how important is it to disable antivirus programs for installations?

[mritech75]

How important is it to disable antivirus programs when installing other programs? I have heard/read of this in the past but I don't do it religiously. Should I? I had a few problems when downloading updates for windows xp. I did not disable avg but on another computer I did this without a problem. So sometimes there are no problems with antivirus on and sometimes there are not? Thanks for your input.

[glc]

I very seldom have problems, but if the instructions for the software you are trying to install specifically tell you to, it's best to do it. AVG generally won't cause problems, but Norton and McAfee can really get in your way. I've seen Norton 2004 constantly pop up during an install telling me that it's awaiting scan of something - which makes the install take forever. If you are hesitant about installing something that you are not positive is clean and legit, manually scan the media or the downloaded file with a right click before installing it - this is good practice anyway.

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

I never turn off my antivirus. I have also got a lot of software (most of it freeware/open source), and have never ever had a problem with installing anything. I use Norton Corporate Edition, and it has never appeared to cause problems either, and it updates itself (although me being paranoid requires me to run LiveUpdate everyday.)