Avast and SpyBot S&D

[Root Canal]

Why is there a conflict between avast 5.1.889 and SpyBot? Is it the teatimer? Or the resident shields? Also, how stable is SpyBot? And, how effective is it? I don't trust the reviews on cnet.com. Please be objective not subjective. IOW be honest.

[Gopher John]

I'm using Avast 5.1.889 Free, and SpyBot Search & Destroy with it's full immunizations. I have SDHelper enabled for Internet Explorer, but have TeaTimer disabled. I have no conflicts running this way.

The reason I disabled TeaTimer was that other family members use this machine, and might not answer it's queries properly causing some software to not be able to configure itself properly. Although the more recent TeaTimer asks for approval far less often by design, there's still the possibility.

I do think that the immunizations are of use to block some malware, and I also use SpywareBlaster's immunizations for the same reason.

[Root Canal]

I'm using Avast 5.1.889 Free, and SpyBot Search & Destroy with it's full immunizations. I have SDHelper enabled for Internet Explorer, but have TeaTimer disabled. I have no conflicts running this way.

The reason I disabled TeaTimer was that other family members use this machine, and might not answer it's queries properly causing some software to not be able to configure itself properly. Although the more recent TeaTimer asks for approval far less often by design, there's still the possibility.

I do think that the immunizations are of use to block some malware, and I also use SpywareBlaster's immunizations for the same reason.

I also use 5.1.889 with Super Anti-Spyware. I do prefer SpyBot S&D. My question is...how do you turn off the tea timer? And...are the resident shields the same as the tea timer? It seems as if the people on Avast forum are "anti" SpyBot (I don't know why). I also use MalwareBytes and Firefox.

[Gopher John]

You can disable Resident TeaTimer by clicking on Tools → Resident on the left navigation bar (therefore Spybot-S&D has to run in Advanced Mode). There you can untick the checkboxes next to Resident "TeaTimer" (Protection of over-all system settings) active in order to deactivate TeaTimer.

(The above was quoted from the FAQ onsite and modified to disable instead of enable TeaTimer.)

You can switch between Advanced and Default mode on the Menu Bar.