Battle Eset Smart Security vs Emsisoft Internet Security: Which one do you think is more suitable for me?

[Online_Sword]

In different forums on security, the most popular antivirus software can be different.
I find that both Eset and Emsisoft are popular in MalwareTips. Maybe Emsisoft is more popular here.
I have tried both of them, and I think that both of them are good.
However, now I need to make a decision to purchase one of them.

In my opinion, I think the advantage of Emsisoft over Eset is that:

• The behavior blocker of Emsisoft can utilize the cloud, but (I hear that) Eset's HIPS cannot. A cloud-based behavior blocker is attractive for me.
• The scanning speed of Emsisoft (10) seems to be faster.

On the other hand, for me, the advantage of Eset over Emsisoft is that:

• In my country (China), the users of Eset is much more than the users of Emsisoft. I think the detection rate will be influenced by the number of users, especially when the cloud is taken into consideration.
• Eset has a support team in my country, but Emsisoft does not.

So, I find it hard to make a decision between Eset and Emsisoft...


Update in May 30th, 2015 16:33 (UTC + 8):
After reading all the comments and suggestions, finally I decide to buy Emsisoft Internet Security, and the deal has been done.
As mentioned in many replies to this thread, both ESET and Emsisoft are excellent.
So I think that the easiest way to make a decision between them is choosing the one that wins more votes.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I think all the comments are actually helpful.

 

[Maxxx58]

Love booth, so I can't choose (I'm using ESET and going to install Kaspersky Total Security when I reinstall Windows for experience purpose)

 

[Kami7]

Emsisoft more like, but it seems heavier than Eset

 

[songoku316]

Eset smart security 8 recommended

 

[Oxygen]

You honestly can't go wrong with either one, but I would just go for ESET if you want good detection and something that is light on the system.


Emsisoft is still a good option, I just feel as if it isn't the lightest... it also slows down your bootup.

 

[jerzy601]

I would personally like had to choose I would choose Eset, it is lightweight and has a good detection rate and does not slow down the browser.
Emsisoft is also a good program also has a good detection rate, but the choice is of each individual decision, and besides, you have to take into account what has happened hardware.

 

[OokamiCreed]

For the best overall experience, ESET is better. As said by @Fedora, Emsisoft will slow some things down. Particularity the boot up. Once up and running it won't affect the system much. Emsisoft is heavier on RAM even with memory optimization turned on. ESET is probably the lightest feeling AV you can get. It will take take a good amount of RAM (for me it's about 75MB - 160MB) but only because it holds it signatures in RAM which make it much faster (but so does Emsisoft, just not anywhere near as efficient as I've seen it take up to 500MB without memory optimization turned on). Emsisoft's memory optimization might make it's RAM usage go down but in some systems will cause some problems. It normally stays under 250MB while it's on. Take note that it uses 2 engines, ESET uses only it's own.

I personally also believe that Emsisoft probably has one of the best web blockers however feel it's a bit too aggressive. You can easily tell it to allow a URL. When it comes to configuration, ESET has Emsisoft beaten by a mile. This is one of the reasons I believe ESET to be better than Emsisoft. I've also had Emsisoft break my system when it decided to delete a registry key (I allowed it to so technically can't blame them for that). ESET has never caused any problems for me except in version 6 and 7. No problems in version 8 (current) and no problems in it's version 9 beta so far.

With all that the only other things I can add is Emsisoft is more user friendly, ESET is also at default but can be made to give you every little detail that you want. Emsisoft will also generally detect more than ESET (because it's a twin engine - their own engine and Bitdefenders). I've never seen ESET use it's HIPS before but I haven't use it that long or tested it in a virtual machine.

I voted for ESET. It's generally more friendly to a wider range of system configurations and can be made as simple or as advanced as you want it to. Both are great at detecting adware (which is a must for me). ESET and Emsisoft are both great so it's a matter of system configuration and personal preference when it comes to custom settings. I've never been infected when using either of them... (well I know a bad file when I see one without needing to scan it but still things can slip through and both never let that happen).

Sorry for the rant.

 

[kiric96]

Hard to say, both are good... ESET has an excellent detection ratio, however if something isnt detected by signatures, is for sure you´ll get an infection, however you can tweak eset to offer you "more protection" with it HIPS module but dont expect too much for it unless you are a pro user that know how to deal with dialog windows every time.

As for emsisoft, firewall is still under development so you will find some issues while using it, also please notice that EIS uses much RAM than eset but if you have an updated pc it shouldnt be a problem

The behavior blocker of Emsisoft can utilize the cloud, but (I hear that) Eset's HIPS cannot. A cloud-based behavior blocker is attractive for me.

as you said eset HIPS can use cloud service but you still have threatsense cloud (eset live grid) which it may help you in some cases. As for emsisoft, yes, it uses cloud assisted b-have module which will reduce the % of user interaction.

