Spybot & Windows Defender Conflict

Spybot and Windows Defender scan your computer for viruses.

Malicious software, or malware, hinders the performance of your operating system. Spybot and Windows Defender are anti-malware removal and detection programs. Windows Defender comes with Windows 7 and Vista. Spybot is third-party that program that you manually download from the Internet.

Causes of Incompatibility Issues

When you have multiple anti-malware on their operating systems, you may experience incompatibility issues. Spybot and Windows Defender come with "real time" malware detection. This feature allows anti-malware programs to detect anomalous behavior in the operating system. When two anti-malware programs are running simultaneously, however, they can interfere with each other.

Effects of Incompatibility Issues

According to Kent State University's Residential Services department, having multiple anti-malware programs hinders system performance. This is because running multiple anti-malware programs simultaneously requires more memory, or RAM. This may also lead to more "false positives," which happens when anti-malware programs consider a safe file to be infected.

Prevention/Solution

It is possible to prevent this problem by disabling or removing one of the anti-malware programs. Use the anti-malware program that provides the most protection. You can still have multiple anti-malware programs on your computer, but you should enable only one of them.

References

• Kent State University Residential Services:Virus/Spyware Protection
• OnGuard Online: Malware -- Quick Facts
• Microsoft: Windows Defender
• Spybot Search and Destroy: Anti-malware Program