Is an Eset online scan justified?

I have a Windows XP desktop PC with NOD32 Ver. 6 (the most current version with the most recent definitions).

Is there any benefit to my running an Eset online scan? In other words, is such an online scan more comprehensive than my installed NOD32 Version 6 already is when I do a complete scan at the desktop level? jaygo

 

Hey jaygo

It is actually a good question, if you go to step 4 in this article you will find this: "The ESET Online Scanner looks at your system from a different perspective than a typical ESET Computer scan. " So......?

Regards, Janus

 

Interesting find, Janus.

I wonder what "a different perspective" means, technically? I hope somebody from ESET would elaborate a little bit on this, I'm really interested to know.

Good day.

 

The answer is no. I've done it and can prove it if I have to.

 

Actually, if you suspect something got past your ESET Antivirus, there is a good reason to boot into safe-mode with Networking and run an online scan- as mentioned, the software runs differently from the resident ESET - and I have had ESET online find a threat that the regular did not (only once).

If you do not suspect your machine has a problem, then I wouldn't bother running it - and if I did run online scanner, I wouldn't bother UNLESS I was in safe-mode w/networking.

 

webyourbusiness, I really respect you but what you say is technically impossible. The online scanner is the same ESET product, engine and definitions - it does not run in real-time and that is the only main difference.

What you say [I have had ESET online find a threat that the regular did not] might be true but that is only because that particular installation was corrupt, not updated or because the particular settings were not correct (e.g. AH disabled, PUP disabled, etc...).

You have wide and long-term experience with ESET (like me) and I am sure you know this is impossible. As a reliable person, I think you should have found why this happened - but in a typical on-demand scanner situation ESET online scanner is the same as ESET product on-demand scanner. The only difference might be that the online scanner might be using previous version but scan results are the same.

 

Hello,

Generally speaking, there's no need to make use of the ESET Online Scanner if the computer is already running an ESET program. This web-based scanner is really more for folks who use a non-ESET product and want a second opinion (or no anti-malware software and want a first opinion).

The ESET Online Scanner's modules and virus signature database are updated concomitantly with those for ESET's other products, so any difference in detection could simply be due to differences in configuration or in update intervals on the client side.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

What if there was malware running that was using rootkit technology and ESET's anti-stealth module wouldn't find it? Running online scanner in safe mode would improve the chances of detection, wouldn't it?

 

Hello agoretsky

Thanks for dropping by this thread. I have just one easy question for you, that I don't know how to interpret. In this Eset knowledge base article step 4, you will find following text: Run the ESET Online Scanner (using default settings) The ESET Online Scanner looks at your system from a different perspective than a typical ESET Computer scan. To run the online scanner, follow the steps in the Knowledgebase article below. "from a different perspective than a typical ESET Computer scan" how shall I interpret this statement, in comparison to what you have wrote above.

Regards, Janus

 

customers I have had to run the online scanner on have had OLDER versions with DEFAULT settings - I worked on a machine only 2 weeks ago that will had 2.7 on their machine - despite being told every year to upgrade for free.

So quite frankly - you don't know WHAT I worked on - and that you said what I found was "impossible" merely indicates to me that you don't know ANYTHING about the computers I was working on.

 

Hello,

From what I recall, the ESET Online Scanner may have some different default settings than those used by ESET NOD32 Antivirus/ESET Smart Security. For one thing, there's no real-time prevention capability, which makes this more of a tool for ex post facto use cases.

There may also be some additional differences in terms of what malware is detected due to limitations in the ESET Online Scanner's anti-stealth driver, as it loads far outside of the boot process when such drivers are normally loaded.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Well, it is obvious that if the version is older and outdated you have to do something. But 2.7 is no longer on top to be commented.

Yes, I don't have information about the computer you have worked on but your statement above shows why there is no obvious difference between online scanner and the program itself. I suppose you know version 2.7 is not supported now over a year and obviously this means this machine had no AV for about 14 months. And obviously the online scanner might find something, but this is not due to enormous difference between current ESET AV product and current online on-demand scanner - this due to the face the machine had 0 protection.

In this case of your the installation was outdated/corrupt.

Also, I am sure you know ESET state that there is enormous difference between the outdated and no longer supported past version 2 and the new 3/4/5/6 versions (by the way the first version of the Online Scanner is based on v3 scan engine - not sure if it is still on v3 or newer).

 

Thank you Aryeh for clarifying this.

I understand this as that the online scanner might detect less than the full installed product, not more [as some people might think].