NOD32 Opinions ...

Probably the wrong place to post as I would assume I would get nothing but positive reviews here ... heh ... but I'm looking for a new Virus Scanner.

I've narrowed it to Kaspersky and NOD32.

I've seen some posts about it missing some viruses, about Eset not getting info from other companies. What do you users out there think?

I'm looking for maximum protection balanced with minimum resource hit (I'm a gamer).

Please only users, no moderators or employees of Eset. Thanks.

 

Well i only got it recently. Im happy so far, its the fastest AV i have used, and uses the least amount of Memory and CPU that i can tell, i cant believe i used Norton for so many years

Here is a nice review i saw just after i bought it.

http://www.betanews.com/article/1092348349

 

Since this is an AV comarative thread and not a NOD32 support issue, I have moved it to "other AV's."

By the way, if you search through this forum section you will find this issue of NOD32 vs KAV hashed and rehashed in a number of threads.

 

I'm happy with NOD32- though I've never tried Kaspersky. I chalk up talk of "NOD32 misssed this or that" to:
=>isolated cases (few and far between)
=>not relevant to my profile (i.e. different from like my likley exposure to common malware)
=>occasionally BS

Plus - and this is important - I am personally satisfied with the rate of improvements in NOD32 (new signatures, trojan detection, engines, etc.)

 

Huh? The subtitle of the NOD32 forum is "NOD32 version 2 antivirus topics and issues". I think this qualifies as a topic. Nowhere does it say "support issues only". I think it won't get much response here. Can it be moved back (as, based on the forum subtitle, it should)?

Also, I didn't ask for a comparison with KAV. I asked for NOD32 opinions.

 

My advice is to trial them both and see which one suits you, as your experience is going to be different from Joe Blow in Idaho.

 

I agree, trial them both to see what works with your system the best. Seeing as how you stated you were a gamer I would suggest NOD over KAV but, try them both to what's best for you.

 

If you have an older system I would suggest NOD but other than that, both are winners, can't lose with either one.

Acadia

 

Well, I was really hoping to get some opinions on how NOD32 works, esp. as related to the items I listed in my initial post!

 

NOD is fast as hell and very light on resources, and is very good at detecting viruses and worms, but has relatively poor detection of trojans, so you might want an AT with it (TDS-3 if you're willing to pay money, Ewido or A-Squared Free if you ain't).

KAV seems to beat just about every other AV in tests, and detects trojans quite well, but is known to be something of a resource hog.

 

We use NOD32 plus BOClean on a game machine. Great combination for a game box with both NOD and BOClean running real time protection.

 

I would add some input as a NOD32 user of some 1-2 years now but I'm a moderator and you did say no mods

 

OK, I'll take it back

What's your input?

 

NOD32 is a very fast scanner and probably the better option for a gaming machine. However, I ended up going for Kaspersky 5 Personal (will get the Pro version though when released in Sept./Oct. ) because of the extra protection it gives from Trojans/malware, plus I hate the NOD32 User Interface which I think is crap.

As JimIT recommends, try them both though since it's a personal preference.

 

I have had NOD32 for almost two years. First on my W98SE box where it was excellent (because it was so light on resources) until recently and on my XP Pro box since last December when this computer was new. I trialled KAV5.0 briefly in the end of May and disliked it intensely for several reasons and then trialled KAV 4.5 for a month and loved it but you didn't ask about KAV opinions so I won't get into that.

I have been having several issues with NOD32 current release and the beta on my XP box in particular. At the moment it is uninstalled and I have a little know av on here that I am really impressed with. I think I may buy it instead KAV when my license for NOD32 is up. NOD32 has a terrible quarantine which we users have begged Eset to fix but they have ignored us. NOD32 is stopping both my boxes from letting the monitor go into suspend/stand down. That problem started recently. Other AV don't interfere with power savings on my boxes and NOD32 used not to.

