I'm shocked that nobody has done a review on this antivirus for Ciao. I feel compelled to do one, even though I am a mere slip of a gal...someone has to tell you how good it is!
Unfortunately there are people out there wanting to spoil our fun, so a program like this is necessary. This is one of the best. In fact it's so good that it's currently being used by the BIG boys themselves, Microsoft. Their Release Labs in
Ireland have been using
NOD32 for the past three years to scan terabytes of source code and software before shipping to the public. So if it's good enough for them...!
If you've never heard of NOD32 then you will be thinking what a strange name. Then when you see it is made up of five modules:- NOD32, Amon, Imon, Emon & Dmon...you may not want to bother to understand what it's all about. I nearly didn't bother, in fact I didn't at first.
I've been a Norton fan for years and I believe if it isn't broken don't fix it. So for my new XP
computer with
512mb Ram and
160GB Hard Drive I installed what I'm used to, Norton. First I tried Systemworks, until I discovered that having Hyperthreading on my computer meant that a couple of the
components didn't work. Then I tried
Norton Antivirus 2003 and again more problems, very slow and wouldn't automatically update. That was it, Norton was evicted from my computer with a clean reinstall to get rid of any of it's files hiding away. This is when I decided to give NOD32 a chance as I'd read good things about it on the PCAdvisor website.
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INTRODUCING NOD32
NOD32 is antivirus software developed by a private company called Eset. They were founded in 1992 and have offices Worldwide. In 1998 they submitted NOD32 for independent testing by Virus Bulletin. Since it's first testing it has passed every Virus Bulletin test of "In the Wild" viruses by 100%, so far earning 28 VB 100% awards. This is more than any other anti-virus program. Virus Bulletin is a respected testing authority as it only tests for real in the wild viruses. It is no good having an antivirus program which gives false alarms.
WHY THE FUNNY NAME?
Way back in May 1988, long before Eset developed it into todays serious contender, a little unknown antivirus was born in Czecholsovakia. At that time there was a well known Czecholsovak tv series called "Nemocnica na Okraji Mesta" meaning "Hospital at the Edge of the City". Viruses in those days attacked the disk boot sectors at the edge of a disk so as an antivirus could be considered a hospital for computers, the antivirus was named "Nemocnica na Okraji Disku" meaning "Hospital at the Edge of the Disk". It was pronounced "enn oh dee" which over time led it to being referred to as NOD!
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BENEFITS OF NOD32
1) Catching the Blighters
Of course the main benefit of this program is that it is a reliable one which catches Polymorphic and Metamorphic Viruses, Worms, Trojans and Malware. It does this by using a combination of advanced Heuristics which detects a virus without an update to the Signature Database by looking for suspicious activity and of course by checking against the Signature Database.
I know that the Heuristics work because one day I opened my e-mail client without first updating the Virus Signature Database (which you should always do) and despite not having updated in a couple of weeks it caught the latest Doom Virus in some
e-mails.
2) Updating and Scanning
I love how quickly and simply this antivirus updates. In the Control Centre of NOD32 there is something called Scheduler/Planner. When you click on this you have the option to create a rule. On default after installing it says it will update repeatedly every hour and also whenever there is a new Virus Signature available upon
dial-up. I've also added a rule that upon completion of a Virus Signature update that it scans my computer automatically. In the old days of Norton this was quite a job waiting for the flashing icon in the taskbar to finish then waiting about 18 minutes for it to stop scanning. I have NOD32 set on "Silent Mode" which means that I don't have any
pop up boxes advising it is going to update or when it is finished, it just updates quietly and automatically in the background whenever I am connected to the internet. The frequent incremental updates are so quick and use so little resources (
my system doesn't slow down) that the first I'm aware of an update is when I hear the
Hard Drive being scanned afterwards and boy does it scan fast! Just 2 minutes and 43 seconds on my system!
3) Help I Need Somebody...Heeeelp!
Don't panic you are not alone! Unlike Norton where you have to spend about £18 per incident for
technical help (if you can eventually get through that is), the technical guys at Eset are there to help you for the cost of the call. E-mailing them is extremely good too. I have received replies to e-mails within a couple of hours. They are very helpful indeed and I highly recommend them.
4) How Much Room Have You Got?
You don't need to worry about squeezing this software onto your computer. The latest 2.12.3 program only takes 7.20MB of Hard Drive space on
Windows XP and only 6.76MB on Windows95/98/ME. Compare this to bloatware like Norton Antivirus 2003 which takes 70MB...Eeek! Norton 2004 would probably take even more.
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Does it sound good? If you would like to give this a try then first get rid of the antivirus on your system. Then nip along to www.eset.uk.com (or www.nod32uk.com) to
download either the free trial (about 21 days) or jump in and buy the Full One year (or more) licence for about £30 inc. VAT. This gives you One year of Signature Updates, Technical help AND Program updates too! No more uninstalling your antivirus program because the manufacturer has bought out a new one with added bells and whistles! You will benefit from any new features added to your NOD32 antivirus as any new program version just downloads on top of the previous one. Good news for anyone who's just updated to SP2, the latest NOD32 program update means that it is fully
Windows XP Service Pack 2 compliant. I can confirm that I've had no problems with the SP2 Security Centre recognising NOD32.
