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I've been reading about malware in a few different forums, and a lot of people recommend installing several anti-malware apps. But if you do that, don't you have to make sure they're not all in the Start menu, so they don't run all at once and collide?

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asked whether putting several anti-malware apps in the Start menu makes them all run at once. Short answer: no — shortcuts in the Start menu don’t automatically launch programs. What does cause programs to start at boot are items in the Startup folders, Run registry keys, Services, and scheduled tasks. Check these locations before blaming the Start menu:

  • Startup folders: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
  • Registry Run keys: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
  • Task Manager -> Startup tab (or msconfig on older Windows), Services.msc, and Task Scheduler.

Multiple products with real-time protection can collide because they install low-level hooks and filter drivers that intercept file, network, or browser activity. Collisions show up as slow I/O, repeated crashes, BSODs, or files locked during scans. To avoid trouble, run only one real-time engine and use additional tools as on-demand scanners or stagger their scheduled scans so full scans don’t overlap. Test changes on a VM or a spare system first and make an image backup before adding or removing security software.

If a conflict appears, boot Safe Mode to uninstall the most recently added product, check Event Viewer for driver or service errors, and use Autoruns (Sysinternals) to inspect startup entries and drivers (see the Drivers tab). Autoruns is especially useful for spotting filter drivers that start before user logon: https://learn.microsoft.com/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns. Use Windows Security or your OS security center to confirm which protection provider is active: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/.

’s point about being selective is on target — the practical steps above help prevent and fix the collisions that actually cause system instability.

Member Avatar for jholland1964

I've been reading about malware in a few different forums, and a lot of people recommend installing several anti-malware apps. But if you do that, don't you have to make sure they're not all in the Start menu, so they don't run all at once and collide?

Yes, you are correct. You have to do your research. Typically a GOOD program will tell you what won't run well with something else. But also don't overload the computer is a key piece of advice. Use a 1 good anti-virus program, 1 good firewall, an anti-malware program like SpywareBlaster is excellent, mainly because it does not run in the background but does block, malware, spyware, questionable ActiveX programs and has an excellent Restricted Sites portion that DOES stop you from going to a known bad site in the first place. Install one or two scanner programs, MBA-M and Spybot are very good. SuperANTISPYWARE does a good job also. Use these programs as SCANNERS and use them at least once a week.
A key part of security is use proper settings in your browser...Allow 1st party cookies, BLOCK 3rd party cookies and allow Session Cookies. A Session cookie is a cookie that a website places on the computer to allow you to navigate their site so that you can go from page to page easily while using the site but once you leave that website the cookie goes away.
Reduce the size of disk space to use for Temporary Internet Files to NO more than 50 MB, I keep mine at 15MB.
Use a Secure Browser like Firefox, Opera or Safari which are more secure than IE. Use something like Web Of Trust which is a browser add-on that alerts you when you visit a web site on whether the site is considered a safe site or not.
Don't do P2P file sharing, one of the easiest ways to become infected.
Surf Safe.

Edited by jholland1964 because: n/a
commented: a very informative and worthwhile read. +7
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