Issue 26.10
Have you ever been in a political, church or other meeting where people’s opinions are very important to them? Sometimes two or more people will get into an argument, loudly telling everyone else why they are right and everyone else is wrong. Usually nothing is decided and everyone goes away with negative feelings.
Computers are complex to build and maintain, but their computing (thinking process) is fairly simply. They do what the programs tell them to. A problem can arise however, when two or more programs are telling them to do conflicting things. Much like the argument above, neither program will back down and nothing gets done.
When the conflicting items are anti-virus programs (or anti-spyware or registry cleaners), they not only can’t get anything done, but while they are distracted by the arguing, the virus can slip in the back door and do a lot of damage to your computer.
That is why Microsoft strongly recommends using only one anti-virus program on your system. Anti-spyware capability is usually included in most good anti-virus programs so you don’t generally need a separate one. Many of the better AV programs will not install if you have another AV program already on your computer. You need to uninstall any existing programs of this type and then install the one you actually want.
Many people don’t even realize they are creating a problem. Different people in the same business or family think they will help out by installing a program. One computer I worked on this week had four anti-virus programs and three anti-spyware programs as well as five registry cleaners (none of which I would even put on my computer because they all contained tracking and spyware subprograms). This computer also had a number of viruses active in the system. The viruses had made the computer totally unusable.
My recommendations are to stay away from free registry cleaners (they usually have stuff in them you don’t want on your computer), leave free anti-spyware cleaners off as well, and get a good anti-virus with anti-spyware capability included. In the free category I recommend AVG (available at free.avg.com). In the purchase category, Kaspersky and Esset NOD32 are the top rated programs. AVG, McAffee and Norton also have good purchasable programs available. Finally, the general rule is, if you didn’t ask for it – don’t install it. It is probably bad for your computer.
No matter what else – remember to be safe – and always have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 29 years (locally with Musicomp & Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions, you can reach him at 668-7118.