Last year when i was given this new laptop i had trouble downloading the free version of AVG which I had in my old laptop.
Therefore Bit Defender free version was installed.
Now filehippo.com is offering AVG Free Edition 8.5.325
Never had problems downloading from filehippo.
Please tell me if it's ok to have both BitDefender and AVG.
Reason for this question is that somehwere i read that one computer should not have two protecting programs.
Kindly advise.
Thank you, ben aloysius

Not that a computer should not have two protecting programs....but a computer should not have two anti virus programs installed and running at the same time.

1) Each software designer has it's own version of proprietorship rules and regulations. This fight between default programs is common among like programs that are constantly running in the background. Thus one program causes conflicts between the other and can cause lock ups...slowness..and reboots.
2)The biggest fault is that each program will constantly show false positives from the competitions program and then the system becomes unreliable at detecting the real culprit. Although there are ignore options these don't always work as they should and before you realize the A program deletes something found in the B program and vice-versa and then neither program is working properly.

Common rule is to have only on anti-virus program running.

Thank you --- When you say this : '' but a computer should not have two anti virus programs installed and running at the same time '' I follow your logical explanation of conflicting commands and so on.
Pls see if am right --- (1) a pc can have any amount of protective progams like Windows Defender, BitDefender, AVG (NOT anti-virus) and so on.
(2) But a pc should NOT have two different ANTI-VIRUS programs AND running at the same time.
In other words, a pc can have two different ANTI-VIRUS programs installed but that pc should NOT run both programs AT THE SAME TIME.
Having said that, it remains for me to identify if any two of the protective programs I do have installed in my pc are of the anti-virus types.
Please tell me how to do that --- identify if a program is of the ''anti-virus'' type and IS running in the background.-------------------------thank you, you are kind and helpful, ben aloysius.

Ben,

Conflicts can still be an issue even if they are not running at the same time.

You will have to google the programs and see what they say they are at the designer's website.

In answering a previous post from you, I pointed out some of the rules for deciding what type of security you need to choose and go with it.....

This is all that I use on my computer for security. all are free and I choose to run them on regular basis and perform updates as well.

Avira anti virus program
Security solutions for private PCs

spywareblaster without the tea timer install
SpywareBlaster® | Prevent spyware and malware. Free download.

Ccleaner (for both registry cleaner and spyware cleaner) uncheck the yahoo toolbar option in the installation
CCleaner - Download

ATFcleaner cache cleaner
ATF-Cleaner.exe - www.atribune.org

Superantispyware
SUPERAntiSpyware.com - Downloads

winpatrol startup manager among other things as well
BillP Studios: WinPatrol 2009

comodo firewall
Firewall and AntiVirus Free Software Download from Comodo

****note*** I use only the firewall from comodo. it is now a combination suite with anti-virus protection. The AV is good but I use AVIRA and am happy with it. During installation you can opt out of installing the AV application.

This is all that I have installed for my security of my computer. Every once in a while I will run a rootkit application just to see if something got through. All these programs are the free versions and I run them on a regular basis......once a week on all the temp cleaning and cache cleaning applications. Once a month on the reg cleaning unless I install and uninstall software and I run it to remove any lingering files.

Not to get you to follow in my choices but to give you an idea as to what types of applications needs to be on a computer security

Didn't know so much is there to be done to maintain computer security --- thanks for info and your time.--- ben aloy

That is precisely why I posted the applications as I use. Most people do not comprehend this as well and that is why we (online techs) spend a lot of time helping others remove the viruses and spyware/malwre issues.

Most people would rather buy a professional suite of cleaners/protection. In doing so they think that they are fully protected and they are not.
On top of that they start experiencing slow downs and some suites actually are known to cause major malfunctioning on a computer.