I currently have both Norton 360 and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware open on
my computer. Is there any danger in doing this? I think that both
are catching different network attacks but I don't really understand
what they are doing. The Malwarebytes software is much much cheaper.
Yes, it is very bad to have two anti-virus programs running at once.
They can cause slowdowns and problems as they conflict with each
other.
*However*, note that MalwareBytes AntiMalware is *not* an anti-virus
program; it's an anti-spyware program, so having it run alongside an
anti-virus is not a problem.
Two additional points:
1. As far as I'm concerned, Norton is among the worst choices of an
anti-virus program. There are several better choices, including three
free ones--Avira AntiVir, Avast, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
2. A word about the terminology: you may think there is danger in
their both running at once because both are anti-malware programs.
Yes, despite how often some people misuse the term, they are both
anti-malware.
Despite what many people think, "malware" doesn't mean spyware in
particular. The word "malware" is short for "MALicious softWARE." It
refers to all types of malicious software, including viruses, worms,
trojan horses, rootkits, spyware, adware, etc. So there's never any
reason to speak about "viruses *and* malware" since "malware" includes
viruses.
By the way, the word "virus" means "self-replicating software." A
self-replicating program doesn't *have* to be malicious in intent, but
for all practical purposes, all viruses are malicious, and therefore
classify as malware.
