The death of Symantec here is official

I assume nothing, I emailed ESET 2 weeks ago about the issue, and 3 emails have come back, each telling me a "different" way to uninstall/reinstall V4 to fix the issue.

Back to square one..............V4 is not fixed, and using 3.0 in the meantime.

 

Which means they don't know how to reproduce your problem, the fact that you got that many mails of people trying to help you is great, and guess what, it was all free. Yeah it sucks your problem isn't fixed, but if it's the whole firewall disconnecting problem, thats a known bug.

 

Don't speak so soon.

I came from Symantec too. ESET is superior (on paper) but has the same issues as any AV.

random server lockups, failure to update definitions, cpu hijacking, garbage technical support staff...

 

This is my personal experience (as an end-consumer and not a corporate customer who might get higher priority support). I once purchased Norton 360 (version 1 not 2). It was a hog. However, I could get Symantec online support via live chat in no time, and also got a refund without any headaches. My new PC came with Norton 360 version 2 installed. It was not a hog. All options switched on, and no noticeable slow down. Even Firefox support. Hmmm, well I am pro ESET. Norton 360 removed (Symantec provides an uninstall tool too and their support would even help you uninstall their trialware). NOD 32 antivirus installed, and boot time went from less than a minute to 14 minutes. Opening Firefox from near instantaneously went to 90 seconds. 100% CPU usage galore, and the only process using more time than system idle time for the first 40 minutes of a booted PC left alone was ESET NOD 32 version 3. Previous emails to ESET support would on occasions not be answered, or sometimes after several days to a week. There was no acknowledgment of any problems, but just the recommendation to turn all heuristic functions off (which were already off).

I think any software can have problems. I am positive that ESET has an outstanding product. However, rather than making any potentially dogmatic-sounding assertions, we should warn people that their mileage with these products may vary depending on their system configurations. People should really use the trial periods to the max and make purchase decisions accordingly. They should also try various trials sequentially in order to be able to compare their experiences. For me, the ideal solution was Norton Internet Security 2009. I have since moved on and I am no longer annoyed by NOD 32 hogging my CPU when I have work to do. Your mileage will likely vary.