Virus Warnings & Assistance

[Ranbir]

Ok James, I'm not sure about this Nod32.

I mean, I've had it for several months now and it hasn't jumped on any problem or anything. Sure sure, it is probably because it hasn't had to deal with any threats but...I dunno...I need it to show me how good it is at catching something atleast once! So far everytime I scan the HD or I look at that IMON and AMON log there is nothing infected meaning nothing has to have been cleaned...

How can I be sure it is good at detection and cleanliness when it hasn't done it yet!

I'm afraid!

[James]

How can I be sure it is good at detection and cleanliness when it hasn't done it yet!

*Laughs* Well, you could always launch Internet Explorer and go view some porn. Download those setup.exe files and click ’em to see what happens! You’ll get to see the flaming red eyeball of hell a number of times before you finally manage to infect your computer with a part of something.

Just the other day at my job we had a computer with 6700 separate virus signature traces on it. Removal with authorized tools brought that number down to 70, but nothing could remove the 70 programs. We ran Nod32 to see what would happen and each and every one of them was dragged, kicking and screaming, from the computer. The OS was pretty jacked up after everything was removed, but nothing was left. Since Nod32 has been on duty at my house, my son has failed in every single attempt of his to re-infect it.

You’re in good hands. Though maybe you’ll get lucky and find that one special virus that it doesn’t manage to catch…

[Ranbir]

Do you have ESET Smart Security or just Nod32?

Would you recom it?

[James]

Do you have ESET Smart Security or just Nod32?
Would you recom it?

I just have Nod32. It looks like SmartSecurity adds a personal firewall (Nod32 actively monitors and blocks malware) and an anti-spam filter. The quality of their software has been solid and I would imagine they have made a marvelous firewall product (which is good to see as so many firewalls really really suck) and a good anti-spam program. If I wanted those two things I would personally get SmartSecurity. But all the anti-malware protection you need, especially as an experienced computer user, is in Nod32.

Edit: One thing I love so much about ESET’s products, aside from their solid quality, is the quality of their programming. Nod32 plays nicer with other programs on my computer, and with my RAM and resources, than any other anti-virus program I have ever used. Firewalls are some of the word offenders when it comes to software conflicts and I should hope they've created a good product to sort that out. You could try the demo on their site. Nod32 installs and uninstalls quite easily, unlike programs like McAfee and Norton.

[Ranbir]

I've been very happy with them too. Although I had realised my version was 2.7 wasn't best for Vista. (I noticed it only managed to detect up to 2gigs of RAM)

Just upgraded to 3.0 and it's all sexy good, although the interface does feel 'less' than 2.7.

[James]

I know... the interface was a huge difference for me. Went from being a program that makes you marvel at how you can possibly comprehend all the little things it can do to being even more stupid simple than the easiest offerings from the competition. There's an advanced option somewhere, maybe in the menu, maybe in the preferences, that gives you access to all the previous capabilities and more. Nothing has been removed... they just gave it a shiny shell that is a little less intimidating to the little guy.

[Ranbir]

It merged all the module info into one box, although still clearly seperated. Sadly the one thing it doesn't do now is show the file it just looked at - Be it AMON or IMON. I suppose not really that important but was nice to see it rather than blindly assume it.

[James]

I'll have to tinker with it a bit more. The feature I like most about Nod32 is that I can install it, properly configure it, and completely and totally ignore it (unless I want to involve myself with it). I even turn off the splash screen so there's no cause to consider it when I boot into Windows. I just see the little bubble popping up (I swear sometimes more than once in a day) telling me that its virus database has been updated.

[Ranbir]

Yeah, it pings ESET for an update check every hour as standard. That's just cool. I also like ESET's homepage with their little threat alert.

Anyway, figured I'd do a manual scan seeing got the new version in, found Win32/Toolbar.AskSBar!

[James]

Does it still feature the big angry flaming red eyeball?

Or does it do something else when it finds malware?