piratesmvp04 Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 These are the security software I have installed on my computer, and I'm just wondering if these would cause a conflict with each other: Comodo Internet Security (Firewall and Anti-virus) Comodo Memory Firewall Comodo BOClean Threatfire Spyware Doctor (with active-scanning enabled) Spybot S&D (with browser immunizations enabled, not using Teatimer) Windows Defender Specifically, I'm wondering if Spyware Doctor would cause a conflict with BOClean or Threatfire. But, I'd like to know if these are too many programs. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Pirates, I'm not an expert and don't pretend to be but it would seem to me that you do have a lot of security software installed and because of it I believe it can cause conflicts with each other as they try to do their job. A guy like MarkB would know much more about this then I would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratesmvp04 Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 Well, I know that all three Comodo products do not interfere with each other. Threatfire can be used with those 3 from what I've read online, plus ThreatFire is advertised as an antivirus supplement. The main question is how Spyware Doctor and Spybot work in the mix. I'm not sure if they interfere with each other or with the first 4 I've mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiedyed Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Wow your pc must run like **** with all that running seems like overkill to me..the three comodo products should be more then enough.Spybot to me is a total waste all it ever finds is cookies.You don't need anything to take care of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsox Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 But, I'd like to know if these are too many programs. Thanks! Definitely way too many programs. Unless you are visiting warez sites everyday that you have to protect your computer against, there should really be no need for so many programs. I have BitDefender installed and that serves as my anti-virus and anti-spyware program. Apart from that, the only other program that I run on a regular basis (once every couple of weeks or sometimes once every week) is Diskeeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkB Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Without knowing specifically what they all do, I'd just look at the sheer number of them and say yes - too many. You seem to have 2 things doing each job. In an ideal world while still staying generally secure, you should need one anti-virus program and one anti-adware/spyware program or a combination anti-malware product that covers virii, adware and spyware, and a firewall. That's it. The amount of stuff you have running must be drastically slowing down the performance on your system. I'd also say that contrary to what tiedyed posted, I've been using Spybot S&D for years and it's found and removed plenty of issues other than cookies. I don't use it on my home systems for reasons unrelated to the program itself, but I have no problem using it when fixing other people's sytems that are riddled with junk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiedyed Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 I can only say what I have experienced with spybot over the years. I have never found anything but cookies with it.I run Comodo firewall and avast antivirus and have a 15 year old son that uses my pc when I am not on it.If you have teenagers you know the surfing habits, he loves to frequent high risk sites .After seeing your post about finding things with spybot I figured it couldn't hurt to run it and see if I would get any different results then I have seen for years. I installed it ran a scan just to see if it found anything.Now I haven't run a virus scan or anything on my pc in serveral months,but I dump cookies and temp files on a regular basis.The results 10 cookies and one registry edit. The registry edit was me shutting off windows security center. So at least for me there is no need to use Spybot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkB Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Totally understandable, everyone's mileage is different. If Spybot S&D only found cookies when your son frequents, as you say, high risk sites, then he must at least have a clue what he's doing, as he's not going to the ones that are particularly harmful. There's always the chance that there is no malware on your system for Spybot S&D to find, so at least Spybot can't be faulted for not finding something that isn't there in the first place. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratesmvp04 Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 Thanks for the replies, everyone. MarkB, I don't think I have 2 programs doing 2 things, though I could be wrong. Here's what each program does. Comodo Internet Security- (obviously firewall and antivirus) Comodo Memory Firewall-prevents buffering attacks BOClean-Anti-malware ThreatFire-behavioral antivirus; uses different technology other than signatures to catch viruses that have not been documented yet. Is advertised to be a supplement to regular anti-virus software Spyware Doctor-antispyware Spybot-anti-spyware Windows Defender-antimalware, though this piece of crap never catches anything, as you all probably know well. I use these for different lines of defense. Also, some detect things others do not. For example, Spyware Doctor will catch various adware that Spybot won't see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratesmvp04 Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 OK, I've done a little bit of my own research, and it seems that none of these software will conflict with each other except possibly Spybot and Spyware