ESET Smart Security 6, announced in January this year, adds anti-theft, a dedicated anti-phishing module, and ESET social media scanner. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6, the standalone antivirus point product, was also announced at the same time, great for users who just want malware protection. (See product summary at the end to learn about the difference between these two versions.)
Register for a free 60-day trial of ESET Smart Security 6, and stand to win S$50 vouchers as well free licenses. Find out more on our Facebook promotions page. More information at the end of this post too!
If you thought ESET is a new kid on the block with no credentials, you couldn’t be more wrong. ESET’s market share in Singapore is relatively small (2% in 2012), so you could be forgiven if you’ve not heard of them. Their core antivirus product, however, has been around for longer than most others. Then known as NOD-ICE, it was first released in 1987, five years before the creators founded the ESET company. Since then, they have made quite some achievements: more wins than any other company with 78 VB100 awards from Virus Bulletin. They are regularly certified by ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs.
ESET Smart Security 6 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 are both Windows 8 certified. They support older version of Windows too: 7, Vista, Home Server, XP, and 2000.
Installation, as depicted in the above screenshots, is simple. You can either use the CDROM included in the box set, or you can download the installer from ESET’s website. I chose to download from the Internet, not just because I did not have the latest version of the box set, but more so because my notebook did not have a CDROM drive anyway.
After the installation is complete, you can then proceed to activate the product. Right-click the ESET icon in the systray, choose “Activate your product…”, and follow the prompts to get the product activated.
A cool thing about ESET’s license is what they call Unilicense. In their Unilicense model, you are allowed to use the product on a single machine, regardless of operating system. This means if your MacBook Air dual boots between OS X and Windows, you can activate the product on both the OS X and Windows installations. (Yes, ESET has antivirus solutions for Mac OS X and Linux as well, although not quite with the same feature set as the Windows one.)
Anti-theft, as mentioned earlier, is one of the new features introduced in ESET Smart Security 6. Once you’ve set it up, you’ll have a couple of new tricks up your sleeve the next time your notebook goes missing. First, you visit the ESET portal at my.eset.com, find your registered device, then declare it as missing. ESET can display its location on a map based on Wi-Fi location. It can also take screenshots as well as capture from built-in webcam if one is available on your computer.
A neat feature is that you can create a phantom account, which is a password-less account that automatically logs in when your missing device boots up. The thief, thus, would be encouraged to play with this account, instead of snooping around your documents in your own real account. I’m not sure if thieves would be fooled so easily, but I suppose anything is worth a shot when you don’t want any stranger prying into your private documents.
While the phantom account may be a great distraction to divert the attention of thieves, what I’d really like is a notebook remote-wipe. Just like how iOS devices can be remotely wiped. Unfortunately, this is not available. Your best protection is still to keep your really private stuffs in an encrypted folder.
How well should you conceal your computer from the network? Instead of a static personal firewall configuration, ESET asks you, whenever it detects you’ve connected to a new network, to choose if you’re on a “Public network” or a “Home/Work network”. In the former case, ESET will hide your computer from other computers on the network. In the latter case, other users would be able to see your computer. This seems to strike a pretty good balance between security and the convenience of networking with other devices.
Other new ESET Smart Security 6 features are:
- Anti-Phishing Module: Protects you from attempts to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or banking and credit card details by fake websites masquerading as trustworthy ones.
New in both ESET Smart Security 6 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6:
- ESET Social Media Scanner: Protects the social media user and their friends from malicious content, including profile, the wall, newsfeed and private messages.
A hallmark of ESET’s antivirus product is its lightweight and efficient scanning engine. Some of us might consider a bloated and overweight antivirus software to be almost as much a malware itself. I have not performance tested ESET Smart Security 6 or ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6, but you might want to refer to a post I wrote last year, based on an older version running on my Mac. ESET lived up to my expectations.
Wrap-Up
The latest version of ESET Smart Security 6 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 includes all the expected security suite components to help defend your computer against current security threats. Additionally, the anti-theft feature in ESET Smart Security 6 is particularly useful if you’re worried about notebook theft.
It’s no good just reading about a product. You should try it! Take advantage of the free 60-day trial now available (usual trial is 30-days). More details at the end of this post.
Product Summary
| ESET Smart Security 6 | ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 | |
|---|---|---|
| All-in-one Internet Security | Powerful Fast Antivirus | |
| Antivirus, Antispyware, Antispam, Anti-Theft, Firewall, Parental Control, Anti-Phishing, Social Media Scanner | Antivirus, Antispyware, Gamer Mode, Anti-Phishing, Cloud-powered Scanning, Social Media Scanner | |
| Malware Protection | ||
| Antivirus | Yes | Yes |
| Antispam | Yes | – |
| Removable Media Control | Yes | Yes |
| HIPS | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud-powered Scanning | Yes | Yes |
| Identity Protection | ||
| Anti-Theft | Yes | – |
| Antispyware | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Firewall | Yes | – |
| Anti-Phishing | Yes | Yes |
| Other Controls | ||
| Parental Control | Yes | – |
| Social Media Scanner | Yes | Yes |
Online Promotion
Win S$50 gift vouchers when you sign up for a free 60-day ESET Smart Security 6 trial license! You can also enter an additional draw to win one of three 1-year ESET Smart Security 6 licenses!
To be in the running in the additional draw for one of three 1-year ESET Smart Security 6 licenses, you need a special code. Find the special code on Zitseng.Com’s facebook promotions page!
This promotion runs from 12 April 2013 to 17 May 2013, and is sponsored by Version 2, the distributor of ESET in Singapore.
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