2013 Antivirus Software Reviews

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ESET Smart Security 6 Overall Score: 88%

ESET Smart Security 6 offers the same virus protection as ESET NOD32 Antivirus plus extra security.

ESET has improved over the past few years, but still does not stand up to its competitors.

ESET is capable in blocking real-time, zero-day threats, though in-depth testing revealed several flaws in its overall protection.

The interface looks polished, though usability isn't as simple as we'd like.

Its extra features seem like they should be simply included features and we found their Parental Controls severely deficient.

Overall, ESET is continuing to make progress each year but still has a ways to go.

• VB Bulletin
• AV Comparatives
• Anti-Malware Test Lab
• PC Security Labs
• AV-Test

ESET stopped many zero-day threats and dangerous sites, but not all.

During scanning, it also caught many of the viruses, but wasn't always able to fully remove and infection, leaving behind dangerous files and registry items.

Scanning for embedded viruses was also a problem for ESET Smart Security 5. It caught most of the most dangerous stuff, but on running a full-system scan, Smart Security wasn't always able to fully clean up the infection and left behind both dangerous files and registry items.

ESET's main selling point, its firewall, was also flawed. It blocked port scans well, but simply let in too many threats.

Its HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) feature notifies you when threats attempted to make changes to your system. This is a useful feature, but we found the pop ups and warnings annoying.
When running idle, resource usage was average. CPU usage was 1% and memory usage was 55%.

While scanning, CPU usage was low, only 16%. Memory usage was average at around 62%.




ESET's look is modern and sleek and utilizes familiar left-hand navigation.

However, we found usability was compromised with too many sub-links and small text.

Also, while the Tools section is useful, showing all computer activity and other useful stats, advanced settings were difficult to find, especially for the Firewall.
ESET offers free, but very minimal technical support. Through their website they offer a knowledgebase, forums, email contact, and video tutorials, though these are limited.

There is no way to directly contact ESET by phone or chat — you are forced to use email.
Updates are downloaded automatically, though there is no option to set download frequency or select a desired time.

You are able to choose to be asked before downloading or rebooting, though still no option to choose how often ESET checks for updates.
ESET Smart Security 6 offers a few noteworthy extra features.

Parental Controls offer the ability to block specific sites or categories of sites. However, there is no time limit option or reporting. In our test, ESET failed to block sites within their corresponding categories about 70% of the time.

Social Media Scanner protects your Facebook wall, news feed and private messages from malicious content.
Overall, we liked the look of ESET a lot. However, it's simply not effective at its basic task — virus protection.

Real-time protection was good, but scanning and firewall protection simply leave your computer too vulnerable. Not all viruses, spyware or adware could be fully removed.

Technical support is not designed with the customer in mind.

There are several other products we'd recommend over ESET Smart Security 6.