ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6

Most antivirus vendors come out with a new version each year. Some include the year in the product name, some increment the version number. A few, like Kaspersky and Symantec, have chosen to drop versioning altogether in favor of continuous updates. The developers at ESET have a simpler plan?they release a new version when it's ready, rather being driven by market forces. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 ($39.99 direct; $59.99 for three licenses) comes almost a year and a half after its previous version, and it comes with some interesting new features.

The organization of the main window has changed little since version 5, but ESET's cyborg mascot now graces the home screen. If all is well, a green status indicator reports that you have maximum protection. If there's a problem, you get a red status indicator and a link to the necessary fix. Simple!

Installation Difficulties
ESET offers a wide variety of support tools and dedicated cleanup utilities to handle persistent malware. Getting it installed on my twelve malware-infested test systems required almost every single one of them.

Malware renders one test system unusable except in Safe Mode, and ESET won't install in Safe Mode. Fortunately, a scan with the ESET Rogue Application Remover wiped out the problem malware, allowing me to boot normal Windows and install the program.

Four other systems demonstrated a range of problems. On one, ESET installed but couldn't complete a scan. Another couldn't finish the install process. ESET installed on a third, but malware actively blocked it from ESET's update and activation servers. ESET crashed at launch after installation on the fourth system.

Tech support requested logs from the built-in SysInspector tool, which collects a very comprehensive collection of diagnostic data. They directed me to download a number of threat-specific cleanup tools. But, in the end, the only solution was a hands-on remote-access repair session.

Between the four problem systems, I spent nearly five hours on the phone with ESET tech support. On the one hand, they did a very thorough job. On the other hand, wow, that was a long time devoted to nothing more than getting the program installed and running correctly.

Decent Malware Cleanup
Between the antivirus scanner itself, the various threat-specific tools, and hands-on cleanup by tech support, ESET detected 76 percent of the malware samples and scored 5.6 points for malware removal. That's decent, but Norton AntiVirus (2013) and Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2013 scored 6.6 points, better than any other current products.

I like the fact that ESET takes care of definitely dangerous malware as it finds it, rather than waiting for permission. ESET does ask for your confirmation before removing less-risky "potentially unwanted applications," and for files detected by heuristic analysis rather than by signature, which is fine.

Quite a few recent products have detected every single one of my samples that uses rootkit technology in an attempt to hide from antivirus. With 9.4 points, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2013) earned the best rootkit removal score. The bootable FixMeStick 2013 came close, with 9.2 points. ESET missed one rootkit-disguised keylogger and took just 7.2 points for rootkit removal.

For an explanation of my malware removal testing methodology, please see How We Test Malware Removal.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/mCCQPXuvp3A/0,2817,2414586,00.asp

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