dobbin,
You seem determined to have 2 AVs online. Well, I can understand having a backup, but listen to what has been said here.
It is difficult for 2 AVs to run resident at the same time. Conflicts are inherent not only in low level scanning, but in consumtion of resources.
Norton is well know for the difficulty in uninstallation mainly because it "builds" itself into so many areas of the OS. It striates the registry and you really need to know what your doing to get it out. Add in the fact that a second AV is trying to "navigate the registry at the same time" and you end up with one bits and bytes battle.
Technical was attempting to explain that in his own way when he said that the Registry can't handle 2 Avs. He certainly did not mean usage wise. He knows better. I know his ability well and sometimes he can't say exactly what he means. Norton itself does not like other AVs hanging around either.
I have used and tested just about all the AVs out there and never have I found the need to use more than one.
I will on occasion use the Kaspersky online to check a file that is suspicious (detected by Avast) but did not choose to use Panda because it downloads a small "os" of its own so that it can scan and view your computer files. Never liked that much.
One of the best freeware I used in past years was Innoculate by Computer Associates.....stable, reliable and detected just about everything. However, it is no longer supported.
Bitdefender is quite useful if you really feel the need for a "manual" anti-virus, but let's clarify things since you did not mention which Bitdefender you were using: Bitdefender comes in 3 flavors: Free, Standard and Professional.
The Free version does not use Resident guard. RG is used in either Std. or Pro.
Anti-vir gave me stability problems with W98 so I canned it.
McAfee is over-rated in my opinion.
Anti-virus software is really a user choice. Like a suit, if it fits good and looks good to you......then keep it!
Good luck,
techie101
PS: I have registered copies of Avast Home for my W98 and ME machines, and run Pro in my XP. All systems function perfectly! and ALONE.