nod updater is rubbish - is it?

I've been trialling nod32 for the last 5 days and every time there's an update it takes me 4 or 5 tries to download the update. Sometimes i have to try a few hours later. Never once have i clicked update and it's done it first time.

Is it always like this because it's really annoying. It's also a damn big update of about 2mb every time. Is there no incremental updates with nod?

muf

 

Yes, Nod uses incremental updates in the "full" version. It's only the trial-version who downloads the entire sig-file every time.

I can't comment on your first question, as it's some months since i stopped using Nod

 

That's absolutly unusal.
The updates are usualy very small.. maybe a few 100 kb. ... but that's it.
ANd it's working right away.. not only after a few hours of trying.

Please submit a little bit more details of your system.
Running system, nod32 version etc...

At the same time I would report this issue to eset support.

 

My connection is 1 mb cable.
I don't have too many application's running at the same time as nod.
Sygate Pro
BOClean
PestPatrol memchecker
Cookiewall

Here's the nod32 details:

Trial version
Days left: 25

NOD32 Antivirus System information
Virus signature database version: 1.951 (20041217)
Dated: 17 December 2004
Virus signature database build: 5075

Information on other scanner support parts
Advanced heuristics module version: 1.011 (20041126)
Advanced heuristics module build: 1067
Internet filter version: 1.002 (20040708 )
Internet filter build: 1013
Archive support module version: 1.024 (20041125)
Archive support module build version: 1104

Information on installed components
NOD32 For Windows 95/98/ME - Base
Version: 2.12.3
NOD32 for Windows 95/98/ME - Standard component
Version: 2.12.3
NOD32 For Windows 95/98/ME - Internet support
Version: 2.12.3

Operating system information
Platform: Windows ME
Version: 4.90.3000
Version of common control components: 5.81.4807
RAM: 512 MB
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Processor

Thanks,
muf

 

Gentlemen:
(this info is from a few days old thread i posted in several times)
The Trial version always gets the whole 2,5 MB file. In the aforementioned thread I stressed that this should be advertised stronger, and it seems i had a point. (But the trial page indeed says: "Although the trial version represents a fully functional version of NOD32, you may experience a longer virus signature update (download) time.")
Paid updates are 50-200 kb each, and are incremental.
My log has some unsuccessful connect attempts, however both manual and auto updates work flawlessly (so i always get the update in a few seconds without any error messages).

 

Ok, thanks for the replies. So i gather that as a trial user i will have to persevere with full database updates. I'll also have to persevere with the dodgy connection attempts to obtain the updates. But once i register, i will be able to obtain incremental updates and they will download flawlessly. Umm, sorry to sound pessimistic but this isn't the way to sell an AV. Give the trial user poor download support and force them to have to download a 2.5mb file. But once you register you get the good stuff. Umm, definitely not the way to do it. You have to see it from my point of view, i have to have faith that once i register and get the full version then i will no longer have these update quirks. It's a bit of a weird way of doing it. It really is.

muf

 

Muf,

check your pm.

 

Ok, Here's what i'm going to do. I think i should have faith in Esset. I will give my trial another week just to make sure i'm happy with the running of nod with the rest of my system. So far it's been no problem whatsoever. The update quirk i'm sure will be resolved once i'm using the full version. I have faith that your assurances will be justified. After all, you have used it for a lot longer than me and know better.

JimIT, I received your IM. Thank you for your generous offer. If i am uncertain when i am due to purchase, i will take you up on your offer. I think though that i should have that faith i've mentioned and just 'go for it'.

Thanks everyone for your help and comments.

muf

 

I don't think you will regret it... we were so impressed, we became resellers!

regards

Greg Hewitt-Long

 

You want a bad update policy for an antivirus trial version, try Trend Micro or Panda. Both only update once during the 30 day trial. I think larger updates during a trial period is better than only one. I'm not bashing either one of those AVs. They're both good AVs. It's just my opinion.

 

I have had trouble connecting to the servers on and off for atleast a week now. Eventually I do get connected but there is obviously an issue with their update servers right now. I do have automatic update and choose [server] automatically
This is just for the last three days because I´ve cleared the log a couple of times, but this is what it looked like:

btw the infiltration is just eicar.

 

Yes, my log has very similar entries. However it finally finds an on-line server and updates correctly. No error messages displayed whatsoever.
(btw today's 1.951 update came down without errors in the log.)

