Advice Request My license is gonna expire, what's next?

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

I will echo what many others have already said.... if you like Eset and do not have any major issues with it, I would just stick with it. Eset is a very capable product that offers excellent protection. One thing to note....us security geeks tend to debate all aspects of security and the various products out there. In reality, it's really only splitting hairs to be brutally honest with you. Every single product can miss malware, it's just the nature of the game. Typically in the real-world anyone using a product from any of the major brands will be fine.

That being said, since your subscription isn't fully up just yet, there is no harm in trying the other options you are considering and go from there. Who knows, you may like Emsisoft better, maybe you won't, but you really won't know for sure unless you try. If at the end of the day you still prefer Eset, I would just renew with them!

 

[PlayerFromTheITtic]

I'm pleasantly surprised to see such amount of feedback and discussion this thread has brought!

Now lemme quickly react to some of your answers:

• @MacDefender : You wondered why I mentioned some exclusions. It's simply because they don't fit at least one of my criterias (Not trusting them: Avast/AVG, COMODO, Qihoo 360; Performance/Stability impact: Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Microsoft Defender; HTTPS Filtering through a root certificate: Avast/AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky)
• @Spawn : I already own a Malwarebytes Premium lifetime license
• Though I proposed the "Use MB + EAMH" choice in the poll, it's the less likely one to happen
• Should I change security app from ESET, I'll obviously use trial versions to make sure a purchase would be worthy
• The choice I was considering the most before reaching out to you all was option 3 (should the trial be satisfying of course) with WFC to manage firewall requests, based on your feedback so far it's looking like a solid one

Thanks for your participation so far, happy malware-free browsing!

 

[Eggnog]

Sounds like a plan, man.

 

[MacDefender]

@MacDefender : You wondered why I mentioned some exclusions. It's simply because they don't fit at least one of my criterias (Not trusting them: Avast/AVG, COMODO, Qihoo 360; Performance/Stability impact: Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Microsoft Defender; HTTPS Filtering through a root certificate: Avast/AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky)

Just wanted to mention, most of the AVs that install a root certificate by default have an option to uninstall it. ESET also installs one by default and allows it to be disabled, not unlike Kaspersky or BitDefender. Just in case you wanted to widen your options a bit.... both of those suites offer excellent protection and have the dynamic behavior blocker components that ESET is weak in.

Of course it’s worth remembering from a privacy standpoint, be sure to opt out of any cloud submission components as they will upload both executables as well as behavioral metadata from your machine.

 

[PlayerFromTheITtic]

Hello again everyone, and although I'm late I wish you all a happy new year!

The ESET licence has expired this week, so I thought I'd close the poll but it appears that I can't do so.

Also I noticed one flaw in ESET's uninstall process: The product wasn't properly deregistered from Windows Security, where ESET Security kept showing up as a security provider. Reinstalling then removing ESET using this time their uninstall tool didn't work either, instead ESET Security appeared twice as a security provider! I had to force clean and rebuild the database for Windows Security.

Anyway, happy malware-free surfing everyone!

 

[mlnevese]

Using the vendor uninstall tool is good practice mainly if you're changing it to some other brand. Kaspersky leaves hooks in Office that may prevent other plugins from working correctly, ESET often leaves network drivers, etc.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

@tailHey What have you decided to use now?

 

[PlayerFromTheITtic]

Sorry guys, I'm massively late for letting you know of my decision. After sticking a lil while with Malwarebytes 4 as stand-alone, I decided to get another go with EIS (summer sales were appreciated in that regard ha ha).

 

[kC77]

windows defender, with configure defender in high config
brave browser
pi hole with 1.1.1.2 as its external lookup