Once you have purchased your licence Eset will e-mail you with a password. When the program has been downloaded and opened it will ask you for this password. You will then see the NOD32 Control Centre with all it's components.
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NOD32 AND IT'S MATES AMON, IMON, EMON & DMON!
Sounds like something my 3 year old nephew has made up! When you open the program these are the components you will find in the
Control Panel. So to explain briefly what each one is:-
NOD32
This is not only the name of the antivirus but also one of the components within the program. it is an On-Demand Scanner which you access via the Control Centre. You just click on "Run NOD32" and up pops a box showing which Drives will be scanned, Logs of Scans, Actions (where the more experienced users can fiddle with what to do if a Virus is found), Setup (for more fiddling) and Profiles (the name of any specific tasks you set up). See "Nod32 on Demand Scanner" picture below.
AMON
This is the resident Virus Checker which runs quietly in the background which will alert you with a pop up
window if it finds anything. The latest program update has enabled this to scan with advanced heuristics, meaning it can protect against unknown viruses, worms and trojans not listed on the virus signature database. You just leave this component enabled. See picture below.
IMON
This is the internet monitor which runs at Winsock level and scans incoming internet traffic to pop3 e-mail clients (like Incredimail). I did not need to configure this at all as it did it automatically for my Outlook Express. It also supports more than one e-mail address or ISP. All e-mails arrive with a tag added to the bottom to confirm they have been scanned by NOD32. Please note that the exception are e-mails sent to you from Yahoo as they add their own advertisement tag to the bottom of outgoing mail so NOD32 doesn't add one too (but it does still scan them).
Http scanning support has also been added to the program update 2.12.2 . Web pages are scanned for trojans and viruses before they reach the browser or disk. Within the IMON module you will find a "Setup" button which will take you to options POP3, HTTP and Miscellaneous . If you go into the HTTP button and click "Setup" you will see a list of your programs which require access to the internet. The default setting on download will be "Higher Compatibility" but you have the option to choose between "Higher Compatibility" and "Higher Efficiency". For higher internet protection it is recommended to choose the latter for all programs except those which require constant streaming data e.g. my Firewall requires updates so I have set that to "Higher Compatibility". Pointing the mouse at the word "Higher Compatibility" and clicking on the word changes it to "Higher Efficiency". See "Imon Setup" picture below.
EMON
You probably won't need to worry about this one as it only downloads if you have MAPI compatible programs such as MS Exchange.
DMON
This is a new component which was added to the latest program update.
It is an antivirus monitor for Microsoft Officeapplications. This will be enabled by default.
They are the main components of this antivirus. Also in the Control Panel of NOD32 you will find:-
UPDATE
Where you can manually click on update to get the latest Virus Signatures. You should check that it says "Automatic update" enabled. To check that you will be offered new program updates too click on "setup" button on this page. In the middle of the box which appears it says "Type of Update" under which it should say "Virus Databases - Automatic" and " Program Components - Offer". If it doesn't you can easily change them by clicking on the "change" button to enable the ticks for these. See "Nod32 Update" picture below.
LOGS
Event Log - which you can look at
to see when it last updated.
Virus Log - log of all viruses found.
NOD32 Scanner Logs - log of all scans.
NOD32 SYSTEM TOOLS
Under this it shows:-
Quarantine - shows copies of viruses held.
Scheduler/Planner - where you can add extra tasks to update or scan automatically. See "
Control Center Scheduled Tasks" picture below.Information - gives full information of program version and Virus Signature Database. This is very handy to check against the details on the Eset website if you are in any doubt about whether you have the latest update.
Nod32 System Setup - shows at a glance which features you have off and which are enabled.
Just check that Amon and Imon are enabled upon download, the other default settings are fine to leave as they are. For the more advanced users there are the options to alter what you want it to scan, how often, when and the action to take if a Virus is found. The 2.12.2 program update has a detailed "help" manual to check your default settings against. I recommend reading it as it is easy to understand and details the options available to you.
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ANYTHING ELSE?
The only minus is that currently this antivirus doesn't scan outgoing e-mail. Although personally I can't see this as much of a problem if your system is kept clean.
You need to download this antivirus as it is not available to purchase on disc. If you need to do a clean reinstall of your system, as long as you keep a note of your password then you can download the program again and re-enter the password.
The Eset website doesn't have masses of information like the Norton one, which could be taken as a good thing, as most of the info at Symantec is about what to do when things go wrong.
There is a helpful NOD32 forum on wilderssecurity.com.
I think this is an excellent antivirus program, small, quiet and fast. Suits me!
DETAILS
www.eset.uk.com
NOD32 UK
242 Charminster Road
Bournemouth
Dorset
BH8 9RP
Tel: 01202 548888 (also for technical help)
Fax: 01202 546461
SALES ONLY:- Mon. - Fri. 8.30 - 5.30
0800 1380802
sales@nod32uk.com
CC Shoppingpuss 2nd June 2004
DECEMBER 2005 UPDATE! - Nod32 is now available as a boxed product with 64bit support (64bit support update also available as a download for existing customers). Contact above for details.
DON'T SHAKE YOUR HEAD..IT'S ANTIVIRUS! 
