NOD32 2.0 By Greg Alwang April 22, 2003

• Product: NOD32 2.0
• Direct Price: $39 direct; yearly subscription renewal, $27.30
• Company Info: Eset Software, 619-437-7037, www.nod32.com

Editor Rating:

If you're a power user fed up with bloatware that devours disk space and CPU cycles, NOD32 2.0, from Eset Software, is the antivirus product for you. With one of the most consistent VB100 track records, NOD32 ($39 direct) uses sophisticated heuristics and finely tuned scanning settings to blend excellent detection with unsurpassed performance. Inexperienced users beware: NOD32 is best suited to knowledgeable users who demand speed.

We tested a prerelease copy of Version 2.0, which should be in final form by the time you read this. It's available only as a 3MB download, and you can choose a typical, advanced, or expert installation. Expert mode lets you set up a client/server configuration that distributes virus signatures from a server, the way enterprise versions of AV products work.

NOD32's updates were extremely fast on our tests, and most are merely 25K or less—a plus if you have a dial-up connection. The software doesn't scan or update signatures during installation, as Panda Antivirus and PC-cillin do, but it's more automated than previous versions, which were collections of separate modules. Version 2.0's modules are consolidated into a control center similar to the one in McAfee VirusScan.

A far cry from the ease of Norton AntiVirus (NAV) and PC-cillin, NOD32 requires you to know the purpose of cryptic scanners like AMON (real-time), IMON (Internet), and NMS (Exchange/Outlook) to configure and run them. Though these are not overly difficult, beginners may be overwhelmed even when changing basic settings. But power users will appreciate the extensive control over detection targets, scan methods, and alerts.

Eset has done an excellent job balancing performance and outstanding protection, as proved by NOD32's continued VB100 success. Like Panda Antivirus, NOD32's real-time scanner works on a subset of file types and skips compressed files until the contents are extracted. By the time you read this, IMON will add FTP and HTTP support to POP3 for better download protection.

To help organize its myriad settings, NOD32 supports scanning profiles with different scan environments. You can easily recall profiles or use them with a robust scheduler that lets you schedule updates, scans, log maintenance, or the execution of external programs, or trigger tasks based on events, such as the first start-up of the day. NOD32's scanning logs, like those of McAfee VirusScan, contain details about scans and detected viruses, and you can specify log size and when to purge old log entries.

You can customize detection actions, but as in McAfee VirusScan, the default action is a prompt asking what to do. Like PC-cillin, NOD32 has free phone support from each of the support centers in at least 19 countries, but the calls are not toll-free. Geared more for do-it-yourselfers, Eset's Web-based support doesn't equal that of NAV or PC-cillin, but you can still get basic program help and details for repairing virus damage.

Available on many platforms, including DOS, Linux, and NetWare, NOD32 offers blazing speed and rock-solid virus protection that make it best for experts but not an ideal choice for beginners.