IpswichSox said:
Coup, I'm running ESET Smart Security 8. Were you disappointed in the PC Mag review for ESET, particularly with regard to malware blocking? Or is it fine?
There are about 30 legitimate av/antimalware products these days. Nobody can try let alone test them all. Back in the day when it was dominant and had more resources PC Magazine tried to actually test them, usually quite superficially and their scores were dubious at best. These days they review based upon the results from the 6 'serious' labs that test this stuff and their consensus reviews have more validity. Next variable: every program has tons of setup parameters and if you choose to keep most of the serious stuff and advanced heuristics turned off you make a product look like it runs VERY fast...with lousy results. Turn every protection on and the product can be dramatically slower, use far more resources and protect better. Many of the labs do their tests using as their 'standard' the product as it comes out of the box. Out of the box ESET does not turn on a substantial portion of it's options...I turn everything on and it's still fast , low on resources and plays well with the Webroot product. We have no idea how these labs configure for testing.. if you have not already, go into the advanced settings and, yes it's tedious, but turn most of the protection options on in the setup 'tree'...you only need to do it once. NOD32 generally beats Webroot on sensing and blocking stuff. I've been using it with Webroot for years now, I go to some very nasty sites and haven't had any infections whatsoever in well over 7 years now. That combination also does not interfere with normal operation of Win 7 or 8, there's nothing I do including program installs, updates to OS or programs, run via my VPN, anything else I do, which requires I turn off either program because they are blocking normal operation. My experience is, of course, anecdotal, but they are inexpensive, unobtrusive and have protected me perfectly so I have no hesitation recommending them. I have also installed them on tons of machines I've built and on those of many friends and their experience has also been completely satisfactory.
