Can I install multiple antivirus software and have only one active?

Question

For a long time I used Avast in Windows 7 but Windows 10 has the native defender antivirus. When I disable Avast, I still cannot turn on the defender real time protection (I think I would need to uninstall Avast completely OR I am still a noob with Windows 10).

Is there a way to have two or even three different antiviruses installed and choose freely which one I want to currently have turned on?

Michael

Answer 1

As you suggest, having two antimalware suites active at the same time causes drastic machine slowdown due to collisions.

However, there are on-demand antimalware applications, such as Malwarebytes and Norton Security Scan, that are active only when the user manually starts a scan. Check settings to be sure that the utility is not always active and that it does not scan periodically.

To restore Windows Defender, uninstall Avast!. You may need to use avastclear and to reboot to finish the task.

Answer 2

We are moving all our Windows 10 machines to just Windows Defender as it is top rated, and newest Windows 10 comes with Microsoft EMET built into Defender (good thing).

Most third party AntiVirus disables Windows Defender and you must uninstall the 3rd party AV to get Defender back.

So you need to decide which you want - as noted we use Windows Defender.