Sorry, let me rephrase my question. Can Avast be installed as a second anti-virus program and deactivated whilst Norton is running? I can then pause Norton, start up Avast to test what I need to, then stop it and restart Norton again.
No.If Norton is present and inactive or active, it will interfere with the proper clean installation of Avast! Reason for that is explained above.
Some parts of Avast! may not work properly after install, Norton may prevent installation of certain files, and your system may hang or crash in the worst case. Think of an antivirus as a program that has administrative rights to every file on your system, and like a gorilla, has the privilege to behave in unwanted ways, and thus could be very destructive.
Having two active antivirus programs can actually weaken or lessen your protection. So, the possibility exists you could wind up with an infected system even worse than you already have, if you choose to do this.
Instead of doing all or any of the above, why not ask a malware specialist like essexboy to have a look at your system and investigate the problem(s) you are having without potentially destroying your system? It would seem that would be the best course of action here.
If you think this is a wise and best course of action, then submit the following logs from these programs here:
Malwarebytes, OTL, and aswMBR. Attach these files using the link below the text box using
Attachments and other options.You can get these programs from here:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0Once under the care of a malware specialist, strongly suggest not changing or modifying your system while cleaning and repair is ongoing. Perform only the tasks requested, and follow all instructions to the letter.
I can only hope you wind up following this advice. It is your system, after all.
We really do not care if you are running Norton, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, etc., we will help you clean your system if you ask us to.