Perfect for businesses of all sizes
and home users too!

If you have decided to purchase a license for any of Eset's security solutions, please visit the purchase page. Otherwise please read on...

Conclusion

Eset NOD32 Antivirus and Eset Smart Security have been independently proven to be consistently among the overall top performing anti-virus products based on detection ability, performance and various other aspects. Eset have also surpassed my high expectations. Coupled with the free use of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, I recommend this specific combination as it has been extremely effective in neutralising threats in my professional experience.

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Findings

If you have access to the Internet or email you need to have good anti-virus protection which you must keep up-to-date as it will help minimise the risk of your computer or files from being infected, corrupted or stolen.

First allow me to clarify that there is no anti-virus protection that will detect 100% of the threats out there on the World Wide Web (the Internet). The point to anti-virus protection is to minimise the risk of your computer becoming infected and the best way to do that is by using a specific combination of anti-virus software. More information on Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware here.

When infected, you may experience the following symptoms:

• your computer may become slow and unresponsive;
• programs may not function properly like they once did;
• your files (emails, photos, documents, music, videos, etc) may become corrupt and unrecoverable or even stolen, which entails major privacy concerns;
• you may see pop-up messages on screen that say something like "your computer is infected, click here to remove them", which sounds legitimate but could be a hoax anti-virus program trying to con you into purchasing the so-called "removal tool";
• or you might not see any obvious symptoms at all.

Eset NOD32 Antivirus and Eset Smart Security have the same protection against dangerous programs, but Eset Smart Security also has a personal firewall and a spam filter. The firewall will prevent hackers from gaining unauthorised access to your computer from the internet, and the spam filter will help filter spam from your legitimate emails. For more understanding on firewalls and spam filters, please visit the Internet Security Overview page. While the following text refers to Eset NOD32 Antivirus, it actually applies to all Eset products.

Eset NOD32 Antivirus provides proactive or real-time protection against all forms of dangerous programs such as malware, viruses, spyware, adware, riskware, trojans, rootkits, RATs (remote access tools), worms, keyloggers, potentially dangerous programs and even identity theft. Eset NOD32 Antivirus is currently one of the all-round best choices as it maintains one of the most consistent top detection abilities, quicker scanning engine, and places a very small 'footprint' on your computer's resources, which means you probably won't notice your computer being slowed down by your anti-virus protection like you do with some others, like Symantec Norton, PC-Cillan Trend Micro and McAfee.

I have spent countless hours on research and evaluations and continue to do so from time to time, so to ensure I'm providing you with the all-round best anti-virus or internet security protection on the market today. I utilised the following sources of information for their renowned reputation for being independent unbiased evaluators and certifiers of anti-virus products:

• AV Comparatives
  Independent comparatives of anti-virus software. This is my primary source of information. I haven't come across any other website that provides such clear and elaborate testing documentation and their results free of charge to view.
• The Virus Bulletin
  This mob is very similar to AV Comparatives i.e. they're a specialist publication and independent evaluator in the field of viruses and related malware. However, their test results are not free of charge to view and are not as elaborate as AV Comparatives' tests.
• CheckVir
  The main purpose of the CheckVir project is to independently test anti-virus products and use the findings to help both the consumer and anti-virus vendors. Their test results are not free of charge to view.
• Checkmark Certification
  An independent organization, which tests information security products.
• ICSA Labs Certification
  Independent division of Cybertrust, Inc., renowned by the security industry as being a top authority for research, intelligence, and certification testing of products.

The first reason why I chose Eset NOD32 Antivirus over the other few consistent top scorers in AV Comparative's anti-virus comparisons is because it detected a significant number more of In The Wild viruses than the other alternatives. Eset NOD32 Antivirus has also received an unequalled number of Virus Bulletin 100% Awards, which also relates to In The Wild virus detection. In The Wild viruses are those found infecting systems in real life environments today, which means these viruses are your primary threat.

The second reason is that Eset NOD32 Antivirus' real-time or pro-active protection, which is the first line of defence in an anti-virus product, is consistently one of best at AV Comparatives. - Very Important!

Furthermore, during my own evaluation of Eset NOD32 Antivirus (version 2.7), I didn't noticed any reduction in system performance of an old computer with a 466Mhz processor with 512MB RAM. On modern computers as well as a Small Business Server 2000 computer it didn't seem to reduce system performance, even when the most secure settings were configured. - Very Impressive!

Of course Eset NOD32 Antivirus is user-friendly and has a true automatic update feature which means you never have to worry about updating the anti-virus protection yourself because it does it for you when you are connected to the Internet. - Easy!

The consistent top-performing pro-active protection in Eset NOD32 Antivirus is always scanning your computer's activity for threats, so for example it will help protect you from dangerous programs that come from typical internet usage and infected documents and files.

