Security programs: Some don't like others

And some that did like others don't after becoming 'new & improved' as I found out this morning during the start-up process on this machine. For a long time, I've been using three different programs, consisting of two anti-virus ones and an anti-spyware.

Today, the anti-spyware kept flagging 11 items in a mix from Avast 7 and Windows files, and yet three other security programs scanned the machine and found nothing wrong. So I had to conclude that it was a false alarm. Then when I tried to send an email to the offending program's home base, I'm politely informed that from today until January 2nd, their customer service is closed for the holidays.

I disabled the offending program's real-time protection which was the part causing the problems, and all's well. But without that real-time protection, their professional version isn't any better than their freebie version, and they aren't even going to know there's a problem for another two weeks.

Update: A reply from SuperAntiSpyware on my problem:-

 " We greatly apologize for the inconvenience.  Due to an issue with a definition release early this morning, SUPERAntiSpyware incorrectly detected and removed certain components of AVAST! software on affected customer PCs.  While we are still trying to determine the cause of this error, we can tell you that it is quite easy to remedy the situation on your computer."

I must confess I misjudged the folks at SuperAntiSpyware - they are aware of the problem and how to fix it, and I'm very grateful for the reply from them. No lives were lost, and all's well that ends well. And while I'm on the subject, their program really is good at finding spyware on a computer - even if sometimes, like today, it gets a little too enthusiastic. What it was detecting as spyware and trojans were actually the parts of the Avast downloader and installer executables which were at that time active in trying to update my Avast program with its latest database files, and all that activity was being seen as a series of threats, when in fact it was just the normal events that always occur during the start-up phase of the program's daily use. Normally, these two programs get along together just fine, and this is the first time I've ever had a conflict between them. Both of them are designed to be compatible with many other security programs, and so this was really quite an unusual event.