I have a question about the online virus protection you said to run (see TBCS Bulletin November 27th).  I thought people wasn't suppose to have 2 virus protection.  I thought they worked against each other.  Now I am confused.  Please help me to understand.

Thanks for you help.

Janet

Hi Janet,

You are correct that many of us recommend NOT using multiple programs to do the same thing - this includes multiple firewalls, multiple virus programs, and multiple spyware protection programs. While it's possible that we overstate the case for this, it simply doesn't make sense to task Windows with servicing multiple processes that duplicate each other.

However, it's not unusual for your anti-virus program to become compromised (probably over 80% of the viruses that I remove from my clients' computers are found on computers running an up-to-date anti-virus program). You need to make sure that YOUR AV software is still doing its job by double-checking your computer with an online virus scan.

The online scans are only active while they are scanning, and then they go away. They won't compromise your AV software in any way. After they have done their part, you will continue to use your on-board scanner as usual.

I hope this helps clarify the situation.

Doc (Dave Dockery)