NOD32 worth it?

[kuba]

I am using eTrust right now, but have heard wicked things about NOD.
Is it really that good? How good is it with system resources? Does it use a lot or not?
I'm considering getting it, but would like some opinions first.
Also what makes it different from AVG or any of the free ones out there, thanks guys.8)8)8)8)

[WSFuser]

nod32 runs very light, has a very effective http scanner as well as effective heuristics. the interface can be daunting for newbies but blackspears guide helps a lot. i recommend u try the trial of nod32 and see if you like it.

[BJStone]

Kuba,

One word : classA+
This probably doesn't answer your question, so I'll try to tell something more.
About one and a half year ago I was in for a new AV, so I trialled many of them, not all but the better ones out there. My goal was the impossible, I thought, to get myself an AV which is among the best and does not bring the machine on which it is running to its knees, like so many others do. It took a fair amount of time installing,trialling, putting back an image,next one, and so on. But no matter which one I tried, the machine was slowing down while having installed an AV, some of them litterally brought down the machine to an unusable state, some others where acceptable. The last one I trialled was the one I had the least expectations from, you know "unknown makes unbeloved", but boy, was that a mistake ... this last one was - and you guessed it - NOD32 for Windows XP.

After installing and using it a couple of days I still couldn't believe my eyes, no slow down, not even an acceptable slowing down the machine, the machine (2GHz + 512MB RAM, XP Pro) was fast as it used to be. I trialled almost the full 30 days and could not find any things at all I couldn't live with, so I decided to buy a license. And I really have to admit, after all this time to and including today, the machine is just as fast and light on the system as in the beginning, where other AV often show the unpleasant habit of showing an acceptable slow down of the machine in the beginning, while after some time when the AV def. file grows, they make the machine slower and slower. That's why you should always use the complete trial period, not just a few days of it, use it up till the end.

A few months ago I trialled again on a different machine I own, 1.6GHz / 512MB RAM, Windows XP Home. The result was the same, no slow down, small footprint. And again a license, so I have two of them now.

I believe it all comes down on your set up to begin with. Is your machine clean, fully up to date, and that sort of things. Then you're in for a trial period to test it out on your set up and see it for your self. I have a few other people over here who are since using NOD32 too, they're all very happy customers now. They sometimes say "man, that was a good suggestion, that NOD", then I always say "don't thank me, thank eset : write them and share your appreciation".

Now support : you have to understand that if I'm trialling some piece of software, I always am looking for weak points too. Every piece of software out there in the real world has one or more weak points, it just can't be 100 percent weakless or faultless, it's just impossible. That's life, we humans ain't faultless too. And there's no one AV out there without any faults at all, not even NOD. But you can always contact support, do that with every piece of software you're trialling, and see if, how and when they react.In the case of NOD32 I had several contacts with support, and I have to say : not even one single bad word came out, they were always responsive and very helpfull and offered directions of how to do this or that. They never ever told me "he again", they just helped me : I call that classA+. There are others out there who just put you in hold at the phone, then after ten minutes waiting they just hang up or send you from A to B and then C, without getting anywhere at all.That's bad, but again : that's life.

One other thing : just don't blindly believe those reviews out there, verify it your self on your equipment with your set up, that's the only way you can be assured of your own conclusion : and certainly don't go blindly with what others tell you, I can say this : there's a computer seller in town where I live who is always installing that other (yellow-ish) AV on the machines he sells, unless you ask him explicitly beforehand that you don't want that on the machine. I asked him once why he's doing that : he laughed at me but wouldn't give me a straight to the point answer, but I have my suspicions, I can't prove it but he might get paid for it; With NOD32 no one gets paid for it, you have to get it your self : try it, buy it and use it. And remember : "unknown makes unbeloved", but again : what a mistake that was. I sincerely hope you're going to give NOD32 a fair test, it's worth it every penny.