Eset NOD32 Antivirus will automatically integrate with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, and Mozilla Thunderbird email programs to help protect you from infected emails. Furthermore it will monitor the POP3 email protocol for infected emails if you don't use any of these email programs. - Impressive!

Perfect for businesses of all sizes
and home users too!

As for larger computer networks (more than 15 computers) I also found the Remote Administrator Server and Remote Administrator Console tools to be very helpful for remote installations and administration of mass computers. These sophisticated tools handled all client installations, configuration and policies, informed me of what events, alerts and scans have and have not occurred on each computer, and it also produces a range of comprehensive reports on-demand and via a schedule. - Impressive!

For plenty more good reasons to choose Eset NOD32 Antivirus to protect your business network or home computer from all forms of dangerous programs such as malware, viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, riskware, rootkits, potentially dangerous programs, and even identity theft, check out their list of awards and certificates by visiting the Eset website. You know what, you could just about make a novel out of all the awards Eset have won!

For further product comparison information, please visit Eset's interactive product comparison tool here.

Choosing the right Eset solution for you

Eset Smart Security has the same virus and related malware protection as Eset NOD32 Antivirus, but it also includes further protection with a personal firewall and a spam filter.

• The personal firewall prevents hackers from gaining unauthorised access to your computer via the internet. I would recommend this extra protection if your internet modem doesn't have built-in firewall protection. If you don't know about this, then you should choose Eset Smart Security anyway to be on the safe side. I would also recommend this extra protection for single stand-alone computers and laptops. Click this link for more information about firewall protection.
• The spam filter helps you filter spam or junk emails from your "Inbox" folder in Microsoft Office Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, and Mozilla Thunderbird. If you use any of these email programs and are being hassled by junk emails (spam), then I recommend you choose Eset Smart Security. Even if you're not yet being hassled by spam, it's likely one day you will be, so it's worth considering getting this extra protection now because you cannot upgrade from NOD32 to Smart Security at a later stage. Instead you would have to purchase a new license. Click this link for more information about spam filters or anti-spam solutions.

To evaluate Eset NOD32 Antivirus or Eset Smart Security, please contact Network PM to obtain an evaluation license and a link to download the Eset security solution of your choice.

Explanation of the Eset products, components and license types

Basically there are two types of licenses:

• The Standard Edition license can be for home and business use, for up to 10 computers running workstation class operating systems such as Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, etc.
• The Business Edition license is for licensing more than 10 computers, or where at least one computer is running a Server class operating system such as Windows Server (or Small Business Server) 2000, 2003, 2008, etc.

That is all you need to be aware of if you are NOT purchasing a Business Edition license. Otherwise if you do require the Business Edition license, please read the following.

The Business Edition license provides you with the option to use Remote Administrator to help you with mass deployment of Eset installations, updates, configuration, scanning and reports. It is comprised of 2 components:

• Remote Administrator Server is the database that contains all the important stuff. This is stored on one or few computers, typically the server computers.
• Remote Administrator Console is simply the user interface between you and the database, which can be installed on any number of computers.

For the following license types below, please contact Network PM.

• Eset Mobile Antivirus for Smartphones and PocketPCs - available through Eset only;
• Eset Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Domino Server, Kerio Mail Server, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and Sun Solaris. Cyber criminals are increasingly using email to deliver malware attacks on organizations. ESET Mail Security provides one of the best anti-threat software for delivering proactive online scanning, fast performance, and low resource utilization for high traffic mail servers.
• Eset File Security for Windows Server, Dell Network Attached Storage, Novell Netware, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and Sun Solaris. Data protection is one of the top priorities of successful IT companies. Enhance your server security strategy with ESET's comprehensive malware protection that won't slow network file access. ESET file server security provides real time, proactive threat detection that incorporates one of the fastest scanning speeds and highest detection rates with one of the smallest footprint.
• Eset Gateway Security for Kerio WinRoute Firewall, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and Sun Solaris. Gateway servers require high availability, reliability, and responsiveness. ESET Gateway Security products protect an organization's HTTP and FTP gateways by providing one of the highest levels of threat detection without compromising performance or security. Built upon ESET's powerful ThreatSense® technology, ESET Gateway Security delivers both unprecedented scanning speed and unrivaled detection rates. Its small footprint ensures system resources are available for high traffic demands.

Upgrading Your License Coverage

If you wish to upgrade your existing license to include protection of more computers, you will have to contact Network PM and provide the username on your existing license, your contact details and upgrade request details because an upgrade cannot be calculated online.

Remember when buying Eset security software:

the more computers and mailboxes you buy for, the more you save per computer and mailbox!