The desire of the user to protect his computer from the penetration of malicious programs is quite natural and understandable, especially since new dangerous viruses appear every day. Not trusting entirely one antivirus, many users decide to install several on their computer at once, but how justified is it?
Antivirus software is a special type of software whose function is to detect and neutralize computer viruses and potentially malicious programs. In addition, antivirus helps prevent infection of your computer. The user is offered many options for antivirus programs, distributed both on a paid and free basis. These programs differ in functionality and operating mechanisms, as well as in the effectiveness of prevention and control of viruses.
How an antivirus works
Almost every computer has some kind of antivirus software installed, but some people mistakenly believe that an increase in the number of simultaneously running antiviruses will provide more powerful protection. To understand why this is a misconception, you need to understand how anti-virus programs work.
Do not forget to regularly update the virus databases so that your antivirus can recognize "fresh" viruses.
To search for viruses that have already infected a computer, the so-called signature method is used, the essence of which is that the antivirus compares the contents of files with virus databases, trying to find matches. If they are found, the program tries to "cure" the file, that is, remove unnecessary content from it - the "virus body". Infection prevention is based on constant monitoring of program activity in order to prevent malicious activity of viruses and protect the system from infection. Most antiviruses work on a combined basis, that is, both in activity monitoring mode and in file scanning mode.
Why doesn't more mean better?
Naturally, even the operation of one antivirus can affect the computer's performance, since file scanning loads the hard drive, and monitoring loads the RAM and processor resources. Even if we assume that both antiviruses simply work in parallel, the load on the computer's resources doubles. Unfortunately, the reality is even more complicated, since the antivirus program does not perceive its "competitor" as an antivirus, considering it a regular application running on a computer, therefore, it seeks to control its work as well. For example, if one antivirus starts scanning files in the background, the second will have to "monitor" its work in the process, as well as scan the scanned files, which will further affect the speed of the computer.
Any antivirus is imperfect, so "false" alarms and an attempt to block known harmless programs are quite possible.
In some cases, antiviruses can conflict, mistaking each other for potentially dangerous programs. For example, if one antivirus tries to "cure" an infected file, the second will not allow it to do so, as it will be sure that an attempt is being made to infect a virus. Antivirus conflict can lead to a freeze of the operating system and the need for a forced restart. In addition, such double control in practice leads to a weakening of protection, since antiviruses spend a significant part of their resources on checking each other, and not on searching for viruses. Therefore, it is much more practical to install one powerful antivirus with the necessary add-ons than to act on the principle of "the more the better."