[pykko]

Yes, and the latest av-comparatives tests proves it's the best: 2 ADVANCED+ awards. ;)
And also, it has the most virusbulletin awards. Check: http://www.virusbulletin.com/

[ejr]

{QUOTE-> I am using eTrust right now, but have heard wicked things about NOD.
Is it really that good? How good is it with system resources? Does it use a lot or not?
I'm considering getting it, but would like some opinions first.
Also what makes it different from AVG or any of the free ones out there, thanks guys.8)8)8)8) <-QUOTE}

I'm a new NOD32 user. I trialed it for a few weeks and have now had it installed for a week or 2. Here is why I chose it:

1. Light on system resources.
2. Excellent detection rating according to independant tests.

So far so good though I only have limited experience with it. My machine definitely runs better with NOD32 than with others.

[Upasaka]

YES!!!

Said it before and will say it again,brilliant product,excellent(5star+++) service,
would not change for anything.Never had a problem of any kind with NOD.

[Acadia]

First, let me say that I am NOT using NOD ... yet! As I understand it, and someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, as far as System Resources go, NOD is the ONLY anti-virus written in pure Assembler -- case closed!

Acadia (still trialing NOD)

[alglove]

We have some fairly low end computers at our office... Pentium II 450, AMD K6-III+ 550... running Win XP Pro. They have been running NOD32 since February, and even they have no problems with slowdowns. I would suggest having more than 128 MB RAM if you are going to be running NOD32 with WinXP, but I pretty much recommend that for WinXP in general.

I recently ran the trial version on a Pentium MMX 200. NOD32 was noticeable on that.

[webyourbusiness]

{QUOTE-> I recently ran the trial version on a Pentium MMX 200. NOD32 was noticeable on that. <-QUOTE}

lol - NOTEPAD would be noticeable on that these days!

I keep an old 500mhz pIII laptop at home in the lounge with wireless connection to my home office - ie allows me to monitor helpdesk tickets etc without moving (yeah - lazy I know) - and I run win2k and NOD32 - the performance improvement when I lifted the norton corporate off was MASSIVE... I'm NEVER going back to bloatware protection systems....

[Blackspear]

I had a client (still a client) that came to me with a slow computer P1 166MHz, 64MB RAM, Windows 2000, yes someone actually managed to get it on and running, if you could call that running, it was like watching grass grow ::) :o ;) ;D

Cheers ;D

[KDNeese]

I just wanted to put in my two cents worth, as I have been recommending NOD32 to everyone I know who has a computer and accesses the Internet - I should be earning commissions. First of all, let me say that I am the type of person who hates to spend money, and especially hate to spend money for something I can get for free. After purchasing a new computer in July, I began using a free antivirus as well as a couple of other free anti-spyware programs. Let me just say that even though there are many who would argue and say you can protect your computer for free, the bottom line is that you get what you pay for. I loaded the same anti-virus on my father-in-law's computer. While the free antivirus did a fairly good job of finding certain things, it was not very effective in keeping things from entering the system. I am not a high-risk surfer and don't go to malicious sites, yet stuff kept getting into my system.

Then a while back I began reading about the heuristic capabilities of certain programs and how the combination of a signature PLUS heuristic antivirus was the best way to go. People can argue that point back and forth until they turn blue, but it all comes down to how things really work out in real life and in people's everyday use of their computers and the Internet. After studying the issue, I really didn't feel protected with the antivirus I had. It did have some heuristic capabilities, but in real life they weren't working all that well. I read how NOD32 had caught 100% of all in-the-wild viruses in testing, and felt it would be worth trying just to see how well it peformed in real life. Also, my other antivirus was really slowing everything down and it took forever to open programs as they were scanned by the antivirus. That was really the thing that set the wheels in motion. I got fed up with the invasive nature of the other antivirus and had read how light NOD32 was on system resources. I had also tried to 30-day eval copy previously and how you didn't even know it was there - UNTIL it alerted you to something.

