Why Only One Antivirus for PCs

 

Why Only One Antivirus for PCs

No, it is not like having a double lock on your front door. According to most computer security experts, having more than one Antivirus Software is not a good idea. Instead of increased security, you can end up with unwanted side effects.

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How they operate

Antivirus Software are programs designed to prevent, search, detect, and remove malicious programs on an ongoing basis. As a general rule, when the program encounters a problem, it alerts the user, who then has the option of blocking, deleting, or setting aside the dangerous file. "To be effective in the detection work, the antivirus must be able to penetrate the computer at an adequate level, deep in the core of the system, " explains the site of the company specialized in computer security Kaspersky Lab.

 

No antivirus package is perfect.

 

"The product needs to intercept events in the system. The intercepted data then goes to the antivirus engine, which analyzes it." If the user runs two or more programs for the same purpose, it is "likely that there is a conflict, with one of two consequences: one of the two antivirus fails to intercept (malicious) events in the system or attempts to installing parallel interceptors will make the system crash. "

 

Low risk

Several other specialized sites echo this warning. Microsoft's site says emphatically that "you should never use more than one antivirus program simultaneously" and PCWorld's compares it to "mixing a fine wine with a breakfast cereal."

 

"It can simply happen that the two programs contradict each other: one can detect something like malware while the other does not. Which one to believe? False positives exist in all antiviruses, so it is a complex issue," he told BBC Mundo Javier Pastor, blogger for the technological site Xataka. Viruses are a huge headache for users, businesses, and governments.

 

But others, like Alejandro Ramos, from the blog specialized in security SecurityByDefault, find that this risk is, in fact, low .

"It can happen. It can happen that one antivirus identifies the other as antivirus, or even that an antivirus identifies itself as such. But the probability is small ," he told BBC Mundo.

 

Performance

Instead, for Ramos the key question is how the use of two or more antivirus programs can impact the performance of the computer. "Antivirus analyzes all the files that the computer opens and are saved. If this process is done in duplicate, it slows down the computer's operation," he explained. "There may also be other 'blocking' problems. When a file is analyzed by an antivirus, it has to read it from the hard disk and several applications cannot read the same file at the same time. If two antivirus 'stick together' errors can occur unexpected ".

 

Choices

So if you are worried about the possibility that an ANTIVIRUS is not enough, what can you do to protect yourself from rogues on the internet? "You can increase (the effect of the antivirus) with a malware scanner, " proposes PC World .

 

This requires some additional explanation. Viruses are indeed types of malware, but specifically designed to spread by infecting existing files, like a disease that attacks the cells of the body.

Every virus is a form of malware. But there are others too, such as spyware, ransomware, and Trojans. And, in fact, many antivirus programs already protect against things that are not strictly viruses.

 

Antivirus Software run continuously, behind the scenes, and warn when they find something suspicious. According to experts, there are two fundamental differences: on the one hand, so-called antimalware programs do not work continuously behind the scenes, but can be activated, used and closed. On the other, they tend to include a range of different threats. "The antivirus protect you from malware established, predictable but still dangerous. Latest antimalware products are threats, " says the company Malware bytes on your website. In any case, it will require a little research on your part to specify what your antivirus package protects you from, as well as to choose a complementary tool.