I don't think NOD32 is as great as Eset claims. I think KAV is superior and I think the av I am trialling now is inbetween these two. You need to trial them. I don't like the NOD32 GUI and haven't from when it was version one. I think it is confusing and cumbersome to use and I hate that it will not move an infected file to quarantine. It COPIES it to quarantine and leaves the original infected file still intact and infected for you to go and manually delete. This av I trialling now would not even let me into my downloaded programs folder. It went off as I tried to open the folder. It found a test file that WCB (Security forum mod at DSLReports) had put up for us to test our av. I told it to quarantine the file and it MOVED the file to quarantine which NOD32 won't do. In the case of this particular file NOD32 will go off only after right click scanning of the file in my downloaded programs folder.

NOD32 beta has a new HTTP scanner which I think is both redundant and begging for problems. I don't use it. I tried it and it slowed my XP 3GHz box noticably whereas KAV 4.5 set to maximum did not nor does the av I am currently testing so far but I haven't had it very long. NOD32's IMON HTTP scanner, like it's sister email scanner works at the Winsock level. That is nice IF there are no problems. But we have seen many problems with the email scanner and now this new HTTP scanner. Winsock problems on a computer can be so lethal that you have reformat. Plus, the HTTP scanner is unnecessary. AMON, the resident scanner will catch everything. So, I feel like I don't want an av that I am only going to use half of and NOD32 is not good with trojans anyhow. I don't want to need to purchase antitrojan software also.

Another thing to consider that most don't think much about untl they need it and that is the quality of the tech support. Kaspersky has 24 hour, 365 days a year toll free phone support and guarantees a solution within 24 hours. NOD32 like most other av cannot come anywhere close to that...only Trend Micro has toll free phone support besides Kaspersky. NOD32 support is erratic. It can be very fast and excellent or it can be forever to get a response and be a poor quality response. Don't try to get tech support for the two last weeks of December and first part of January or from Friday to Monday unless it is an urgent problem. The av I am trialling now is brand new to the US and has little support other than email which apparantly may be iffy. IMO, I would go with KAV even if I thought NOD32 was its equal because of the vastly superior support. I suspect NOD32 support will get better but there is no USA support to speak of. It is all email support and goes to Eset in Slovakia. The NOD32 forum here is attended erratically by Eset personnel and some resellers and mostly provides peer support.

 

Come on Mele20, don't tease us like that. What is the name of this new AV you are trying? You can't leave us in the dark like that.

 

mks... Discussed here

www.stormbyte.com US Reseller

 

To mele20 from Firefighter!

Let me guess, you are trialing MKS_VIR 2004?!!

Best regards,
Firefighter!

 

Yep. MKS_vir2004. I hate the way NOD32 and even KAV 4.5 handle quarantine. I far prefer the way NAV handles it. So imagine my delight when MKS tonite would not let me into my downloaded programs folder because it alerted the moment I tried to open the folder. It found a file I knew was infected (we had been testing with it in the Security forum at DSLR a couple of weeks ago) and when I told it to quarantine it MKS actually MOVED the file! Wow! Then when I went into quarantine and told it to restore it, it had no trouble doing so. That is impressive and exactly what I want from Quarantine.

I did find heavy fragmentation tonite. Mostly in System Restore. But I don't know if it has anything to do with MKS. I had defragged last about two months ago but was told just last week that I did not need to defrag so I don't know if running a full scan with MKS had anything to do with this 13% fragmentation in one week or not. I have to watch this. I also had to disable to MKS scanner because it was using 100% CPU trying to scan every file that the defragger was analyzing for a report as to whether I needed to defrag or not so the XP defragger was crippled.

 

OK; well - I have had no trouble with NOD32. Nothing has gotten past it, although admittedly I do not expect my Anti-virus to detect trojans - I use TDS-3 for that. All the same, in the time I have had NOD32, I have not been infected by anything - whatsoever. NOD has detected every single virus which has arrived in my email and none have succeeded in infecting my pc. I have also double and triple checked this with Trend Micro's online Housecall scanner and AVG as an on-demand scanner.