Well, even though I hate to spend money...I purchased NOD32. The next day I went to a website that I didn't realize was malicious, and NOD32 caught four trojans attempting to enter my system. I also had a certain orange icon in my tray that was supposed to catch trojans, but didn't. BUT NOD32 DID! Having experienced what malware can do back when I was totally unaware of the dangers on the Internet, and having to pay $180 to get my computer back to normal, I think the $39 for NOD32 is a good deal. Heck of a lot cheaper than some of the bloatware antivirus out there that also hog your resources. Basically, I would not know NOD32 was even running if I could not see the icon in the system tray. It is the most uninvasive antivirus I have ever used. Also, if you have a new computer with an Athlon64 processor, the only two antiviruses out there (that I know of) that have 64-bit versions are Avast and NOD32. So I was somewhat limited in my choices. However, I'm glad that I was, as NOD32 is wonderful.

I've tried several of the other AVs, including Kaspersky, which was supposed to be very wonderful. It may be for some people, but for some reason it wreaked havoc on my system. I uninstalled it the same day I installed it. I felt it was very invasive, and it did not work well with my other AS utilities.

Personally, I have read some of the horror stories and bad experiences that people have had with NOD, but don't understand why they are having problems. I have never experienced the kind of behavior I've seen some people describe. My NOD32 goes to update as soon as I go online, and updates sometimes three times in one day. I have read where people say that updates are very infrequent, but I have not experienced that since I have loaded it on my system. I used one of the links in this forum to help me configure NOD, and (knock on wood) I have nothing but great things to say about it. I don't know what other programs people are running alongside NOD32 that would be causing problems, but I find all the horror stories quite the opposite of my experience.

Let me say one more thing before I finish this novel (sorry)... A little over a week ago, my father-in-law had some virus or malware going through his system and eating away at the program files for his security software. I noticed that his antivirus icon was missing from the system tray, and went into Windows Explorer only to see that his program files had either been deleted or altered. This is where NOD32 has many of the other AV's beat. It runs at the kernel level and is integrated into the system. On my father-in-laws computer, I noticed that his Ewido files were still intact, and that is because, like NOD32, Ewido runs at the kernel level and is actually able to repair its own files if some virus or malware attacks them. Those AVs that don't run as a kernel, as far as I know, have no defense. In fact, I don't remember the exact article, but there was an article I read a week or so ago that spoke of a trojan able to disable most of the AVs out there. But, there was one AV it was not able to disable. Guess which one? Yep - it was not able to touch NOD32. After seeing what happened on my father-in-law's computer, I loaded the trial version of NOD32 on his computer and talked him into buying the paid version once the trial period was over.

So, is it worth it? Well - in my case: $39 for a great AV that catches both viruses and malware - or $180 to get the local computer shop to get my system back up and running... Kind of a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. All I know is that NOD32 has saved my bacon on more than one occasion, and I believe is a bargain compared to the pricing of comparative AVs. Also, as one poster above stated, the customer service is a breath of fresh air. They are very helpful, quick to get back to you (if you seek help via email), and far above the average customer service experienced by most of us today. Hey - we spend $40 going out to dinner and think nothing of it. Personally, I'll go out to eat one less time and put the money toward keeping my computer safe!

[Happy Bytes]

Question: "NOD32 worth it?"

Answer: "yes!"

Easy as this....

[Graystoke]

Short and to the point about NOD32. I really, really, really, like it. ;D

[Albinoni]

{QUOTE-> First, let me say that I am NOT using NOD ... yet! As I understand it, and someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, as far as System Resources go, NOD is the ONLY anti-virus written in pure Assembler -- case closed!

Acadia (still trialing NOD) <-QUOTE}

Assembler or Machine Code.

Or is Assembler Machine Code ;D

[peterc]

Yes Nod32 has worked well for me I just renewed my 2yr lic, I have used most of the other AVs including all the big names and even tried the free versions of other companies but I always keep coming back to NOD32 it's what suits me best for what I want out of an AV :)

[BJStone]

KDNeese : thanks .Great to read NOD32 serves you very well.

I would certainly like to know by now Kubas reaction on all the above...

[YeOldeStonecat]

{QUOTE-> I would suggest having more than 128 MB RAM if you are going to be running NOD32 with WinXP, but I pretty much recommend that for WinXP in general. <-QUOTE}

512 minimum for WinXP for average users is what I recommend regardless of AV package. No clients of mine get less than that. I can't stand the painful agony of sitting down at an XP machine struggling on 128 or even 256 megs of RAM. 384 megs it becomes somewhat tolerable...but spend some time behind the wheel of a rig running on 512 and a gig or two...and you'll never turn back to the molasses again.

