Battle Hardcore Battle: Kaspersky vs ESET vs Norton vs Emsisoft

[advanced_skill]

Don't worry about budget. Focus on the product quality. I have a hard time deciding between these products because I like all of them. Also, these are some of the best products in the market.

I don't really know the exact product versions (because I haven't used them in a long time). Assume you're comparing the latest versions.

If there are a lot of features, I expect the quality of the features to be good. Choose the product based on its quality, not necessarily based on whether you like it or not.

 

[kiric96]

SONAR did a good

dont like sonar it is like a cat and mouse game... i have noticed that sonar detects a few malware when offline, this doesnt happen when the product is connected of course due to connectivity to the cloud

How many users will be using these products for offline use?

me as a student, i usually go around the campus and despite the fact that the university has wifi i dont like connecting to public hotspots but only when needed, however internet connection is not a guarantee that you would not get an infection, most of the times, malware comes in pendrives from cybercafes "places where you can connect by paying an amount of money" as most of the times i am offline i need a suite that is not cloud dependant but proactive with zero days... i do have internet at home, but there is most likely impossible i get an infection, my last infection was with a vbs worm and was with norton as main AV

 

[advanced_skill]

Please click here for part 2 of the battle.

 

[Nikos751]

About Norton, I have tested it several times with malware the last two years and it's detection was always very very good. I don't refer to signatures, but to the whole package with Sonar and everything else, provided you have a constant internet connection. So, it can easily compete with the others the OP mentioned here.

 

[Thingol]

Kaspersky has ordinary signature detection but the widest scope proactive mitigations of any suite in my experience. 2016 can also be tweaked to significantly enhance protection in my view.

Eset is a good offering. Cleanest GUI, great ITW detection and decent performance.

Norton has went from ultra light to way heavy recently for me and while insight/sonar are great at this moment Kaspersky is better.

Emisisoft has the best out of the box detection, the developers are great (really top guys who listen and react to customers) but it is a monster in my experience. Other than the BB it does not care about more pro-active approaches to keeping you safe (and really should) 'we have no exploit mitigations' (other than blocking payloads) being a good example.

Again depends what you want. I still test blacklisters but don't use them. If I was forced to it'd be Kaspersky.

Cheers

 

[Online_Sword]

2016 can also be tweaked to significantly enhance protection in my view.

Could you introduce how you tweaked it?

 

[Rod McCarthy]

Kaspersky

2015 was real nice, very fast on my PC...

2016 I could not believe it, slowed my PC and internet WAYYYYYYY down.

I uninstalled it.

 

[harlan4096]

Could you introduce how you tweaked it?

Hi, here You are some tweaks You can do to Your Kaspersky:

Settings -> General -> Untick "Perform recommended actions automatically" (Mode Interactive On).

Settings -> Protection -> File Anti-Virus -> Advanced Settings -> Scan Mode -> On access and modification.

Settings -> Protection -> Application Control:

* Untick "Trust digitally signed applications".
* Change trust group for unknown applications -> Low or High Restricted.
* Change trust group for applications started before startup of Kaspersky -> Low or High Restricted.

Settings -> Performance:

* Untick "Concede resources to operating system when the computer starts".
* Tick "Concede resources to other applications".

Scan -> Security Level -> High.

* Advanced Settings -> Quick Scan -> Additional Settings -> Scan of compounds files: Tick "Scan archives" and "Scan Installation

packages".

Settings -> Additional -> Threats and Exclusions -> Tick "Detect other software that can be used by criminals..."

Settings -> Additional -> NetWork -> Monitored ports -> Monitor all network ports.

Additional Tools -> Trusted Application Mode -> Enable (be a bit patient, will take some minutes to finish).

 

[Online_Sword]

Hi, here You are some tweaks You can do to Your Kaspersky:

Thank you for your guide.

 

[Thingol]

Could you introduce how you tweaked it?

Sorry for the delay glad to say halan4096 covered everything I'd have done.

Only difference is I also change the individual categories in whatever Application Control level I use to Ask so it acts like classic HIPS for unknown for the first while. Then I change the level to untrusted for unknown. That way it acts like an AE for anything unknown to KSN.

With TAM you might not need the Application Control tweaks but they don't do any harm.

I also only scan new and changed files and only on execution. Habit from when KIS was much heavier on resources but still does cut down a little CPU and disc activity

Cheers

 

[Online_Sword]

Sorry for the delay glad to say halan4096 covered everything I'd have done.

Only difference is I also change the individual categories in whatever Application Control level I use to Ask so it acts like classic HIPS for unknown for the first while. Then I change the level to untrusted for unknown. That way it acts like an AE for anything unknown to KSN.

With TAM you might not need the Application Control tweaks but they don't do any harm.

I also only scan new and changed files and only on execution. Habit from when KIS was much heavier on resources but still does cut down a little CPU and disc activity

Cheers

Thank you for your suggestion.

 

[THpubs]

Be wary of using any of these products on Windows 10, but anything from Window 8.1 to 7 SP1, should be stable enough.

Kaspersky Internet Security
- Limited protection on 64-bit systems, therefore provides a false sense of security
- Best is not always better!

...

What did you mean by `Kaspersky Internet Security- Limited protection on 64-bit systems, therefore provides a false sense of security` ? Can you please explain? Like to know more!

 

[Ink]

What did you mean by `Kaspersky Internet Security- Limited protection on 64-bit systems, therefore provides a false sense of security` ? Can you please explain? Like to know more!

You don't have to look far to find the answer:

• Kaspersky x64 bit Protection
• Kaspersky 2016 on Windows 10 - the most unfinished release yet?
• Limitations in Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 after upgrade to Windows 10

 

[THpubs]

You don't have to look far to find the answer:

• Kaspersky x64 bit Protection
• Kaspersky 2016 on Windows 10 - the most unfinished release yet?
• Limitations in Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 after upgrade to Windows 10

Oh thanks! Looks like there are some issues here! Wow I never knew!

 

[Chromatinfish 123]

I chose norton because of SONAR protection (but I am running Emsisoft on my PC), but you can’t go wrong with any of these products. They are all are top notch products, although sometimes Kaspersky can get a little heavy (in my 4 day evaluation period). Emsisoft’s Behavior Blocker is very advanced, along with Norton’s SONAR, and ESET and Kaspersky have other barriers in place to stop zero-day threats. An antivirus without zero-day protection is basically useless as most threats nowadays are zero-day.



I would not buy Norton Security Premium (aka Norton Security with Backup) though, I don’t think it’s worth the extra money. Keep In mind though that the definition of Internet Security is different in each product- Emsisoft Internet Security is just Anti-Malware with Firewall, while Kaspersky and ESET have extra perks like Antispam, Anti-Theft, and Banking Protection along with the regular firewall inclusion. Norton’s Deluxe is actually just standard but with more PCs involved (5 instead of a lousy 1).



Again, don’t fret about choosing any product in this series- they are all very good products with very good protection.