Today's Internet-connected computer faces so many different kinds of security threats that it's hard for a single piece of software to adequately protect against them all. It's commonplace these days to turn to suites of related utilities for complete system protection, but a downside to these suites is that many have become quite large and motley collections of software — some might even say "bloated" — that often encompass seldom-used features that nevertheless take their toll in both performance and cost.
The European firm ESET, well known for its NOD32 family of anti-virus / anti-malware utilities, offers an alternative approach in the form of its ESET Security Suite (ESS). ESS builds upon the latest version of the company's NOD32 ThreatSensescanning engine by augmenting it with firewall and spam filtering.
The result is a relatively compact (it's barely a 17 MB download and consumes 24 MB after installation) "integrated security product" — a company rep was quick to correct us when we referred to it as a suite — that aims to provide broad and effective protection against Internet-borne malevolence with minimal overhead.
A quick glance of ESET Smart Security's feature-set shows the application may not match the Nortons and McAfees of the world feature for feature, nor does it attempt to. For example, ESS doesn't include capabilities such as content filtering/parental controls, password management, or data backup. What you do get, in addition to a firewall and spam filtering, is solid and ultra-efficient protection against viruses and other forms of malware like spyware, rootkits, and phishing Web sites.
Interface
One of the challenges when using security software, especially for the nontechnical user, is the bewildering array configuration options typically available. ESS tries to simplify things a bit by offering two interface modes, standard and advanced.
The former mode presents users with an extremely minimal set of options — a bit too few in our opinion. In Standard mode you can do little more than initiate a system scan and toggle between a strict or relaxed firewall settings to determine whether or not your system will be visible to other systems on the LAN (and be able to participate in resource sharing with them). You can also download the latest signatures or temporarily — and individually — disable the firewall or antivirus/antispyware protection, as may be necessary from time to time (for example, when installing certain kinds of trusted software).
Switching to the advanced interface mode, on the other hand, swings to the other extreme, sacrificing user-friendliness upon the alter of flexibility. Advanced mode unlocks access to the full array of ESET Smart Security's configuration options (of which there are many), allowing you to tweak individual settings to the umpteenth degree.
All of ESS's settings can be accessed within a single hierarchical list, making it easy to jump back and forth between different areas, but which can also make locating particular settings tricky until you become familiar with the placement of configuration categories.
ESS includes a manual in the form of a local help file that includes a lot of useful information, but it's annoyingly locked in the Always on Top mode, so unless you've got the desktop space to run the application and help windows side by side, you must minimize the latter to see the former (or keep the help window so small that it requires lots of vertical and horizontal scrolling).
