BleepingComputer.com: Avg, Avast And Nis Installed At The Same Time

I've more or less decided to substitute my NIS 2005. (No problems, but its a bit old now (new definitons)). I've looked at some alternatives and decided upon AVG and Avast when it comes to the antivirus. Before I make the final choice I want to take a look at these programs' options and use them for a while and keep NIS installed. I've got a couple of questions about this.
Will AVG and Avast cause any conflicts with NIS as long as I dont turn on AVG's and Avast's shield/live time protection, but just use them for scaning?
Will it be any problems if I turn of NIS's auto-protect, but keep the other features on, and turn on the shield to one of the others?
Will AVG and Avast turn on the live protection when I install them, and will this cause any problems? Should I turn of NIS's antivirus first?
Is it easy to turn on and of AVG's and Avast's live protection?
Am I free to choose whatever firewall I want in combination with AVG/Avast, or are there any limitations when it comes to this?

I guess I know the answers to questions 1,2, 4 and 5 (no, no, yes and yes), however Im often wrong, so I just wanted to be sure. Anything else I should know?

I think your assumptions are correct. Be aware, though, that there is a real possibility that one of the AVs may detect another's definitions as a live virus; looking at the path of the found instance will generally allow you to know whether the file is actually a virus definition or not.

Q3: You should turn off the real time protection running on your "live" AV before turning on the other AVs; as I remember, when you start AVG, live protection is on by default, and I assume the same with Avast.

Personally, if it were me, and I was determined for various reasons to switch from NIS, I would completely uninstall it.

Regards,
John

OK, thanks.

When I started to innstall Avast, I was shown a warning telling me that there would be a conflict with Norton because the innstalling program detected Norton even though it was turned of. I continued and when I was finished I got the message that some of the shields were turned of because it didnt wanna cause any trouble with Norton. Later on I turned off the other shields as well. Looks like it works well.

When it comes to AVG, I coudnt find any shield settings there, but I forgot to check the icon in the system tray, so perhaphs its there. (I uninstalled it). Anyone who knows?

I'll consider to completely remove NIS, however I need to do some firewall reasearch first. Besides, and I know this is a sunk cost that shouldnt affect my desicion, but I've still got some free updates left, dont wanna give them away.

Dual installation is not always possible because some anti-virus programs will detect the presence of others and may insist they be removed prior to installation.

Symantec strongly recommends that you run only one antivirus program at a time. See here. Dell Support advises the same for their systems. See here.

Free firewalls:
Zone Alarm Free for Personal Use
Outpost Firewall Free
Jetico Personal Free
Sygate Personal Firewall Free 5.6
Comodo Free Firewall
Kerio Personal Firewall (available in a full and limited free edition)
Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 (last freeware version that was strictly a firewall and not bundled with extra features that hog resources and slow down system performance) - Alternate download (scroll down)

quietman7, on Sep 7 2007, 06:30 PM, said:

OK, but when it comes to Avast and NIS and AVG and NIS, none of them insisted. Dont know about Avast and AVG yet. I only run 1 live protection at a time, so there shouldnt be any problems in this area?
Avast didnt detect any of Norton's files during the scan. Havent scanned with Norton yet.

Thanks for the firewall links.