Ashwin Ramesh asks:
I have Microsoft Security Essentials and IObit Malware Fighter Pro installed on my laptop now.
Is it a good idea to keep both ON when I use my laptop? Or should I turn OFF one of the two? If so, which one is better to turn OFF?
Thanks!
System: Windows 7
Tagged: antivirus, compatibility, malware, microsoft security essentials, software tips, windows software
Tagged: antivirus, compatibility, malware, microsoft security essentials, software tips, windows software
28 Answers -
ha14
August 5, 2012it should run fine both, Microsoft Security Essentials should be better than IObit Malware Fighter Pro so if you want to turn one OFF then turn off iobit.
Dalsan
August 5, 2012MSSE should be ok with IOBit as the two aren’t strictly antivirus programs. IOBit does well with making software that doesn’t conflict very much with others as Norton and McAfee will conflict with most others.
Shakirah Faleh Lai
August 6, 2012Microsoft Security Essentials is not a real antivirus.
Could I ask you to explain this further? I have read a lot of good reports on MSE and gave up on the resource hungry Norton. Was this not a good idea?
August 6, 2012It most definitely is a “real antivirus”. Norton just slows down your computer.
August 7, 2012Suman Acharya
August 6, 2012running two antiviruses in a system can cause system instability and you don’t need to run two anti-viruses in a system. if both are active there will be frequent system lock-ups, slow down and other performance issues but in your case it will work good – these are not hard-core anti-viruses. you can turn one off – anyone.
Ashwin Ramesh
August 6, 2012Thanks a lot for you suggestions everyone. I’ll have IObit turned off then!
ferdinan Sitohang
August 6, 2012It is fine to have two antivirus in your laptop, may be it just a problem of resources. When you are running two antivirus then it takes more of laptop resources. If you want just one AV just use Microsoft essentials.
Bruce Epper
August 6, 2012The issue in general is not a simple matter of a simple number of installed antivirus or antimalware programs installed, but in how they operate. The big issue has to do with if they are on-demand scanners or if they are on-access scanners. The on-access scanners are the ones that will cause the problems. The situation arises that the system access a file, both scanners see this and both compete for access to the file to scan it. Another more devastating (performance-wise) possibility is when one of the scanners access the file for scanning, the other scanner sees this and decides it needs to scan the file first which triggers the first scanner seeing this new access and sees that it hasn’t completed its scan of the file, so it wants to deny access to the second scanner until its scan is completed,… Big deadlock situation that will cause some scanners to completely block access to files, including system files required to allow the system to continue to run. The entire thing can be avoided by only allowing one scanner to run on-access scanning while any others will be on-demand only.
Thanks for the info! Makes things a lot clearer!
August 6, 2012like a pro, this is a clear answer. Thank you for this.
August 8, 2012Lambvolution
August 6, 2012two or more antivirus makes your laptop slow
Luke Brannon
August 6, 2012It seems silly to run two AV systems to be honest, best thing to do is keep MSSE because, honestly, I actually think it’s the best AV out there for free!
Usman Mubashir
August 6, 2012if your pc is powerful enough it should run both without any hunch, it might be even better to run both as one might catch something that the other misses. However I strongly suggest if you have a strong pc, go for something better, I don’t personally like any of them.
Dayaanand1
August 7, 2012I would advise you to keep only one software ON. as having both ON will only reduce the processing speed of the computer.
Anay Chaubal
August 7, 2012Why not use one very good protection suite, rather than two softwares? Avast has a very good free version, also Avast Pro is rather cheap on price, as well as resources consumed. I use Avast Home, and it has never failed me for about 6 straight years. Microsoft Security Essentials is good, but it only gives the bare essential level of protection, and this is still much less than what a basic antivirus program will do.
Reý Aetar
August 7, 2012if both dont creat conflicts then no problem but it will have effect on the performance
Christopher Harlan
August 7, 2012I use both Microsoft Security Essentials and the IObit suite. It wont harm it, but they could interfere which could cause one of them to not work to the fullest extent.
the profiesto ..
August 7, 2012I think you can use a better antivirus like avg 2012 free edition… or you can use microsoft essentials and malwarebytes is good to catch malware..
Jules Meijer
August 8, 2012It should run fine, but if you get internet problems, maybe you should turn off one.
Bibek Kunwar
August 10, 2012mo it s not
Yasin Soliman
August 10, 2012Both will run fine, although it will strain your computer’s processing power more, unless the laptop can continue to operate normally, in which case no conflicts should occur.
Hanamichi Kurotsuchi
August 15, 2012no, because each one of them will detect other as a virus and they will not perform correctly, so run one antivirus at a time.
if you’re using internet so much, so I suggest to you using Internet Security rather than antivirus, because it has more features than antivirus.
Mel Reynolds
August 15, 2012Security Essentials is better than IObit i believe, also i just tried Kingsoft antivirus, check it out
Never heard of Kingsoft! Will check it out…
August 16, 2012Adjei Kofi
August 20, 2012it’s ok of you use both cos they’ll provide better protection. also MSSE copes well with other antivirus programs
I see… thanks for your input!
August 21, 2012Mauro Vitali
August 21, 2012yep.
the only things is that in some cases they could see each other as a maleware or a virus.
the best is to have only one antivirus and one anti-maleware…
but if you want to have two of them then remember to delete every virus or maleware when find
Sumaiya
August 21, 2012yeah its safe..but my one antivirus makes my pc so slow, i would never run two..
Kevin Fegan
August 23, 2012Generally, you can have more than one AV installed at the same time Then you can do a manual scan using one AV progam at a time.
It can cause problems if you turn on the “Real Time Protection” on for more than one AV at a time.
Kao Vang
August 29, 2012Sometimes 2 AVs conflicts with each other. Most times, it is ‘unwise’ to run 2 AVs. You can use something like Malwarebytes or SuperAntispyware for on demand malware scanning/removal and run one AV. Best thing to do is to practice safe surfing habits.
Amit Sinha
September 2, 2012its is not better to use two program for same work. if you continue to go with the two you came to a situation that both software blacklists each other.
use IObit Malware Fighter Pro
yes it is good ,but some time according to your pc it would make pc slow
if you have a above 1 gb ram you can install two antivirus because when you install two antivirus it make your system more secure some time some virus can only identifi by some anitivirus so it is good to use both
dont bother about others word because my father is a software engeenear
i recomment avast and avira
October 24, 2012Vishal Mishra
October 18, 2012you shold not run two antivirus in same OS at a time but you can run an antivirus and firewall OR antivirus and antimalware.
Steve
November 10, 2012It is never a good thing to run two or more anti virus programs, I will put it this way – a majority of people will say that it only slows down your pc, this is a half truth, what is really happening is that one is fighting against the other (EG: Microsoft security essentials and Norton or avg are trying to protect your system at the same time, each of them will see the other one as a virus because of the conflict of real time scanning, it is a bit like two security guards at a venue each from a different company fight with each other – while they are fighting the undesirables get past them while they are distracted), just instal one anti virus (free or paid) and remove all others, just be careful on what sites you visit – rule of thumb is that if you know your pc is up to date but a site is saying you must instal this to continue DONT it’s a virus (spyware etc). hope this helped.