Bad move..... MS Warns you before installation to remove any other AV.
Sooner or later you'll run into a problem with either avast! or Security Essentials.
But avast isn't just any other AV. You of all people should know that Bob3160.
Open-ended not closed shop, and then put together with a very lightweight detection and identification program from Windows. From what I remember last winter, resident avast was set to deploy the Norton scanner rather than use its own scanner when it came across the Symantec suite on a computer. Now that is no small feat! With all these high-end iframe and small sting exploits boosting percentages of both malware infections and false positives, we tend to forget that avast is no run of the mill newcomer to the market. And, considering the options now available to computer users (like AVG), MSE has to put out their warning.
That said, I am expecting problems. I know I am way not out of the woods yet.
I removed a suspected infected file from this computer yesterday. I think it slipped in through an outdated update facility from IBM while it was left hooked to an unsecured wireless network. So I now have 1/4 of the hard drive disabled - in suspended state, waiting for me to decide what to do with it. (Edit - disabled so IBMAccessSupport doesn't go requesting updates off its own bat). No plan for that as yet. Also, there are about 10 software distribution hotfix related files that cannot be scanned (come from updates or failed updates). They were loitering about the infected file when avast detected it, so they too are renamed and moved to Avast folder. Includes also another folder on Windows directory, which I sent to chest but has been passed okay by avast. On top of all this, I intend to use the computer for work, but not as a storage facility. Only to hold tools and utilities. I won't be using it to post to avast forum very often, preferring to use my profile model which is set out below. But I will make sure to post some progress reports from it every now and then.
Oh, also have recording facilities on board. I have also added a custom-build Ask toolbar to my IE8 browser just above the BrowserDefender | Safe site strip and to go with my google search home page (you dont need ASK to search when you've got google). This so that I can record training seminars and other webcasts from internet, and music from the likes of YouTube of course. I've only downloaded a couple of movies (vintage films) but am thinking of paying a subscription for wider access rights. The recording function is set 24/7 so I don't have to turn it on at all, everything that plays when I'm surfing the web gets recorded automatically. When I do this, I work very fast. Many times, I may have a handful of different sites open at the same time. So I try to keep up with some of things Polonus is following up, especially to do with XSS -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting#External_links - although I try to refrain from any cross-site involvements. Naturally none of my recordings are stored on this computer. My archive is stored in safe-keeping.
As far as the avast / MSE combination goes, all of this other stuff hasn't raised the least AV ripple. My first instinct says that it wont (- but I have said that before). They just seem such a good fit. Is MSE a resident AV as we have come to understand the term? Perhaps not. Maybe, the combination could be the greatest thing to ever happen for home computer and SOHO users, which is where my interests are. But then I'm getting a bit carried now.
BTW, who were the big 4 in the AV market 4 to 5 years ago? Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and avast. That's who.
