Best Rated

JANUARY 4, 2012: Since my previous review, I have also installed ESET Internet Security on my desktop computer as well. It has been running great and I’ve encountered no virus or malware problems on either of my computers. ESET has been equally effective running on either the Windows 7 or Vista operating system. See below for my original article on ESET Internet Security and NOD 32 Antivirus.

I just recently bought a new laptop computer.  My old one was getting pretty outdated and was barely chugging along when I used it.  Once I set up my new notebook, it worked great.  Now of course I want to keep it running as fast and smoothly as possible and keep all those nasty viruses from attacking it.  So, I definitely wanted to get the best antivirus and internet security software available.

I could have gone with my old standby Norton Internet Security.  This is what I’d primarily used in the past.  I found that it does detect and prevent viruses, however it really seems to slow down my computer.  Unfortunately, Norton has become way too invasive.  Often times, I can barely even use my desktop computer as some Norton process is running.  I also considered getting McAfee antivirus, but I also recall having virus problems on my computer even when I had it installed on my pc.  In the past, I had also tried AVG antivirus, but I found it did not detect viruses very well.

While listening to Leo Laporte’s The Tech Guy radio show, I heard him talk about NOD 32 antivirus software by ESET.  It sounded like a good product so I decided to check it out further.

ESET Smart Security software (which I eventually decided to purchase) incorporates antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and antispam protection for your computer.  It is built on their award winning NOD32 antivirus/antispyware engine and features benefits such as an antispam and personal firewall that keeps you safe online and cleans your internet traffic and email even when SSL encrypted, stopping threats from entering through removable devices for safe file sharing, and (most important for me) tiny signature updates that won’t bog down your system.

In addition to the above, I was also impressed that ESET Smart Security also includes speed, security, and usability features including:

• An energy efficient battery mode that extends laptop battery life without compromising security (Perfect for my situation with a new notebook computer!).
• Password protection that prevents ESET from being uninstalled by strangers.
• An advanced protection status screen informing you of threat detections.
• A smart optimization feature which speeds up file scanning.
• A smaller, faster, and more effective spam filter.
• Built in technology to prevent malware from corrupting or disabling it.

In doing some research about the product, what really impressed me about ESET NOD32 was that it had never missed an In-the-Wild virus (those real viruses that have been reported to the Wildlist Organization) and that ESET had a higher proactive threat protection percentage than its competitors (including Symantec, McAfee, AVG, and Trend Micro).

NUMBER OF IN-THE-WILD VIRUSES MISSED

ESET
On-Access: 0 On-Demand: 0
Symantec
On-Access: 31 On-Demand: 4
Kaspersky
On-Access: 36 On-Demand: 16
BitDefender
On-Access: 33 On-Demand: 84
McAfee
On-Access: 77 On-Demand: 78
TrendMicro
On-Access: 73 On-Demand: 69
Panda
On-Access: 123 On-Demand: 52
AVG
On-Access: 745 On-Demand: 234

PROACTIVE THREAT PROTECTION

ESET: 52%
BitDefender: 50%
Symantec: 43%
McAfee: 38%
AVG: 34%
Sophos: 32%
TrendMicro: 26%

So I went ahead and purchased then downloaded the ESET Internet Security Software.  It was very easy to install and is now protecting my new laptop computer.  I am not having any of the slowdown problems I’ve encountered with other antivirus software and so far it has protected my computer from viruses and malware attacks extremely well.

To try out ESET Internet Smart Security and NOD 32 Antivirus for free, visit their website by clicking here.

ESET Internet Security has a simple and easy to read control panel:

ESET protects your computer in the background or you can run an On Demand Scan at any time:

Overall, I have to give ESET Internet Security with NOD32 Antivirus very high marks for protection, performance, and ease of use.

Click here to try out ESET Internet Security and NOD32 Antivirus for FREE and get a 20% Discount.