ESET is known more for its popular NOD32 antivirus than its internet security counterpart "Smart Security". The latest Smart Security 4.2 offers basic anti-virus (NOD32), antispyware, firewall and anti-spam at the cost of omitting extras such as antiphishing, parental control, privacy components found common in other security suites. ESET does include one extra utility, called SysInspector (free download) which in the right hands can be a deadly tool to diagnose system issues that other Suites lack. "In the right hands" is the operative word for the Suite too, as the Suite is more geared towards intermediate/advanced users rather than the layman.
Installation and Questions, Questions and Questions!
ESET's installation isn't as straight forward as the other Suites and the terminologies and context used tends to confuse a bit rather than clarify. Plus ESET loves asking silly questions about security, which no one except a geek would understand.
Nagging question 1 - See the screenshot below in which ESET is asking the user to enter a "Username and Password" for an automatic update feature! Since when did an automatic update require a username and password? Also, ESET is assuming I've bought the program and therefore says "enter Username and Password you received after purchase below", but I downloaded ESET, so does that mean I did not get a Username and Password?
Does that mean that the product will never update when I'm trying it out for 30 days? These questions are highly unnecessary when installing a product at least from the user's point of view and ESET isn't doing the user any favor keeping its own product up-to-date. I'm sure ESET has a valid reason for asking a username and password just to update its own product, but it is rather bothersome and could have been handled in a better way.
Installation and Questions, Questions and Questions!
ESET's installation isn't as straight forward as the other Suites and the terminologies and context used tends to confuse a bit rather than clarify. Plus ESET loves asking silly questions about security, which no one except a geek would understand.
Nagging question 1 - See the screenshot below in which ESET is asking the user to enter a "Username and Password" for an automatic update feature! Since when did an automatic update require a username and password? Also, ESET is assuming I've bought the program and therefore says "enter Username and Password you received after purchase below", but I downloaded ESET, so does that mean I did not get a Username and Password?
Does that mean that the product will never update when I'm trying it out for 30 days? These questions are highly unnecessary when installing a product at least from the user's point of view and ESET isn't doing the user any favor keeping its own product up-to-date. I'm sure ESET has a valid reason for asking a username and password just to update its own product, but it is rather bothersome and could have been handled in a better way.
Nagging question 2 - The below screen shows ESET's "ThreatSense.Net Early Warning System" which protects from new evolving threats. That's all swell but I see no reason for ESET to bring that as a choice with a selectable button during installation. No user will deliberately disable "ThreatSense.Net Early Warning System" after ESET touts how good it is. If it is privacy related information that ESET is pointing at because submission of files/info from your PC is required, it is certainly not handled well as it seems if the user doesn't leave ThreatSense enabled, then he probably is not getting protected.
Nagging question 3 - "Sir, would you like a salad with that chicken or would you prefer a Detection of potentially unwanted applications with it too?" ESET just loves asking questions no one understands. Here it seems to be asking me to balance between PC security and performance/speed of the computer if a potentially unwanted application is "detected", or is it "not detected" go figure! This question certainly is the most unwanted. The problem with ESET is, it asks far too many important questions to a user whom it assumes knows the answer. This is exactly the reason why ESET isn't geared up for the commoner.
Main Interface
The main interface of ESET is simple, plain and certainly doesn't cause as much ruckus as the installation did. Here you'll see five main important components minding their own business.
The "Setup" section lets you quickly control a few important features of the Suite such as enter a username pass (which ESET deems necessary), change how your network is configured, temporarily disable anti-virus and firewall or change to "Advanced mode".
Advanced mode
One thing I really like about ESET is that underneath its calm simple exterior lies a plethora of settings in the Advanced mode. And when ESET says Advanced, it really means it, as almost every minute setting a geek would enjoy tinkering with is available here.
This also brings about certain uneasiness when looking under the hood; ESET doesn't give much visual cue/relief when viewing the settings page. Everything is thrown in there with basic categories but to actually locate something can be a task. E.g. For the life of me, I couldn't locate where "Exclusion" list was when testing, I brought up the offline Help file and search through that where I may find what I'm looking for. Norton's products do a slightly better job in putting various settings in different tabs and using some colours to break the monotony of the settings page.
ESET Smart Security 4 has been tested by all three labs, AVTest, AV Comparatives and Dennis Labs.
AV Test tested ESET on three parameters
1. Protection, which tests how good the security engine is at blocking and preventing viruses/malware and the like from affecting the system. ESET surprisingly scored low on the test in spite of its popular NOD32 antivirus engine inbuilt with a measly score of 3.5/6.0, while Kaspersky, Panda, BullGuard, BitDefender scored the highest 5.5/6.0.
2. Repair parameter tests the cleaning and repairing capability of ESET in case a virus does infect it. Here ESET scored a high 5.0/6.0 where most other security product vendors falter. This is why perhaps ESET has been liked by the community for its capability to clean an infected PC. However, the highest ever score of 6.0/6.0 in repair was bagged by Kaspersky Internet Security 2011.
3. Usability parameter checks how the security suite impacts the entire computer in terms of slow down, false detections etc. Here again ESET scored a high 5.0/6.0, though ESET doesn't slow down the system, it does leave out other essential services which its competitors happily include.
In AV Comparatives test ESET scored an "ADVANCED" score missing the "ADVANCED+" due to many false positives (good files incorrectly marked as bad) and average scanning speed.
In Dennis Labs tests, ESET Smart Security 4 scored well by coming fourth in the overall protection scores with a combined protection score of 92% right under Symantec (100%), Trend Micro (98%) and Webroot (96%).
In Passmark performance, ESET was almost neck to neck with Norton Internet Security 2011 recording fast times overall in the chart. The tests include boot time, memory usage, browsing time, file read and write tests, etc. You can view the detailed tests here.
Bottom line
So is ESET Smart Security 4.2 worth a buy? Considering the tests where it fared decent marks, the Suite does seem like a good buy but when compared to the competition, I think not!
Here is why 1. Other Suites offer more features in the same package
2. ESET Smart Security is not geared for the average ordinary user, in spite of its "Simple mode", it is made by an engineer for an engineer.
3. Its price! While ESET Smart Security 4 isn't expensive, it isn't the best bang for your buck either.
Coming down to the price, ESET Smart Security 4 is approximately Rs. 650, which is a good price but strangely its ESET (NOD32) Antivirus 4.0 is priced at Rs. 600. In comparison, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 costs Rs. 500 approx and has more features to boot.
What do you think of ESET's Smart Security 4.0. Do you have experience with ESET's products? Let us know in the comments below.
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