Different people like different security programs. Some rely on security suites, where as others rely on their own custom made suites (combination of antivirus and firewall from different vendors). Those who rely on security suite, will not experience any compatibility problems. Because, the company which develop these suites will take enough care while developing, so that antivirus and firewall of that suite will go hand in hand. But, things will be different for those who use separate antivirus and firewall. I personally experienced many problems like slow boot times, slow application startups, slow internet speeds, etc. when I installed antivirus and firewall from different vendors. In this article we’ll see how to make antivirus and firewall compatible. This article is intended for newbies who don’t know how to tackle the above said problems.
Make them Friends :
Recently, I installed Online Armor Premium. I’m already using AVG Free 2012 to protect my PC from malware. But after installing OA (Online Armor) Premium, my PC has become dead slow, taking around 3 minutes to complete boot process. Not only that, I can also feel the slowness of PC when running applications and browsing. After a while, I came to know the reason. The reason is this. Both, AVG and OA Premium are aggressively monitoring each others processes. Instead of working together to fight malware, they are wasting both time and CPU resources by suspecting each other processes and behavior. This issue, is not just limited to OA Premium and AVG. Many security combinations are like this.
Adding AVG to Online Armor Premium’s Exclusion list
Adding Online Armor to AVG’s Exception List
We can solve this issue by stopping them from monitoring each other processes. This can be implemented by using the Exclusion/Whitelist feature of that corresponding security product.
Every security product will offer these kind of settings. So, if you are facing any problem with your security setup then check out the settings of your program and add folders of Antivirus to Firewall’s exclusion list and add Firewall’s folders to Antivirus exclusion list.
Disable Redundant Protection Modules :
Every security vendor tries to include as many features and modules into their products, so as to make sure that the end-user will have an optimum protection. Actually this is intended for good. But in the end, people who use their own custom security combination will end up having repeated modules. In my case, both AVG and OA Premium have their own :
- Web Shields
- Program monitoring.
So, when I browse web, both AVG and OA will be scanning web traffic. Eventually slowing down page load times. Same is the case, when I run any program. Both AVG and OA will be monitoring program’s behavior and because of this the software will become unresponsive at times.
So, instead of having two programs doing the same job, it is better to turn off any one of them and hence avoiding unnecessary slow downs.
After performing above two steps, my system boot time has decreased to 1 min 30 seconds, from the previous 3 mins. So, if you are facing any slow downs after installing Firewall or Antivirus, then do the above two steps and feel the difference.
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12 Comments
I tried Online Armor and I really wanted it to work but it slowed my system down at start up after a couple of start ups. The anti virus software that I tried it with were Avira and MSE but each time it was slowww to start up. I tried some of your suggestions but it didn’t work, I even tried online armor without any anti virus and it just would be slow.
I hope that they come out with a new version that fixes this.
quote
“PCTools is looking awful after Symantec bought it”
oops i didn’t know that bro,thanx for the info……Symantec suc*s big-time………LOL!
yes bro m fully agree with u…….sometimes u do need a antispyware sollution to block those nasty AUTORUNS…..
PS:- bro try to post a review of PC Tools™ Firewall Plus http://www.pctools.com/firewall/
my favorite firewall solution and its free for personal use………thanx and god bless!
I’ll try to review it bro. Thanks. PCTools Firewall Plus is also a good one. When I used it I was unable to connect to internet. I hope it is fixed now. But, PCTools is looking awful after Symantec bought it
nice article @Samuel…….u know what bro,m not a using any antivirus solution atm…..pc running fine as of now(boots up within 50 to 55 sec)……..default win7 firewall,crapy windows defender & free malwarebytes protecting my good old pc……LOL……
ps:-if u know what u r doing in the internet or soo called cyber world,then ur pretty safe…u don’t need a resource hogging av………no offence, but that’s my personal opinion……in some point, if u really need a AV sollution why not choose viper av……small size,resource friendly and very good against blocking those nasty stuffs…
(btw,viper premium comes with built in firewall)
source:-personal experience and looooooot of Youtube videos!
Hi Sumit, Malware can infect your PC in many ways. Internet is one such way. Removable devices are another medium in which our PCs will get infected. If you are scanning removable devices with Malwarebytes before using them, then it’s well and good. Otherwise, you’ll need an antivirus.
In XP
C:\Windows\system32\drivers\OADriver.sys
info
http://www.runscanner.net/lib/OADriver.sys.html
@Grr: Its the same in Win7.
Nice article Sam.
Excluding is very important and I’m sure many ppl have faced this problem and cursed the new software, without finding the real cause.
I’m glad you took time to bring out this point.
Thanks, Grr
Good suggestion bro. I do this all the times. But make sure you exclude not only folders that belong to those software but also drivers [.sys files located in Sysdrive:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers] that belong to those.
Sujay, nice point.
Is the location same for Windows-7?
Is the location always the same, if not how to find one?
Thanks,
Grr
Thanks for this suggestion Sujay bro. It is sad, that some firewalls (like OA) doesn’t have feature excluding individual files, they only exclude folders
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