I do not, however, run a "Dell" - I have a custom machine on which NOD32 has run perfectly - even through the upgrades. Upgrades through which NOD32 "survived" on my system are as follows.

#1 - Win98 to Win2k
#2 - AMD 2000+ to AMD 3200+
#3 - GeForce 4 4400 TI to ATI Radeon 9600
#4 - 1024 PCI 2100 RAM to 1024 PCI 3200 RAM
#5 - 2 120 gig HDs to 2 120 gig HD + 1 40 gig HD dedicated to OS

Perhaps this is a bit much information - maybe even a bit useless. However, I have been unable to uncover any difficulty/incompatability with NOD32.

 

Good post Detox

Cheers

 

I'll bite on this one since I am weighing the same thing.

I currently run KAV Workstation on most of my home machines. I also have an active NOD32 license (just renewed) on my PC from an initial period when I had NAV 2004 (as part of NSW 2004) and then pulled off due to some compatibility issues. I liked NAV, wanted it to work, but stability was too fleeting, so I pulled it during the money back period. Went with KAV 4.5 WS and it has been rock solid since. It's a little heavy on resources, noticable, but not overbearing. Two of these home machines are used by teenaged gamers. They're reasonable platforms (2.26 GHz P4/768 RAM/ATI Radeon 9600 XT video Dell 4500's) and KAV 4.5 WS works fine with them. One older game does show incompatibility with KAV (the initial Max Payne game if I recall correctly) that I discussed with KL but seems tied to the copy protection scheme used. KAV has to be disabled to play this game - which I don't view as a major issue since it is an isolated case.

I have tested KAV 5.0 beta 1 and 2, and that is what has had me reassess whether to stay with KAV or convert to NOD32. Still don't know how this will shake out. Even if I switch to NOD32 as my primary and realtime AV, I may keep KAV as a secondary demand only scanner. I like second opinions and detection capabilities of KAV are great, but they come at a cost, and if my experience with KAV WS 5.0 beta is an indication, that cost is increasing, potentially to a level where I see my teenaged gaming sons giving me grief over the performance hit.

The past couple of month I have been switching between KAV 4.5 WS, KAV 5.0 WS beta, and NOD32 beta on my own machine. Here are my comparative comments:

KAV (remember, I use the WS flavor): Detection is flawless. KAV 5.0 Personal removed much of the configurability. A lot of us adjust settings to strike a personal balance between performance and coverage. Some is this appears lost in the initial release of KAV 5.0 Personal. As other have said, that is potentially dealt with by using KAV 5.0 Pro with a Personal license key - although whether this route is possible has yet to be officially stated by KL (it seems to be at the good "unofficial" level). At the 5.0 version KAV WS is closer to Pro in design, hence the rollout schedule. The issue with ADS and KAV has been overblown, but the generation of ADS can be disabled in KAV 5.0 WS, as can iChecker technology. Both approaches (one for NTFS volumes, one for FAT32) are there to improve scan speeds. In the beta WS product, the system is decidedly slower than with KAV WS 4.5. Some tweaks are possible, and do help, but it is heavier. This is one of those inexorable realities - more extensive coverage takes CPU cycles pure and simple. The question is - Does it matter to you for the application mix that you employ? I probably wouldn't base a decision on whether or not to buy KAV on the 5.0 Personal product if you are contemplating going to the Pro version for configurability. Try the WS beta first, it should be closer in design to the Pro product and give yourself a better feel for what's possible and what's not.