Doctor. Both of these programs have Activex immunization protection. So, I think my question should be: Will there be a conflict if I use two software that have immunization features against Activex-based threats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkB Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Thanks for the replies, everyone. MarkB, I don't think I have 2 programs doing 2 things, though I could be wrong. Here's what each program does. Comodo Internet Security- (obviously firewall and antivirus) Comodo Memory Firewall-prevents buffering attacks BOClean-Anti-malware ThreatFire-behavioral antivirus; uses different technology other than signatures to catch viruses that have not been documented yet. Is advertised to be a supplement to regular anti-virus software Spyware Doctor-antispyware Spybot-anti-spyware Windows Defender-antimalware, though this piece of crap never catches anything, as you all probably know well. I use these for different lines of defense. Also, some detect things others do not. For example, Spyware Doctor will catch various adware that Spybot won't see. Well, the term "internet security" is one that I, personally, dislike simply due to how vague it is. Anything can be covered in an internet security package - some are simply firewalls, some cover anti-virus, anti-spyware, phishing protection, memory overflow and buffering diverts...the list can be endless. You (not you, personally, just consumers in general) need to actually research what each program does rather than just labelling it under the "internet security" banner. Spyware, adware, virii et al are categorised as malware - malicious software. From the details you mentioned, you have 5 programs all performing anti-malware operations - 2 specifically deal with just spyware. Sure, one may be faster at catching one type of adware or spyware than the other, but ultimately, is the performance hit worth the extra half a second it may take for the other program to detect, halt and remove the offending piece of junk, or until the next definition update is released, at which point your next scan would catch it anyway? It's good to have all those programs from a "cover all your bases" perspective, but bear in mind that, as you said, the programs may well be working against each other for certain memory locations or explorer hooks, which may leave open a hole in memory which any potential malware could get through anyway. At the end of the day, if your soldiers are too busy fighting with each other to protect your base, you'd be just as protected with nothing at all. Ultimately, whatever you feel comfortable with. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratesmvp04 Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 Thanks for the reply. I understand what you mean when you talk about "Internet Security." I know people who think that since they have McAfee Internet Security, they're protected from everything, and little do they know that they are not because they have nothing to block spyware. Comodo Internet Security features Comodo Anti-virus and Firewall, so it's a basic security suite. That's why I have the other programs to cover the areas CIS does not. This all said, what would your recommendation be? Is it okay to keep all these programs? Or, should I trim some? If so, which ones? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minnesota Twins Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 While we are on the topic of "Security" I just wanted to throw this out there for those interested. MalwareBytes is a completely free antii-MalWare program that really does a great job of not only detecting but removing malware. I highly recommend MalwareBytes http://www.malwarebytes.org/ MarkB did a great job summarizing the topic of Personal Internet Security. With a combination of... 1) Firewall 2) Anti-Virus 3) Anti-Spyware/MalWare You should be pretty well covered. For example... I use ESET nod32 Smart Security (Antivirus, Firewall) and MalwareBytes (Anti-Spyware/Malware). This is a good baseline for protection. I hope this helps anyone interested. It is easy to confuse Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware/Malware Software. It is important to use an effective combination of both to dissuade nefarious people/software The most important factor is awareness/education. PiratesMVP04 -- It looks like you are pretty well covered with the Komodo Suite You do not need all the other software but that being said they do not necessarily conflict. They do however use resources and it looks like you have overlapping malware programs. (Threatfire Spyware Doctor (with active-scanning enabled) Spybot S&D (with browser immunizations enabled, not using Teatimer) Windows Defender) I would choose one anti-malware agent and roll with that along with your Komodo suite. I hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratesmvp04 Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 Thanks for the response. I think I'm going to stick with the programs I have and get rid of one of my spyware software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkB Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 PiratesMVP04 -- It looks like you are pretty well covered with the Komodo Suite You do not need all the other software but that being said they do not necessarily conflict. They do however use resources and it looks like you have overlapping malware programs. (Threatfire Spyware Doctor (with active-scanning enabled) Spybot S&D (with browser immunizations enabled, not using Teatimer) Windows Defender) I would choose one anti-malware agent and roll with that along with your Komodo suite. I hope this helps. Yep, this pretty much sums up my thoughts as well. Totally agree. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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