee, then they minimize the risk of losing information.

I have everything on the topic of the article. If anyone has more options for installing 2 antiviruses on a PC, it would be interesting to hear them. Good luck!

Becoming the leader in threat detection tests, you can always find effective protection without spending a single dollar. As a result, users may think about installing multiple antiviruses on the system. Their logic is simple: the more security solutions are installed, the better the security of your computer. Let's see if this is really so.

Unfortunately, the adage “one head is good, two is better” does not apply to antivirus products... The more antiviruses you install on the system, the less effective protection you get. There are good reasons not to install multiple antiviruses on the same computer. Everything in order.

Performance Issues

When antiviruses are concerned with protecting a computer, they must use system resources to accomplish their tasks. Antivirus programs must keep an eye on all potential system zones that malware on a computer can exploit. The product must carry out a thorough analysis both when connecting a USB stick and when downloading a file from the Internet. The so-called "Real Time Protection" continuously monitors file operations and checks them for malicious activity.

If there is only one antivirus installed in the system, then it has enough resources and freedom of action to do its job. The more antiviruses are added to the system, the less memory is available to the antivirus to scan all potential attack points. As a result, the computer will run out of memory to perform other tasks, leading to severe performance hit.

File Fight

To make matters worse, you will notice that antiviruses will clash with each other while protecting your system. The main goal of antivirus is to isolate threats as quickly as possible and prevent attempts to infect your computer. If you install two or more antiviruses that will simultaneously monitor all risk zones, this will lead to conflicts.

Let's say you download a file from the Internet. Reliable antivirus intercept this action and instantly starts a scan of the specified folder to make sure the object is safe. If several reliable antiviruses are installed on the PC, then all of them will simultaneously try to check the downloaded file. As a result, the file may be blocked when one of the antiviruses tries to scan it, which will lead to a noticeable decrease in performance.

If the analyzed file turns out to be malware, it can lead to more serious problems. Both antiviruses will try to delete the object on their own, and both will ask the user to add the file to quarantine. If you allow one antivirus to be added to quarantine and refuse another, then the second antivirus can perceive isolated files in the quarantine zone of another product as a threat and will constantly display warnings about the danger.

Recrimination

The worst effect of using multiple antiviruses is that they don't trust each other. When the antivirus completes its task, it assumes that it is the only defense on the system. Therefore, it can regard the files of the second antivirus as malicious programs. At best, you will encounter constant false positives, at worst, they will try to delete each other, which can lead to system instability and damage to critical files.

But what about antivirus scanners?

This article mainly deals with antivirus programs that run in the background and penetrate deeply into system zones. However, users often use specialized cleaning tools to enhance the protection of their computer. They work differently because they do not constantly scan files, but are designed to clean the computer when needed. Could these scanners lead to conflicts with an active antivirus?

Answer to this question depends on what you are using the scanner for. Some scanners have their own real-time protection modules, which may conflict with similar antivirus components. If you disable these modules and simply perform periodic system scans, then problems can be avoided. Ideally, you can configure exclusions in the antivirus by removing the scanner from the scan task. However, even in this case, performance degradation can sometimes be observed if both programs run scans at the same time.

If you want to use antivirus and antivirus scanner together and want to know possible consequences then visit the official website of the cleaning tool. In the comments on the site, the site users offer recommendations for sharing with antivirus.

One for all

What line of defense have you built for your computer? Do you use antivirus and antivirus scanner at the same time? Are you using Windows Defender? Or are you using an OS that doesn't need additional protection? Share in the discussions below.

Some users, taking care of their computers and personal data, come to the decision that they should install two antiviruses on one computer, or, more precisely, install more than one antivirus.

They believe that if one antivirus misses a threat, then the second will certainly protect against it. Is it really?

Of course, no antivirus program can provide one hundred percent protection against viruses, personal information leakage, and other threats. But installing two antiviruses on one computer is a very bad idea.

As practice shows, this approach to protecting your computer does not work. And it's not about competition, as many might think, but about the incompatibility of antivirus programs.

Several antiviruses “do not get along” on one computer, even if they are developed by the same company. They will interfere with each other's work, conflict, and the computer will freeze or stop working altogether.

The reason lies in the fact that any antivirus tries to control all processes on the computer. Antiviruses analyze and control many operations: reading and writing files, analyzing system processes, working with RAM, network traffic, and so on.