 

i believe that a lot of the "connection failures" in the event log are generated when the updater tries to run while the computer is not connected to the internet, particularly when the computer is first booting up..

i noticed that happening earlier, when i booted the computer.. then, after connecting to the internet, i waited another hour for the updater to run again (the updater was set to run automatically, every 1 hour) and i was alerted to updates' being available for downloading, and i downloaded them without a problem (using the "u6.eset.com" server).. i had the updater set to prompt me before installing the updates, but now i have it set to automatically download and install the updates, and i have nod32 set to silent mode.. i am hoping that now the updates will download and install automatically without any user interaction..

normally, i don't use automatic updating, but i want to verify that the automatic-updating will work, and that the updating will work without any user interaction..

 

Sometimes there might be a problem connecting to the particular server at the time it's being overloaded and cannot server all update requests. In such case, you get an error connecting to that server, but NOD32 tries to connect to the consecutive one and eventually updates.

 

This is how a typical update log looks like on my Computer.

 

with NOD32 - yes.

With Norton - no guarantees...

 

mine used to look like that too - I hard pinned it to u6 and have NOT had a problem since.

hth

Greg Hewitt-Long

 

U6 is a new update server, however it is still better to leave the settings on "Choose Automatically" as should U6 become overloaded or fail then updates will not be given.

Cheers

 

BS - we are agreed that it would be best to have it left as it was - however, I have my machine setup to email me failure message - there were altogether a few too many for my liking (only a few, but still a few too many).

regards

Greg Hewitt-Long

 

That's good. I just wanted to make sure everyone was clear on this point, especially for the average user...

Cheers

 

I've experienced this problem myself while trying to update NOD.

It may sound silly, but I've got a great (sarcastic) solution......

Why don't ESET spend a bit more of the profits on the bandwidth of update servers so this doesn't happen (or at least minimize this kind of thing)

Secondly, I'd like to see them follow Kasperky's lead and provide more regular updates, along with a way of specifying when NOD should update. (To be slightly more fair, the recent updates to NOD have been more frequent, but still not frequent enough). I know AH is supposed to take care of unknown nasties, but it's not as good as a signature. The marketing guys at ESet should take this as a kick up the bum and give what the customers desire. They could take a big chunk of Kasperky's AV market share, if they took this into account.

PS. Having more frequent updates should not simply be a matter of halving the signatures that are provided in each update. Instead, ESet should allocate more resources toward identification of new nasties (as well as developing better AH).

 

i had trouble updating the trial version, after the initial updates.. i figured that the problem would be resolved if i had a user name and password, so i went ahead and purchased the "commercial" version.. having a "username" and password did solve the problem..

incidentally, the new update, "v.1.953", downloaded and installed automatically, and "silently"..

 

how frequent would be frequent enough? Honestly - how frequent?

Listed below is a link to the releases on record:

http://www.nod32usa.com/nod32-updates/summary_all.php

There are many days with multiple releases...

http://www.nod32usa.com/nod32-updates/summary.txt

EDIT: reversed the order of the summary.txt file - # updates by day now descending rather than ascending... and a summary table at the top of the list with counts per day table.

I took the date component from the update summary and sorted, then ran through uniq -c and sort numeric again... you can see 2 days with 6 updates in a single day (both in March of 2004) - 1 day with 5 updates (Sept. 2004) a handful of 4 updates, LOTS of 3 updates and a slew of 2 updates in a single day.

You already have a product that checks for updates HOURLY by default on installation, and a history of multiple releases of AV definitions in a single day at times - I think they are working things... so again, how many updates a day would it take to make EVERYONE happy?

Sound like a loaded question? Sure it is - if I get bit in the rear by a virus while running NOD32 - like I was when running NAV-2004, I'll get very upset - until then, with a continued pattern of multiple releases in a single day when required, and I'm relatively happy - and to be honest - I'm NOT the easiest consumer to keep happy EITHER!

You have to bear in mind that I receive bounce email messages from a dozen mail servers or so, and my exposure to email borne viruses is many times that of your average user, and also that of many "power" users too.. I used to be a *nix software developer and a *nix administrator by trade too - working for banks, insurance companies, re-insurance companies and venture capitals too - industries where throwing money at a solution WAS the way to fix your problems - like I said - I'm not easy to make happy when it comes to software - so far, I'm as happy as anyone can be with an AV solution... not so say there isn't a few things I would improve, but you appear to have picked on an area where you have little room for complaint as far as I can see.... just my 2cent though...

hth

Greg Hewitt-Long