In my country (China), the users of Eset is much more than the users of Emsisoft. I think the detection rate will be influenced by the number of users, especially when the cloud is taken into consideration.

well in my country eset is also popular amongst users, but remember that emsisoft has Bitdefender engine that covers a wide range of regions. But if you deal with targeted malware, it would be expected a longer response from them, however behaviour blocker will save your day also you can submit malware via their page, almost always their response time to new malware is faster than eset (if submission is done via forum or online)

Eset has a support team in my country, but Emsisoft does not.

Once their supported chinese, but Fabian told me that since that forum was having almost zero entries it was useless for them to keep it alive... well you still have english, the good thing is that if you have any problem you can talk directly to the developer for help (via forum)

PST: didnt know that chinese people watch anime xD , i like SAO
.

 

[Online_Sword]

Hard to say, both are good... ESET has an excellent detection ratio, however if something isnt detected by signatures, is for sure you´ll get an infection, however you can tweak eset to offer you "more protection" with it HIPS module but dont expect too much for it unless you are a pro user that know how to deal with dialog windows every time.

As for emsisoft, firewall is still under development so you will find some issues while using it, also please notice that EIS uses much RAM than eset but if you have an updated pc it shouldnt be a problem

as you said eset HIPS can use cloud service but you still have threatsense cloud (eset live grid) which it may help you in some cases. As for emsisoft, yes, it uses cloud assisted b-have module which will reduce the % of user interaction.


well in my country eset is also popular amongst users, but remember that emsisoft has Bitdefender engine that covers a wide range of regions. But if you deal with targeted malware, it would be expected a longer response from them, however behaviour blocker will save your day also you can submit malware via their page, almost always their response time to new malware is faster than eset (if submission is done via forum or online)


Once their supported chinese, but Fabian told me that since that forum was having almost zero entries it was useless for them to keep it alive... well you still have english, the good thing is that if you have any problem you can talk directly to the developer for help (via forum)

PST: didnt know that chinese people watch anime xD , i like SAO
.

Thank you for the reply.
By the way, I need to claim that my ID does not come from SAO but is a variation of "online armor"

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Hello @Online_Sword.
Although I'd voted for ESET, Emsisoft Internet Security has been my favorite security suite which could not work with our Windows 7 SP 1 because of it's incompatibility with Oracle's Virutal Box. My wife is very happy with ESET Smart Security for it's efficiency and superior (comparable to Emsisoft's) protection.
I truly liked most everything about Emsisoft from their level of protection to their excellent customer support.
If your choice swings toward Emsisoft I.S., we happen to have a subscription key you may have. If you are interested, just let me know by PM!

 

[kiric96]

Thank you for the reply.
By the way, I need to claim that my ID does not come from SAO but is a variation of "online armor"

My apologize, i thought that it was from it, my classmates also uses the expression "online_sword" for SAO. Anyway please let us know your final decisión...

 

[hjlbx]

Both are top-of-class...

It comes down to personal preference and which one performs better on your specific system.

 

[Online_Sword]

For the best overall experience, ESET is better. As said by @Fedora, Emsisoft will slow some things down. Particularity the boot up. Once up and running it won't affect the system much. Emsisoft is heavier on RAM even with memory optimization turned on. ESET is probably the lightest feeling AV you can get. It will take take a good amount of RAM (for me it's about 75MB - 160MB) but only because it holds it signatures in RAM which make it much faster (but so does Emsisoft, just not anywhere near as efficient as I've seen it take up to 500MB without memory optimization turned on). Emsisoft's memory optimization might make it's RAM usage go down but in some systems will cause some problems. It normally stays under 250MB while it's on. Take note that it uses 2 engines, ESET uses only it's own.

I personally also believe that Emsisoft probably has one of the best web blockers however feel it's a bit too aggressive. You can easily tell it to allow a URL. When it comes to configuration, ESET has Emsisoft beaten by a mile. This is one of the reasons I believe ESET to be better than Emsisoft. I've also had Emsisoft break my system when it decided to delete a registry key (I allowed it to so technically can't blame them for that). ESET has never caused any problems for me except in version 6 and 7. No problems in version 8 (current) and no problems in it's version 9 beta so far.

With all that the only other things I can add is Emsisoft is more user friendly, ESET is also at default but can be made to give you every little detail that you want. Emsisoft will also generally detect more than ESET (because it's a twin engine - their own engine and Bitdefenders). I've never seen ESET use it's HIPS before but I haven't use it that long or tested it in a virtual machine.

I voted for ESET. It's generally more friendly to a wider range of system configurations and can be made as simple or as advanced as you want it to. Both are great at detecting adware (which is a must for me). ESET and Emsisoft are both great so it's a matter of system configuration and personal preference when it comes to custom settings. I've never been infected when using either of them... (well I know a bad file when I see one without needing to scan it but still things can slip through and both never let that happen).

