CNET Rating: 6 out of 10  

The good: Checks incoming e-mail for viruses; relatively inexpensive.

The bad: Can't delete a virus before it reaches your in-box; doesn't support scheduling of virus scans; complicated interface; mixed performance in lab tests.

The bottom line:  NOD32 offered mixed virus-stopping performance and its half-implemented feature set keeps us from recommending this over Norton AntiVirus 2002.

NOD32 aspires to be an affordable, full-featured antivirus utility, and it succeeds to a certain degree. However, an overly complicated interface, some half-baked features, and its mixed results in our Labs' tests keep it from our recommended list. Stick with Norton AntiVirus 2002, our Editors' Choice, or our underdog champion, Norman Virus Control 5.0.

A Troika Of Desktop Icons
We'd prefer to have an integrated interface in NOD32; it's confusing to search through its many mini applications, not to mention the space they take up in the system tray. When you install NOD32, it places three different icons in the system tray: Amon, which performs on-the-fly virus checking of the files you access; the NOD32 Control Center, which lets you schedule virus definition updates via the Internet; and the POP3 mail scanner, which checks incoming mail for viruses. As if that weren't enough, there's also a separate NOD32 application, launched from the Start menu, that scans the files on your hard drive for viruses.

The POP3 mail scanner checks incoming mail for viruses, but it doesn't block infected messages from your in-box. It just notifies you that it found a virus; you're left to delete the message on your own. The whole process gets annoying, actually, since the separate Amon antivirus monitor will, in many cases, pop up again when you select infected e-mail, but it still won't delete the virus. NOD32's convoluted method may protect you in the long run, but we prefer the Norton AntiVirus 2002 approach; Norton deletes viruses before they reach your in-box. Also disappointing: you must initiate virus scans manually because the software doesn't let you schedule scans.

Mixed Lab Results
Cosmetic issues aside, NOD32 failed to detect several viruses and virus simulations in our lab tests. For example, it couldn't even detect Kakworm-infected e-mail within a mailbox file when we manually scanned the entire file. Most antivirus software can at least detect a virus there, though most apps make you ferret out and delete the message, as McAfee VirusScan 6.0 does. NOD32 also failed to find simulated viruses in the Rosenthal test, which simulates viruslike activity in an attempt to check virus software's heuristics, or the ability to use general characteristics to catch new, unidentified viruses.

But NOD32's track record with the 200 or so circulating wild viruses tops the charts. In our tests, we also check how well an antivirus program handles the current viruses in the WildList as an indicator of a program's performance. And Virus Bulletin's 100% Award, handed out only to programs that spot every virus making the rounds, shows that NOD32 performs as well as Norton AntiVirus.

To test NOD32's disinfecting power, we infected a system with the Gibe worm. The Amon real-time monitor immediately found the virus running in system memory, deleted it, and removed Registry entries that would have launched the virus at start-up. However, NOD32 left a few virus-created files in the Windows directory and deleted them only after we ran a manual scan of the hard drive.

Limited Tech Support
NOD32 is reasonably priced at US$39 for the first year for a single user and US$27.50 for each year thereafter. NOD32 offers only e-mail support. The company's Web site offers information on the latest viruses as well as helpful FAQs and additional documentation in PDF format.

Despite its low cost, a clumsy interface and a mixed score in our Labs' tests sink this app. If you're looking for an antivirus underdog, look to F-Secure Anti-Virus Personal Edition, which caught all the viruses in our tests, or Norman Virus Control 5.0, which sports a much more polished interface.

Norman Virus Control 5.0