We’ve been an ESET Partner and Reseller for 13+ years. We are one of the original resellers for ESET in the USA.
So why do we continue to sell their product – and – more importantly – why do we use ESET protection on our own machines here in the Computer Security Solutions Office?
Choosing the best Antivirus/Anti-Malware solution for your needs is fraught with challenges. Every IT scenario is different – some have modern, superfast machines, while others might run aging PCs given to them as donations – a common scenario for non-profits.
Protection needs vary – but there are a few factors we consider:
- How well a product detects KNOWN threats.
- How effectively a product detect NEW & EMERGING threats.
- How many system resources are used or System Impact on the user.
- How easy it is to INSTALL the software in your environment.
- How easy is it to REMOVE the software if you choose to change.
- Are the management tools provided by the manufacturer extra cost or included?
- Does the vendor charge more for Upgrades for minor/major upgrades?
- How honest the product vendor is in their advertising + marketing.
- Does the vendor have a proven and consistent track-record in protection?
- What % of revenue does a vendor spend on marketing vs research + development?
When we evaluate all these factors in-house.
We install and use the products ourselves, we evaluate the vendor, the vendor reps, the vendor distributors and we use industry standard antivirus testing lab reports for some very in-depth technical testing criteria (like the reactive + proactive testing).
There are a TON of lab reports to choose from – and we have delved deeply into the testing methodologies used by these labs. Some tests are nothing more than paid endorsements – others are fair and have solid test procedures which we trust. Some have a balances approach in one test, but not so much in another. For these reasons we weight our lab reports and the TOP TWO we use are: VirusBulletin – and AV-Comparatives – in that order.
We also weight one-off passes or failures in testing against the longevity and consistency of a product. That means, a single amazingly good, or very bad test does not automatically mean we drop or rave about a product.
A quick comparison – PCMatic
Marketing hype is common in all industries – in the antivirus industry this is no different, and marketing spin might even be more prevalent than many other industries. To check out a competitor, we look at PCMatic, a product vendor that spends a LOT of money on TV commercials.
So are PCMatic promising the moon and delivering, or are they pushing hype + bluster?
PCMatic says it performs well in VB100 Awards – we check out the marketing claim:
Rob Cheng – Founder + CEO likes to claim that PCMatic does well in the “VB100 RAP Test”
First – there is no ‘VB100 RAP Test’ – the RAP Quadrant is a combination report of two tests – the Reactive And Proactive tests. When someone talks about a VB100 RAP Test, it makes us a little concerned. Do they really understand the tests, or are they spinning the results? We will see….
Virus Bulletin Results Over Time:
OK – let’s take a look at the last 10 VB100 tests of PCMatic:
The Last 10 PCMatic Tests for VirusBulletin (VB100)
Results:
10 test = 5 fails, 5 VB100 Awards
Compare that to the last 10 VB100 tests of ESET:
The Last 10 ESET Tests for VirusBulletin (VB100)
Results:
10 tests = 0 Fails, 10 VB100 Awards
Now look closer at those results. Things to note:
- what is the machine impact – shown in the VB100 test as ‘system impact’ – lower scores are better. PCMatic has VERY large scores.
- ESET gets 10 VB100 awards in 10 test – PCMatic gets 5 and misses 5 (ie, they have 5 fails)
- Stability rating – ESET scores a SOLID in each test – and PCMatic scores FAIR
- RAP Score – the score that PCMatic even says they get 30% more than their competitors – ESET consistently scores 80-91% – PCMatic scores high 80’s to 92%. Does that look like a 30% higher score for PCMatic than their competitors? It doesn’t look that way to us.
Summary:
ESET products have received solid VB100 awards since the start of testing by VirusBulletin – PCMatic has a spotty test result – failing about 50% of the tests (mostly for false positives).
ESET is a solid and stable product – PCMatic is rated ‘fair’ – not exactly ‘SOLID’.
PCMatic makes wild claims about their performance vs the competition – ESET is quiet and goes about the business of building better solutions in a low-key way.
Have you come to realize why we don’t sell PCMatic at all?? We think the choice is clear…