NOD32: range of coverage has expanded significantly over the past 6 months. Once it was a pure AV. As most vendors have realized, there is value in addressing non-AV types of malware. Trojan coverage supposedly significantly improved of recent and moving in the direction of KAV. I say supposedly since when I trade off between KAV and NOD32, neither has missed anything to be caught by the other and this includes trojan downloads and droppers that I have infrequently run into (for the most part these were purposeful challenge tests). Neither has let anything through for my dedicated AT to flag. Speed and resource footprint while maintaining excellent malware coverage are the selling points for NOD32 in my mind. The default install is definitely lighter than a fully tweaked KAV 4.5 install - the impact can be felt, but it not to the extent that it should be a deciding factor for simple surfing. CPU intensive apps with lots of disk I/O is where the difference is felt in KAV 4.5. However, I feel it during surfing with KAV 5.0 - not a lot - but it's decidedly more noticeable. Whether you'd see it depends on your PC, other processes running, and connection speed (I run on a solid 3 Mbps connection)

NOD32 & KAV: I know what the tests say - KAV is best in class with respect to detection. I'd lay that down as a given. However, within the top tier of commercial programs (KAV, McAfee, Norton, NOD32, and a number of others), detection capabilities are, broadly speaking and in my opinion, effectively equivalent for the vast majority of users. For that reason, it is sometimes useful to focus on secondary attributes (such as GUI design, speed, etc.) rather than the priamry detection functionality. I also would recommend that you check out the av-comparatives.org retrospective test report. This is a fairly powerful test strategy. Both NOD32 and KAV do quite well, with NOD32 edging out KAV on the retrospective test, while the authors rate KAV slightly higher on the overall rating (retrospective plus current global coverage). My take - neither product will leave you vulnerable under actual use conditions and, for a large fraction of us, detection capabilities will be equivalent. In my 25 years of working with PC's and dealing with a number of malware infections, all infections have involved an "epidemic of the day" event - both vendors respond rapidly to these situations.

As others have mentioned, what you need to do it test both products and put them through the wringer on your PC. Run your most challenging, CPU/video intensive game and see how they stack up. I'd hope that you'd report your impressions here - I know I'd be quite interested. It's a test I'll be having one of my sons run once both NOD32 and KAV are through beta testing with their current offerings and that will likely determine how I configure their PC's for the coming year. Right now - NOD32 is a definite contender and leading in my estimation based on equal operational performance with lighter resource impact.

Blue

 

For me NOD32 ran perfectly for 9 months, with no impact on performance, no conflicts, just quietly doing its job. I play lots of intensive games and there was no slowdown. Then one day it began to detect trojans and worms that somehow made their way onto my system (I narrowed it down to a badly configured firewall)

NOD32 kept giving me errors when I tried to delete them, http://uberish.fastmail.fm/1.jpg

And after scanning with TDS3 I found another trojan that had been known to all other AVs for several months. I sent a sample to Eset who quickly replied and told me the name of it. It turned out that a definition had been released for it for NOD32 some months earlier, but it still wasn’t being detected. I submitted it to Virus Total to make sure and apart from NOD32 they all detected it.

Needless to say my confidence in NOD32 has dropped a lot. Trojan detection and removal shouldn’t be a luxury it’s essential these days. I'm currently looking for alternatives.

 

Well, you didn't try the IE exploit that WCB (Security forum mod at DSLreports) put up as a demo did you? NOD32 failed on that although almost all others detected it as a trojan. KAV had a problem also but only because it was a demo and KAV could detect the real thing once WCB put the real thing up but NOD32 still couldn't detect it. I submitted it to Eset and got asked why did I want something "harmless" detected? It was the concept that needed protection as it was an IE exploit that has finally been fixed SP2. However, not everyone has XP and they need protection from this exploit from their AV. Another NOD32 user also submitted it and I guess when Eset realized that all AV except NOD32 could detect the exploit it decided to add it finally. The live file (not the original demo) is the one MKV alerted on when I tried to open my downloaded program files folder tonite. NOD32 won't alert until I right click on the file and scan it. I don't like that. I like that MKV would not let me in my folder. That is good.

If you want the extra expense of an anti trojan program in addition to the expense of NOD32 well...that is your choice but that makes NOD32 the most expensive (except perhaps for Norman) of all the avs I believe. Why not just get KAV and you have it all in one application? And you get 24 hour toll free world wide phone support 365 days a year with a guarantee of a solution within 24 hours and updates every hour. Eset can't come anywhere near to that presently.

 

Very nice post Blue, good perspective...

Cheers