new computer virus protection

Avast is all I have on my laptop and I have been very happy with it. I check for updates and do the scans. I use my laptop for shopping and surfing and Avast has blocked many sites.

Avast is very good. Just remember to use it and update it.

I use the free Windows Defender that's included with Windows 8.1.

windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender#1TC=windows-8

How do I use and update avast. I did get one popup to run a scan. I did that. Can windows defender be used at the same time?

Download Malwarebytes & CCleaner. We have the paid version of Malwarebytes so it runs itself. If you download the free version you will have to run it yourself. Don't use Avast so I'm not sure how it works. We use Microsoft Security Essentials.

Steiny, I have Avast on my computer. You can manually update it, but I have also noticed that it also runs updates by itself, too. You don't need to run Windows Defender with Avast.

You can put Malware Bytes on your computer if you want to. Many people do. They also want an additional anti-malware and anti-spyware program on their computer in addition to an anti-virus program.

With my own computer though, it is not compatible with other anti-spyware and anti-malware programs. They just won't cooperate and run together. Sometimes this happens.

Windows 8.1 comes with Windows Defender which is an antivirus program. If you install a different program, you will need to disable Windows Defender.

I've never heard of Avast not being compatible with other programs. Perhaps nothernlights didn't disable Windows Defender and that is what's causing the problem. You can install and run multiple anti-malware programs but, you can only have one antivirus program running at a time.

Hi Glb,

Thanks for bringing up Windows Defender.

No, it's not activated on my computer. I have not been able to run any other anti-spyware/malware programs on my computer at the same time. They don't work. They will try and run but will freeze up and not run. I haven't been able to figure it out yet.

On 1/17/2015 northernlights said:

Hi Glb,

Thanks for bringing up Windows Defender.

No, it's not activated on my computer. I have not been able to run any other anti-spyware/malware programs on my computer at the same time. They don't work. They will try and run but will freeze up and not run. I haven't been able to figure it out yet.

I suspect too many programs in the start-up group and too much multitasking. Download, install and run CCleaner. Click on tools, startup and disable everything but your touchpad, antivirus and antimalware entries. Reboot and see if the performance improves. I doubt the freezing has anything to do with what is installed. It sounds like a computer performance issue.