Eset Smart Security Suite beta – Mini Review
Landlord, one of our Geeks in Training has done a mini-review of Eset’s new Smart Security Suite now in beta. Smart Suite adds a firewall and anti-spam function to the NOD32 anti-virus scanner.
I’ve just downloaded the new Eset Smart Security Beta to check it out, and see if Eset continue their tradition of low-memory consuming products. It offers anti-virus protection with the successful NOD32 engine along with a firewall and anti-spam protection. I haven’t checked its detection rates and success, but seeing as it’s based on the excellent NOD32 engine I know what to expect from it.
I’ve got a very good first impression: the interface is much better than it was in the original anti-virus product, which was very confusing and unfriendly. The new interface is uncluttered and better suited to the current Vista look.
It also has two modes, an Advanced Mode and a Standard Mode. You can easily switch between them with two mouse clicks.
For example, in this image I chose to modify firewall settings under ‘Advanced Mode’. In ‘Standard Mode’ it wouldn’t have shown me the mess of the programs trying to connect to the internet which is confusing for novice users.
And as for its memory consumption… See for yourself.
As you can see there are two processes: ekrn.exe (which is the NOD32 kernel) and egui.exe (which relates to the graphical user interface). The egui process’ memory consumption ranges between 1 MB to 4 MB. Together, the both processes take about 35 MB, which is not bad at all for a Security Suite. (The original anti-virus took 23 MB of RAM, so about 12 MB of additional memory usage has been added for the firewall) For example, the new Norton 360, which brags about its new ‘low memory consumption’ needs a minimum of 256 MB.
Actually the egui process looks a little weird to me, I think they could have embedded it in a single process like they did with the anti-virus product, but I guess it will change until the final release.
To sum up: I got a good impression from this Suite, it would be a good solution for the average user, since it’s very easy to use and still takes very little RAM space. BTW, my previous firewall, Comodo, took around 17 MB of RAM or so, so actually the two separate products took more memory. I’m not sure about the quality of the firewall in the new security suite though.
So, has anyway tested this security suite and willing to share his/hers impressions about it?
MoNsTeReNeRgY22 said,
Wrote on May 31, 2007 @ 8:26 pm
Well I am also in training here with landlord, so I decided to give this BETA a try. first of the program did not install correctly. So I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. I had to reboot for everything to take effect. At first I could not even log in. It took me a few times just to log in. Then once I did my computer completly froze up. It was not even usable. so I rebooted and tried it again; same thing. So I decided to boot into safe mode and try to uninstall it. I had to try again a few times just to log in, but once I got in I could not uninstall the beta. I ended up just deleting the program file folder in all. Now my PC is back to normal. So I am just given everyone my experience. If you have any questions feel free to contact me on the forums.
Dor said,
Wrote on June 2, 2007 @ 7:21 am
nice review
landlord said,
Wrote on June 2, 2007 @ 7:27 am
Thanks Dor
Mak said,
Wrote on June 16, 2007 @ 12:37 am
i am trying it too,and until this moment it has been great
my pc didn't froze up or anything and the protection level is great
i am now working on "vista"
and "Eset security suite" is taking about 9 MB of ram...do you believe that?!!
really the "ekrn" is at 8,288 and "egui" is at 1.032...!
John Sanders said,
Wrote on June 27, 2007 @ 3:28 am
This eSet suite is exceptional, caught a few nasties and is spot on. No slowing down of my rig at all, use the firewall in 'ineractive' mode, this allows monitoring of everything that wants to connect, or come in for that matter.
A truly exceptional beta, well worth pursuing the full public release in the next couple of weeks!
webyourbusiness said,
Wrote on July 14, 2007 @ 11:22 am
note - this review was done on beta 1a - there has been a new beta released in June (1b)
htttp://www.eset.com/beta
old apps said,
Wrote on August 8, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
new software is not always best, and for sure is always tendency to more big CPU demand. I am serious about care of my CPU demand, and you can try always old stable and low resource versions of antivirus and firewall
i recommend:
KASPERSKY ANY VERSION 4.X, works smooth and is a joke of light (this moment is idle 1.5 MB using)
KERIO PERSONAL FIREWALL VERSION 2.1.5. a little piece of art in a firewall. (this moment consume 2.4 MB )
so you can have a strong security system running for less than 5MB resource...
new software in general is always deamnding more and more resources, so for those who have a not so monster machine, it is not bad to look backward and try good old apps.
thank you!
DatabasePro said,
Wrote on August 9, 2007 @ 9:32 am
While it's popular to trash Symantec/Norton, using the Task Manager standard employed by Landlord, Norton Internet Security 2007 uses less than 8 MB of identifiable memory on my Win XP Pro laptop.
I applaud ESET for its efforts and Landlord's enthusiasm for the product, but he needs to make sure that his comparisons use the same measures before favoring one product over another.
david said,
Wrote on September 15, 2007 @ 6:29 am
You helped out somuch it saved my wife and i money we didnt have thank you very much
Nevi said,
Wrote on May 19, 2008 @ 5:43 am
"Databasepro->
Its a fact,that Norton use exstreme amounts of RAM and CPU power,and to try and make a comparison between Eset and Norton would be like talk about peaches and apples.I dont wanna interfere in what you use as security,but please.Most people know these things as facts..ok?
Most of us have tried it.That will never happend again
Nevi