[alglove]

{QUOTE-> 512 minimum for WinXP for average users is what I recommend regardless of AV package. No clients of mine get less than that. <-QUOTE}
You're a good man, YeOldeStonecat. :) There are so many people out there who do not realize how much faster their computers would go if they weren't hitting the swapfile all the time.

Even so, NOD32 has a relatively small memory footprint when compared to other products. It is not invisible, but it is smaller.

[kuba]

okay SOLD! ;D
You guys gave great replies, explanations and all that, geeezus. lol
Eset should really hire you all ;)

But here's a question about it now (after installing it).
I'll try to keep this simple, and to the point.

I installed it a few days ago (xp 64bit version, but I'm on a 32bit comp.)
Anyways, after realizing what the mistake was, I uninstalled it.
My mouse is set on the "snap-to" feature, where it automatically puts itself on the default button, of a pop up window. Whether it's "Cancel" "OK" "Retry" "Ignore", etc.
I was just clicking away, assuming everything was as per usual in uninstalls.

After that something got annoying.
I kept getting a pop-up saying my Drive A: wasn't ready, to check that it was closed, put a disk inside it, etc, etc.
3 options I have to click are Abort, Retry, Ignore.
I did a system restore (to a time I had eTrust AV) and it went away.

But after reading these convincing replies about Nod32, how could I say no?
I installed it back again now (32 bit, the right one) and I'm getting that error message when I want to turn off the computer, or, restart it.

I should mention that my A drive is physically unplugged from the mobo.
It just dawned on me a few minutes ago.
Am I getting this error message about my A drive because, Nod32, is scanning it before turning off/restarting? and it's not finding it?

Thanks guys.

[WSFuser]

im sure this should fix it: go to AMON settings and on detection tab, uncheck diskette.

[kuba]

WS, nope that didn't work.
So...any other ideas anyone?

[kuba]

Also tried an exclusion in AMON for boot sector->diskette, but got the same warning pop-up.
That the drive wasn't ready, etc.etc....???::)8)8)

[Brian N]

{QUOTE-> Also tried an exclusion in AMON for boot sector->diskette, but got the same warning pop-up.
That the drive wasn't ready, etc.etc....???::)8)8) <-QUOTE}
Did you disable the A: (diskette) drive in bios too?

[kuba]

Yep, it's definitely not on in the BIOS. hmmm

[You do realize]

You do realize taht you are asking this question in a NOD32 forum right? I mean it's like asking George Bush Sr. who he will vote for in the 2004 election.

[Brian N]

{QUOTE-> You do realize taht you are asking this question in a NOD32 forum right? I mean it's like asking George Bush Sr. who he will vote for in the 2004 election. <-QUOTE}
Yes this is because it's the official support forum for NOD32 ...
Do you ask the same ****** on KAV or Avast forums?

Oh and a trick question: Are you an **** Like fully devoted n' stuff.. ?

edited some unfriendly wording. Let's play nice OK? - paul

[BJStone]

{QUOTE-> Yep, it's definitely not on in the BIOS. hmmm <-QUOTE}
You're on XP, right ?
Simple question : what's your mobo brand ?

Myself I've got an Asus A7N8X-X + XP Pro : it shows the very same symptoms right from the beginning of the very first+clean install. (new mobo)
When I go into My Computer, click on the diskette icon, the same pop up appears : I just wait 3 seconds and then hopla, there it goes : showing the contents of the diskette for example. I tried every setting I could be reasonable sure of it would something have to do with this "circus", to no avail.

Else the machine is working OK, it's just this little glitch but I've gotten used to it.

[kuba]

{QUOTE-> Yes this is because it's the official support forum for NOD32 ...
Do you ask the same ****** on KAV or Avast forums?

