Expert: Keith Davis - 6/17/2009

Question
Hi Kieth,

I just purchased a laptop with MacAvee protection. Yesterday I got attacked by Personal Antivirus. I suspected it was a fraud and my search led me Stopzilla to rid it (which it did). But now Stopzilla is telling me I have trojans and need them.

My MacAvee claims I have no problem (except one trojan that it caught).

Can I trust my MacAvee? For $9 should I buy Stopzilla.

Also, I bought Norton, but have as yet to install it. Can I run both Norton and MacAvee?  Should I remove MacAvee and use only Norton?  Would Norton and free Spybot be a good combo?

Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

Craig Tucker

Answer
Stopzilla is part of the fraud. Don't give them any money. You should download Spybot Search and Destroy, check for problems, and remove them. You can download Spybot S and D from here for free: http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html
You should not run two anti-virus programs at the same time.
I use AVG anti-virus. It is free and will detect and remove viruses that Norton's or McAfee will not.

Keith