NOD32 The acronym NOD stands for
Nemocnica na Okraji Disku ("Hospital at the
end of the disk"), a pun related to the
Czechoslovak medical drama series
Nemocnice na kraji města (
Hospital at the End of the City). The first version of NOD32 called NOD-ICE was a
DOS-based program. It was created in 1987 by Miroslav Trnka and Peter Paško at the time when
computer viruses started to become increasingly prevalent on PCs running DOS. Due to the limitations of the OS (lack of
multitasking among others) it didn't feature any on-demand/on-access protection nor most of the other features of the current versions. Besides the virus scanning and cleaning functionality it only featured heuristic analysis. With the increasing popularity of the Windows environment, advent of
32-bit CPUs, a shift in the PC market and increasing popularity of the Internet came the need for a completely different antivirus approach as well. Thus the original program was re-written and christened "NOD32" to emphasize both the radical shift from the previous version and its
Win32 system compatibility. Initially the program gained popularity with IT workers in Eastern European countries, as
ESET was based in Slovakia. Though the program's abbreviation was originally pronounced as individual letters, the worldwide use of the program led to the more common single-word pronunciation, sounding like the English word
nod. Additionally, the "32" portion of the name was added with the release of a
32-bit version in the
Windows 9x era. The company reached its 10000th update to virus definitions on June 25, 2014.
Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange Server On March 10, 2010 ESET released ESET Mail Security for
Microsoft Exchange Server, which contains both antimalware and
antispam modules. It supports Microsoft Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2010.
Mobile Security ESET Mobile Security is the replacement for ESET Mobile Antivirus, which provided anti-malware and antispam functionality. ESET Mobile Security contains all the features of the older product and adds new anti-theft features such as SIM locking and remote wipe as well as a security audit and a firewall. Versions for
Windows Mobile and
Symbian OS were available as of September 2010, for both home and enterprise users.
Remote Administrator ESET Remote Administrator is a central management console designed to allow network administrators to manage ESET software across a corporate network.
Smart Security On November 5, 2007, ESET released an Internet security suite,
ESET Smart Security version 3.0, to compete with other security suites by other companies such as
McAfee,
Symantec,
AVG and
Kaspersky. ESET Smart Security incorporates anti-spam and a bidirectional firewall along with traditional anti-malware features of ESET NOD32 Antivirus. On March 2, 2009, ESET Smart Security version 4.0 was released, adding integration of ESET SysInspector; support for
Mozilla Thunderbird and
Windows Live Mail; a new self-defense module, an updated firewall module, ESET SysRescue and a wizard for creating bootable CD and USB flash drives. There were initially compatibility problems between ESET Smart Security 4.0 and
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 but these were remedied by an update. On August 17, 2010, ESET Smart Security version 4.2 was released with new features, enhancements and changes. On September 14, 2011, ESET Smart Security version 5.0 was released. On January 15, 2013, ESET Smart Security version 6.0 was released. This version included Anti-Theft feature for tracking of lost, misplaced or stolen laptop. On October 16, 2013, ESET Smart Security version 7.0 was released. It offers enhanced operation memory scanning and blocks misuses of known exploits. On October 2, 2014, ESET Smart Security version 8.0 was released. It adds exploit blocking for
Java and
botnet protection. On October 13, 2015, ESET Smart Security version 9.0 was released.
Post-2015 Developments ESET Smart Security was replaced by
ESET HOME Security Premium, which retained all features of Smart Security Premium while adding new enhancements. Existing subscriptions remained functional until expiration. The latest version of ESET Smart Security Premium (under the ESET HOME umbrella) is 18.2.17.0, released on August 14, 2025. It includes Microphone Monitor alerting users when applications access the microphone, Ransomware Remediation to help recover files encrypted by ransomware, and Enhanced Browser Protection to safeguard browser user profiles from data theft.
SysInspector ESET SysInspector is a diagnostic tool which allows in-depth analysis of various aspects of the operating system, including running processes, registry content, startup items and network connections. Anti-Stealth Technology is used to discover hidden objects (rootkits) in the
Master Boot Record, boot sector, registry entries, drivers, services and processes. SysInspector Logs are standard XML files and can be submitted to IT experts for further analysis. Two logs can be compared to find a set of items not common to both logs. A log file can be saved as a service script for removing malicious objects from a computer.
SysRescue Live ESET SysRescue Live is a Linux-based bootable
Live CD/USB image that can be used to boot and clean heavily infected computers independent of the installed operating system. The program is offered free of charge, and can download updates if a network connection is present.
Other programs ESET has released free standalone removers for malware when they are widespread, such as
Mebroot. ==Development==