Sorry for the rant.

Thank you for providing such detailed data and comment.
I think the delay in the period of boot up is acceptable, since I need to power on the computer at most once every day.
In the last two months, I tried Bitdefender Internet Security 2015. It incurred 20 seconds' black screen in the boot up period every day.
I think that compared to Bitdefender, the influence of Emsisoft on the boot up time is negligible.
By the way, the reason the makes me abandon Bitdefender is not the boot up delay, but its aggressive web protection.

 

[Online_Sword]

Hard to say, both are good... ESET has an excellent detection ratio, however if something isnt detected by signatures, is for sure you´ll get an infection, however you can tweak eset to offer you "more protection" with it HIPS module but dont expect too much for it unless you are a pro user that know how to deal with dialog windows every time.

As for emsisoft, firewall is still under development so you will find some issues while using it, also please notice that EIS uses much RAM than eset but if you have an updated pc it shouldnt be a problem

as you said eset HIPS can use cloud service but you still have threatsense cloud (eset live grid) which it may help you in some cases. As for emsisoft, yes, it uses cloud assisted b-have module which will reduce the % of user interaction.


well in my country eset is also popular amongst users, but remember that emsisoft has Bitdefender engine that covers a wide range of regions. But if you deal with targeted malware, it would be expected a longer response from them, however behaviour blocker will save your day also you can submit malware via their page, almost always their response time to new malware is faster than eset (if submission is done via forum or online)


Once their supported chinese, but Fabian told me that since that forum was having almost zero entries it was useless for them to keep it alive... well you still have english, the good thing is that if you have any problem you can talk directly to the developer for help (via forum)

PST: didnt know that chinese people watch anime xD , i like SAO
.

I am sorry that just now I did not have enough time to read your reply carefully, therefore I only replied to the issue on anime.

In the last two weeks, I was using Emsisoft Anti-malware 10. I tested it by downloading malware test packs from some security forums (not MalwareTips, but some Chinese forums).
I submitted the virus samples not detected by EAM to Emsisoft via the build-in submission function in the quarantine, but I found that their response time is not very short.
I submitted about a dozen malware samples every day. I found that only about 1 to 3 of them could be detected by the A Engine after 1 to 2 days.
Would submission via the website be better than submission via quarantine?

I would let you know my final decision.

 

[Alex BK]

Protection: Emsisoft
Computer performance: ESET

Tested them both, and my personal choice is Emsisoft, didn't notice system slowdown on my 8GB RAM and core i3 machine.

 

[Kate_L]

ESET is very good product, I recommend it. Emsisoft is good too.

 

[Online_Sword]

Hello @Online_Sword.
Although I'd voted for ESET, Emsisoft Internet Security has been my favorite security suite which could not work with our Windows 7 SP 1 because of it's incompatibility with Oracle's Virutal Box. My wife is very happy with ESET I.S. for it's efficiency and superior protection.
I truly liked most everything about Emsisoft from their level of protection to their excellent customer support.
If your choice swings toward Emsisoft I.S., we happen to have a subscription key you may have. If you are interested, just let me know by PM!

Thank you for your generous offer.
These days I am using Emsisoft Anti-malware 10 along with VMware Player.
It can create and run virtual machines. It is free, but has no ads.
I am running win7 (32-bit) on it, and find no incompatibility issue incurred by EAM.
Maybe you can have a try.

 

[Dima007]

I personally prefer Eset

 

[Ink]

Emsisoft appears to be the better option based on the comments, it also comes with a powerful Behavioural Blocker.

You can still use ESET detections' capabilities, but on-demand only with their ESET Online Scanner software, which installs to your PC and requires an Internet connection prior to use. However, it should not interfere with Emsisoft or vice-versa.

Voting: Emsisoft.
With ESET Online Scanner alongside your other on-demand scanning tools.

 

[SkyJP]

I used both Emsisoft IS 10 (for 2 months) and ESET SS 8 for around a week. Honestly, they're both extremely good for protection.

Emsisoft is pure security and doesn't throw in some extra features such as Social Media Scanner/Anti-Theft/Anti-Spam like ESET SS 8 does, thought it's your option if you'll be using these features. That means for Emsisoft you're paying for dedicated protection (which some people may consider good or bad) and Emsisoft IS 10 is cheaper then ESET SS 8 on their official sites.

I found the Emsisoft's scan times in the newest version are really fast overall, with great consistency. ESET isn't too far behind either, and it's still faster than other security products nonetheless.

In terms of lightness, I found that ESET wins overall, so it's best for older hardware, but again Emsisoft (aside from a slightly longer boot time which is typically expected) isn't a system hogger. They are both good in terms of performance anyway and will run really well on "decent" specs.

Emsisoft doesn't give the in-depth capabilities of changing vast amounts of settings like ESET, so it's more like 'set and forget' while for ESET you have to change the settings to suit you.