Hello, Vikram & Grant:
Thank you both for your responses; I appreciate the input. Perhaps, I am misunderstanding something here; but, I do agree with both of you, regarding only having one anti-virus application installed on a system. However, I would not consider Microsoft Windows Defender an anti-virus application, nor does Microsoft; so, would either of you (or anyone else) count this specific application as a second anti-virus application, if one was also running SEP? As with Ad-Aware, it used to be strictly an anti-spyware application; so, I didn't see it as being a problem, having it installed, using its real-time protections, in addition to installing and running SAV and/or SEP, with its real-time protections. This, after all, would still be only one anti-virus application and one or two anti-spyware applications (if counting anti-spyware protection within SAV/SEP) on the same system. What is nice with Ad-Aware, even the latest versions, is the application separates its anti-virus and anti-spyware engines. So, I am under the impression and have run this application alongside SAV/SEP, with the anti-virus engine completely disabled, yet, having its anti-spyware engine enabled, along with its real-time anti-spyware protection enabled, while simultaneously having SAV/SEP installed and running its real-time protection.
I hope this helps clarify what I am thinking. I miss the simpler days of only running one security application, namely a Norton/Symantec product. However, with the advancement of threats and the blending of the threats, themselves, I am wondering if one can rely on a single application, such as SEP. I really do not have a problem with SEP being able to prevent a traditional virus infection; however, I do have doubts as to SEP's ability to prevent one of these newer threats, such as a rogue anti-virus/anti-spyware application or a drive-by download from a webpage. I may be incorrect, but, I still have an impression that while it is more of a pain to manage both Ad-Aware and SEP, not to mention the added hardware overhead, Ad-Aware is better suited and able at not only preventing such infections, but, perhaps better at cleanup. Although, as with others, I want to stop the infection
before it gets into my system, which is why I am still using Ad-Aware, in addition to SEP.
Does this help explain what I am thinking? What do others think? What about you, Vikram and Grant? Thanks, again.