Layered anti-virus...a good or bad idea?

[Gaz]

I have a McAfee anti-virus subscription on my computer. Would I be more secure if I ran AVG & Avast or any other free anti-virus program in addition to McAfee, or is that bordering on paranoia?

xoxo~
Gaz
Knows they are out there, lurking and plotting.

[teedubya]

i would say 'yes' just because I utilize multiple anti spyware programs. One will catch stuff the other will not, so I assume the same with anti-virus progs. Besides, didnt McAfee buy Norton? If so, you definately need a secondary anti-virus prog...

[Saulbadguy]

Multiple anti-virus programs are usually a bad idea. Its also pretty useless.

Multiple anti-spyware, not as bad, but I wouldn't have the real time "shield" running for all of them, as that would waste resources.

[Simplex3]

If you have CPU cycles, RAM, and disk bandwidth to burn then run lots of AV programs. Of course you'd be the only person I know with spare power like that.

AV programs in particular are harsh on your performance. Stacking them just makes it that much worse.

[Gaz]

Are there AV programs that are not resident [am I using that term correctly?]. I have McAfee as my shield program. Should I also run a scan and delete AV program that is not constantly running? Is there such a program?

xoxo~
Gaz
Grasping for some security.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Are there AV programs that are not resident [am I using that term correctly?]. I have McAfee as my shield program. Should I also run a scan and delete AV program that is not constantly running? Is there such a program?

You can configure most of them to just do disk scans, but most of the time you want to catch the virus before it gets into the files. The truly ugly ones will damage data almost immediately upon infecting a file. If you want one that just scans the disk, no TSR app, ClamAV is updated far more frequently than anyone else.

[Gaz]

Let me make sure I grok this:

If a virus gets past my first line of defense [McAfee shield], I am already screwed? Running ClamAV, for example, is closing the barn door after the milk is spilled?

xoxo~
Gaz
Wonders if life would be easier if he just gave up the Internet at home.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Let me make sure I grok this:

If a virus gets past my first line of defense [McAfee shield], I am already screwed? Running ClamAV, for example, is closing the barn door after the milk is spilled?

xoxo~
Gaz
Wonders if life would be easier if he just gave up the Internet at home.

CAN be. If the virus you get destroys data or self-mutates then you're hosed if it slips past McAfee. If it just lies in wait for something else then you're Ok if it's found later.

[Simplex3]

Here's the lesson that the pros have already learned:

Be vigilant, do what you can to protect against it without going overboard or making the burden unneccisarly high. Understand that this is only going to keep the average idiot out of your system.

From there it's all about keeping all your original software CDs and backing up what you really need onto a non-destroyable medium like a CD-RW so that WHEN you get hacked you can put everything back together again.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Ali Chi3fs

i would say 'yes' just because I utilize multiple anti spyware programs. One will catch stuff the other will not, so I assume the same with anti-virus progs. Besides, didnt McAfee buy Norton? If so, you definately need a secondary anti-virus prog...

I would not recommend running multiple anti-spyware or anti-virus apps on the same machine if they have REAL-TIME scanning capabilities.

They can and will interfere with each other.

There's nothing wrong with using McAfee and Norton (or AVG, etc.) on the same machine as long as only one of them is doing on-access resident scanning. The other can be used for manual sweeps but should otherwise not be running all the time.

The same goes for anti-spyware. I use Spybot and AdAware, but AdWare doesn't have a real-time component.

As for multi-layered defenses, I always recommend that. But those layers should not exist on the same machine. For example, about 95% of all viruses come via email. I strongly recommend using a desktop anti-virus along with a network-based scanning service like Postini or MessageLabs. That's a 2-layer anti-virus defense.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by rufusmaqe

As for multi-layered defenses, I always recommend that. But those layers should not exist on the same machine. For example, about 95% of all viruses come via email. I strongly recommend using a desktop anti-virus along with a network-based scanning service like Postini or MessageLabs. That's a 2-layer anti-virus defense.

Yup. We run a scanner on all inbound mail and kill it before it has a chance to even reach our computers.

[Darkwolfe]

Bad move using two AV programs. They tend to fight each other and detect the other program's patterns as a virus.

Same with Spyware tools.

Use Spybot Search and Destroy and Avast OR AVG anti-virus. Need a firewall? ZoneAlarm.

You spend 0$ and you get better stuff than McAfee or Norton. Both of those come up as "Junk" these days.

[teedubya]

yeah i didnt take into consideration the "real-time" scanning. Yeah, they drain the piss out of the PC. I really dont run AV all that often.

More of a nuisance than anything. Shit is gonna get owned regardless... it isnt the old viruses that they have fixes for that typically get you, its the brand spankin' newly created ones that get through.

Being paranoid about the inevitable is not healthy.

Just keep your operating system on a 4gb sector of your pc. if a virus infiltrates and dehabilitates your PC, you reformat your OS without losing valuable data.

That way Im never really worried.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Ali Chi3fs

Just keep your operating system on a 4gb sector of your pc. if a virus infiltrates and dehabilitates your PC, you reformat your OS without losing valuable data.

Indeed. I've got a 20 gb system partition, just in case stuff gets forked.

[KCWolfman]

Originally Posted by Simplex3

Here's the lesson that the pros have already learned:

Be vigilant, do what you can to protect against it without going overboard or making the burden unneccisarly high. Understand that this is only going to keep the average idiot out of your system.

From there it's all about keeping all your original software CDs and backing up what you really need onto a non-destroyable medium like a CD-RW so that WHEN you get hacked you can put everything back together again.

A rebootable CD-RW or CD-R is a nice thing to create as well. Your original reboots are outdated with just a few simple registry changes.