Therefore, if two or more antiviruses are installed on a computer, they will try to gain full control over the system, interfering with each other. As a result, the computer starts to freeze, and system resources will be sorely lacking for the normal operation of any application.

In addition, each of the antiviruses may well try to block some files of the other, identifying them as potentially dangerous. And this is not at all a competition between software developers. From the point of view of system protection, any antivirus performs many suspicious operations.

As you can see, you can install two antiviruses on one computer, but, alas, this will not increase the level of protection and may even harm your computer. If there is a suspicion that your antivirus has overlooked a dangerous file and the system is already infected, then it is better to go the other way.

How to additionally check your PC using a second antivirus

For a one-time check of the system, special solutions have been developed, for example, Dr.Web CureIt!.

Dr web CureIt the official website is at http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/?lng=ru

The program, which is called the curing utility, is downloaded free of charge from the above-mentioned official Dr.Web website.

Rice. 1 Description of the application of the anti-virus utility Dr.Web CureIt!

After downloading the program named Dr.Web CureIt! no need to install, just run it double click left mouse button (see Fig. 1), for more details.

Also, a similar utility is available for Kaspersky.

It is called Kaspersky Security Scan and is located at http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan. It can be downloaded for free from the official website of Kaspersky, double-click the left mouse button, and run a computer scan (see Fig. 2)

Rice. 2. Window for launching the anti-virus utility of Kaspersky

These free antivirus utilities check and treat your computer without interfering with the work of the main antivirus installed on your PC, and do not conflict with it. After the completion of the disinfection check, these programs can be safely removed from the PC by simply moving them to the Trash. It is very useful to check your computer with them from time to time, even if there is complete confidence that the installed main antivirus is performing its functions flawlessly. God saves man, who save himself.

Antivirus software on new computers

When you buy a new computer (laptop, tablet, etc.), an anti-virus program may be preinstalled in it. A user of a new computer may not want to use this "imposed" antivirus in the future.

For example, new computers often install McAfee antivirus... If you do not want to use it, and instead install, for example, an antivirus, then you need to take care that earlier installed antivirus has been removed from the computer.

An antivirus program is a special type of software whose function is to detect and neutralize computer viruses and potentially malicious software. In addition, antivirus helps prevent infection of your computer. The user is offered many options for antivirus programs, distributed both on paid and on free of charge... These programs differ in functionality and operating mechanisms, as well as in the effectiveness of prevention and control of viruses.

How antivirus works

Almost every computer has one or another anti-virus software however, some people mistakenly believe that increasing the number of concurrently running antiviruses will provide more powerful protection. To understand why this is a misconception, you need to understand how anti-virus programs work.

Do not forget to regularly update the virus databases so that your antivirus can recognize "fresh" viruses.

To search for viruses that have already infected a computer, the so-called signature method is used, the essence of which is that the antivirus compares the contents of files with virus databases, trying to find matches. If they are found, the program tries to "cure" the file, that is, remove unnecessary content from it - the "virus body". Infection prevention is based on constant monitoring of program activity in order to prevent malicious activity of viruses and protect the system from infection. Most antiviruses work on a combined basis, that is, both in activity monitoring mode and in the mode.

Why doesn't more mean better?

Naturally, even the operation of one antivirus can affect the performance of the computer, since scanning files loads the hard disk, and monitoring - RAM and processor resources. Even if we assume that both antiviruses simply work in parallel, the load on the computer's resources doubles. Unfortunately, the reality is even more complicated, since the antivirus program does not perceive its "competitor" as an antivirus, considering it a regular application running on a computer, therefore, it seeks to control its work as well. For example, if one antivirus starts scanning files in the background, the second will have to "monitor" its work in the process, as well as scan the scanned files, which will further affect the speed of the computer.

Any antivirus is imperfect, so "false" alarms and an attempt to block known harmless programs are quite possible.

In some cases, antiviruses can conflict, mistaking each other for potentially dangerous programs. For example, if one antivirus tries to "cure" an infected file, the second will not allow it to do so, as it will be sure that an attempt is being made to infect a virus. Antivirus conflict can lead to a freeze of the operating system and the need for a forced restart. In addition, such double control in practice leads to a weakening of protection, since antiviruses spend a significant part of their resources on checking each other, and not on searching for viruses. Therefore, it is much more practical to install one powerful antivirus with the necessary add-ons than to act on the principle of "the more the better."