Oh and a trick question: Are you an **** Like fully devoted n' stuff.. ?

edited some unfriendly wording. Let's play nice OK? - paul <-QUOTE}
Brian, that's why I didn't dignify his reply with my own.
Not worth it.
He posted anonymously, that usually says a lot about character :)
Let him flame. Whatever floats his boat;D

[kuba]

{QUOTE-> You're on XP, right ?
Simple question : what's your mobo brand ?

Myself I've got an Asus A7N8X-X + XP Pro : it shows the very same symptoms right from the beginning of the very first+clean install. (new mobo)
When I go into My Computer, click on the diskette icon, the same pop up appears : I just wait 3 seconds and then hopla, there it goes : showing the contents of the diskette for example. I tried every setting I could be reasonable sure of it would something have to do with this "circus", to no avail.

Else the machine is working OK, it's just this little glitch but I've gotten used to it. <-QUOTE}
That's EXACTLY the mobo I have. lol great, so this is a problem that can't be fixed I guess. I'll TRY to get used to it, but my tolerance level mixed in with my self-diagnosed A.D.D. won't help. ;D:o::);D
Also happening on my friends computer and she's on a A7V8X mobo.
I do stand corrected however, just before leaving my house, I believe the exclusion I made did work.
When I get home, I'll let you know and verfiy it to myself again.

[BJStone]

OK, I'll keep an eye (or two) on the thread.

[kuba]

Nope, it didn't work lol.*puppy* *puppy* *puppy* *puppy*

[Duopteron]

As far as the assembler vs hand tuned machine language aspect, I did not see a clear answer yet ; additionally, one would wonder about kernel thread, semaphore synchronization.
- One big preoccupation about NOD32 is the lsp (layer service provider) ; first the quality of the lsp that was chosen, and then whether it is worth forfeiting the standard MS troubleshooting tools (kernel debugger, etc...) because of the alternate lsp, i.e. not MSAD.

- the next one is the licensing cost if you have several OS or machines at home. Nothing clear on the nod32usa.com site.
Assuming you have 3 machines at home that triple-boot, and you want coverage in the 9 installed OS for 2 years ; how much is this going to cost ?
For instance Grisoft states you only need one license per machine even if you dual-boot.

[BJStone]

Kuba : I've experimented a little today with the machine regarding the diskette problem; With and without NOD. The problem lies with the mobo. Only thing I haven't tried yet is physically disconnecting the drive and removing/swithing to the diskette drive being not present in the BIOS, due of lack to another solution I'm thinkin' of: an external USB diskette drive.

[kuba]

Ya, I think I'm going to email Eset and ask them what they think can be done about this. My diskette drive is physically off the mobo, as for the BIOS, well it's not even in the boot up sequence, so this is a little challenge, but I'll figure it out, or we'll. ;)*puppy* 8) 8)

[BJStone]

I think it's about time right now to open up a new topic under :
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=112918

...because we're going way off topic ; Because my machine has te same weird problem I have taken the opportunity to start a new thread at the link above.
See you there.

BTW : I'm hesitant about you're mailing about this to Eset, it's not their problem but a problem of the mobo.

[kuba]

Doesn't hurt to ask. Maybe they've encountered this before and help solved the issue.*puppy* *puppy* *puppy* *puppy*

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> As far as the assembler vs hand tuned machine language aspect, I did not see a clear answer yet <-QUOTE}
"Unprecedented scanning speed and reliability of this multiple award winning code is partly due to the assembler programming of the critical modules of the system."

From here: http://www.eset.info/products.html

Acadia

[ErikAlbert]

nod32 is ok

[webyourbusiness]

{QUOTE-> - the next one is the licensing cost if you have several OS or machines at home. Nothing clear on the nod32usa.com site.
Assuming you have 3 machines at home that triple-boot, and you want coverage in the 9 installed OS for 2 years ; how much is this going to cost ?
For instance Grisoft states you only need one license per machine even if you dual-boot. <-QUOTE}

you need one license per MACHINE for windows - your license allows you to download all the windows versiona and as only one can be used at a time, you're going to be ok with one license per machine. However, the windows license doesn't cover linux workstation, so if you have one of your boot partitions as linux, you're going to need a separate license for that.

hth

Greg