ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4 Review : Antivirus Software Reviews

We review the top antivirus software for both PC and Mac users, performing various tests for each to assure their quality and effectiveness. Along with thorough reviews, we apply an overall rating following our scoring criteria, making it easy for you to find the right antivirus.

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Overview

ESET has made some great improvements in their latest version including a more complete email security feature, an advanced removable disk protection (USB keys, external drives, ...), and the addition of a password protection for the software so no external threats or strangers can get in and uninstall the antivirus. Consider it an added roadblock other software are not all yet offering.

ESET has a top of the line virus scan and takes their users seriously, providing both a ‘Standard Mode’ and ‘Advanced Mode’ giving users the option to tweak practically every little aspect of the software to meet their needs however even with a less complex 'Standard Mode', we feel it could use some work on user-friendliness.

If you have used an antivirus software before, this may be a good choice however for first time users, we recommend taking a look at some of the other antivirus reviewed from Kaspersky, Norton, or Panda.

Protection

Independant tests show ESET's latest detecting and removing 94.4% of malware and 94.7% of spyware which is average but both lower scores than Kaspersky and Norton.

Virus definition updates are automatic and daily which is average as the Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 software has hourly updates, and the new Norton Antivirus 2010 has them at every 10-15 minutes interval.

ESET has great firewall and anti-spam technology however they keep these features for their slightly more expensive and complete internet security product; ESET Smart Security 4. For this review, considering only their stand-alone antivirus software, we consider it to provide only an average overall protection.

Features

ESET's stand-alone antivirus software includes the following main features and components:

Anti-Virus
Anti-SpyWare
Anti-Phishing
Anti-RootKit
Instant Messaging Protection
Email Protection
Password Protection for software uninstall

Unfortunately, they decided to keep their fantastic firewall feature for their slightly more expensive and complete ESET Smart Security 4 bundle so for the purpose of this review only taking into consideration their stand-alone antivirus product, the features included are on par with their competition but slightly lower than Panda as they have chosen to include their firewall and spam filter in their antivirus product.

Customer Service

Email and phone support are available and have shown to provide a quality service however we would have liked to have seen a live chat support which some of the other software make available to their users.

Ease of Use

You can choose between ‘Standard Mode’ which will only show the main features, or ‘Advanced Mode’ where you can get into tweaking practically every single detail of the software. We feel the software in general is geared towards users who have used an antivirus software before however as even in 'Standard Mode', we feel it is less user fiendly than Panda's latest for example.

Cost

Depending on how long and how many PC’s you would like protected, the cost varies but overall is about average in comparison to other anti-virus software:

1 PC:

Protection for 1 year - $39.99
Protection for 2 years - $58.99

2 PC’s:

Protection for 1 year - $55.99
Protection for 2 year - $82.99

3 PC’s:

Protection for 1 year - $71.99
Protection for 2 year - $106.99

Note: Additional licenses are available if more than 3 are needed.

Conclusion

They could use a little work on their user-friendliness but that aside, ESET’s latest NOD32 Antivirus 4 protects you from all major and common threats with a quality scan that can run smoothly while you work. A few key features are left out (spam filter, firewall) and only available with their more complete and slightly more expensive ESET Smart Security 4 software bundle which is worth the extra however for their stand-alone software, we consider ESET as an average antivirus.

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