ESET NOD32 and Smart Security 7 betas released

ESET has unveiled the first public betas of its NOD32 Antivirus 7 and Smart Security 7 products.

The Smart Security suite now includes a Vulnerability Shield to better protect your PC from known network issues, while its Anti-Theft service gains the ability to track what’s happening on your stolen hardware via regular screen captures.

Both packages now include an advanced memory scanner which checks an application image in RAM, so bypassing many of the tricks malware might use to hide its real code.

A new Device Control module builds on the previous Removable Media functionality, allowing you to take complete control over the ways your users can access and work with any given device type.

The Antiphishing module now blocks scam sites, and allows feedback (both reporting of suspect sites and false positives) from users.

Improved compatibility means both packages are now fully compatible with Windows 8, while the mail plugin supports Windows Live Mail and Office 2013.

Perhaps best of all, ESET are running a contest where they’re offering 100 free licenses a week between June 11 and July 11, 2013 (500 in total). And this isn’t the usual kind of beta testing contest, either, where you have to submit 250 lengthy bug reports to stand the faintest chance of winning anything: just installing Smart Security 7 is enough (see the details on the ESET site).

If you don’t have time to install NOD32 Antivirus 7 or Smart Security 7 right now, though, that’s not a problem, there’s plenty of time for testing: the current builds don’t expire until the end of October 2013.