Can NOD32 be completely disabled?

Hello all. First time post here.

I've been in the market for a new AV solution for quite some time after growing increasingly dissastisfied with McAfee. I've narrowed things down to Kaspersky or NOD32. I'd really like to go out and purchase NOD32 but there's one thing I'm concerned about.

I recently read a user comment ( not here) that NOD32 regualrly and continually hits the internet by "calling home" even when you have automatic updates turned off.

One thing that made me frustrated with McAfee was that I could not completely (temporarily) disable it's network activity. I would disable the virus checking and turn off automatic updates but it would still go out and hit the network. There are times when I don't want anything else using my network resources. I finally uninstalled McAfee and my problems vanished.

So, is it possible to, temporarily, but completely disable NOD32's network activity if a user desires to for some reason? Or does it also continue to hit the network even when you *think* you have it completely disabled?

Thanks.

 

NOD32 can check for updates . By default NOD32 also use ThreatSense - the most advanced proactive detection of tomorrow's threats. ThreatSense.Net is set to send new malware files (detected by heuristics) to ESET labs for analysis . Also Threat Sense sends anonymous statistic data about the latest viruses detected on your machine , time of detections and things like that , completely anonymous data that helps to improve protection .

However , although it is enabled by default , you can disable it .

NOD32 doesn't communicate for other things .

The protection can also be completely disabled even though it is not necessary because NOD32 doesn't affect system performance at all . It is one of the fastest and lightest softwares

 

Hi GreenHornet,

I don't know who told you -or where you read- that, but it's untrue. I use Outpost in addition to NOD32, and I don't ever see NOD using the network except for its updates.
Though, it may be true that it continues to update if the GUI is switched off, as the kernel continues running (I'm unsure about that ). But if you disable updates from the GUI, there's no reason they'd continue to run by themselves.
You may also want to disable sending of statistical and infiltration informations to ESET, in the system setup part of the settings, under ThreatSense.netsettings.
If you want to remove NOD completely from the network stack, you have to disable IMON, that inserts itself into the Winsock LSP stack.

With IMON, ThreatSense.net and updates all three disabled, I'm pretty sure NOD doesn't stay connected and is'nt on the network anymore.

Hope this has been useful,

Edit : HiTech_Boy beat me to it

 

Thanks for the information. Nice to hear that this shouldn't be an issue.

For what it's worth, the comment was posted by a user who purchased the product on NewEgg. Below is a copy of the exact comment -

===================
"NOD32 tries to call home frequently even when I have automatic updates turned off. It does this without notice and it sneaks this by even good firewalls like PCcillan so you will not even know its going on. I happen to have a firewall that allows no network access at all except as approved by the operator so I have to approve each and every internet access by every process. So nothing can "call home" without my knowledge. I ran NOD32 on a computer with Pccillan and it accessed the internet without a squeak from PCcillan. You have to ask yourself what is this program upto and if its honest, why doesn't it notify you or ask permission to acces sthe internet and why does it have sneak around the firewall? Maybe its just your usual arrogant software company that thinks it owns your computer and it can do whatever it wants with it or maybe its something worse."
===================

Like I mentioined in my first post, this spooked me a bit because this is exactly what it seemed McAfee was doing and it gave me fits. I want to be able to diaable completetly if I need to for any reason.

 

Each module of NOD32 can be unloaded, and when it is, it is as though the software was not installed.

Cheers

 

...to whom the expression, 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' could be applied.

He must have plenty of time on his hands if he authorizes all network activity.

 

GreenHornet, here's an example of the kind of information NOD32 sends to Eset when "Enable submission of anonymous statistical information" is left on.

 

And now it's posted in the FAQ's thread under the heading of "Threatsense...".

Cheers

 

How about when new software is installed? Can you disable NOD32, or is it even necessary to do so while the software is installed?

 

No need to, never had to with over 1000 installs and over 4 years of doing so.

Cheers

 

Thanks for all the great information everyone.

I'll be purchasing NOD32 this weeekend.

 

Thanks for letting us know !