Intego vs ESET: Which antivirus is better in 2022?

I installed the Intego VirusBarrier X9 package coupled with NetBarrier (version 10.9.20). I did this because I'd experienced some odd behavior from my MacBook Pro (Mojave, 10.14.6, Mid 2015). To make matters worse, I experienced some nasty ID Theft and other hits. Not fun. At first, it was very helpful. I liked the interface a whole lot better than anything Symantec provided. I've used Symantec products since 1988. Moving wasn't an easy decision but I'd read some encouraging reviews. The price helped as well. In the beginning, I didn't experience any problems; however, I hooked up an old external hard-drive and discovered a couple of infected files & applications. VirusBarrier did a great job fixing the files—I ended up deleting them anyway (they were really old) but it certainly lived up to its promises. The files/applications in question were quite old (at least 15-years) so no tears were shed. ...and then, strange problems started up... Like all virus checking programs, it scans archives; however, it doesn't provide much comfort when dozens of DMG's and other installers start showing up. Most especially those built by Google. And these drives and installers showed up daily. It had me completely worried that someone had accessed my machine remotely and was copying files to send out at some interval. A couple of the DMG's were ones I'd downloaded on purpose (GPG, accounting applications, games I wanted to try, etc.). These DMG's showing up on my desktop or the Finder sidebar only made my worries increase. After much debate, I deleted everything Google from my machine as well as the other installation DMG's, etc. Every time a device showed up through the Finder OR through Disk Utility, I did a search for where this item existed via "Show in Finder" and deleted the device after un-mounting or ejecting it... to no avail. There were even ghost images that showed up of things I'd deleted. I found strange archives, temp drives, etc. that showed up regularly. I decided to turn off my WiFi connection from the MacBook whenever I wasn't using the machine: didn't change any of the behavior. I checked all my links to my Comcast network: the modem, my TimeCapsule router, my MacBook Pro, any and all external hard-drives, thumb drives, and even my TimeCapsule backups. It Took Forever. Was it worth it? Well: no. The problem continued to frustrate me. I changed passwords everywhere because I didn't want to take any chances. I utilized TOR Browser, the duckduckgo search engine (specifically their onion site), and went to password generator sites (Dashlane) create baffling passwords up to 33 characters in length for most every on-line account, my computer, my router, my modem... everything. The problem never abated. I'm not a newbie to UNIX so I did a LOT of investigating through both the command line & through various applications to figure things out. I looked up system calls, error messages, I've just about become a master. I finally opened a ticket. Suffice it to say: they weren't very receptive. Only after I threatened to review them openly and demand satisfaction for the money I spent on their application suite did they finally take a look at all my amassed data. They even had me download one of their in-house applications to record issues. After two months (I had to demand updates), I was told this was a bug and it would be corrected with the next revision released for Catalina. I was told that this would continue until I upgraded. Not Good Enough. In the meantime, they told me I could fully reinstall Mojave, my apps, etc. to see if the problems ceased. Not Good Enough. The other option was to disable scanning archives. NOT a good idea whatsoever. I like the product. I like the interface, building specialized scans is easy (even though they say you don't have to), and the options are very helpful. It scans all the time, monitors my browsers, checks any downloaded applications, DGM's, archives, you name it. My computer doesn't slow down as much as it did under Symantec's lethargic scans. I like the NetBarrier application as well. Much better than anything I'd used in the past. Both applications and methodologies are superior outside of what I've experienced via customer service, etc. I don't like frustrating support techs that dismiss my dilemma. I don't appreciate being "on-hold" for a long duration begging for updates. I don't appreciate having to demand satisfaction from a company that's been in business for practically as long as I've operated computers. What am I doing now? I'm working on a plan to change out my network equipment (not cheap), set up a NAS, rebuild my laptop, iPhone, and iPad, install GPG, etc. I plan on installing the Intego products immediately and scanning everything (again) to ensure something hasn't compromised the existing installation sending false positives. Am I overreacting? Yes. What would you do in light of ID Theft, burglary, fraud, compromised banks, strange transactions, and strange computer behavior?

so...I have just get here few weeks ago and now getting back to leave a comment because I got Intego only after I read this review. It really convinced me that my macbook needs protection. Wasn't wrong though... ran some scans and was totally shocked to find out that my device is infected... :(

I still believe that Intego is one of the best antiviruses out there for my iMac. I mean come on... they even designed it to fit the interface of iOS! I got it about 3 months ago.... straight away it caught 4 warms and a spy cookie!!! can you imagine?

ESET May be good antivirus but absolutely the worst customer service I have ever seen. I tried to renew on several occasions my license which was rejected. The website claimed to have the wrong expiration date on CC but it ended up on my Card. I spent 6 hours on the phone waiting to speak to someone. I left numerous messages to be called back Finally I spoke to someone and took care of all. They said they were short staffed. Only three working for such a big company. I did receive two emails from an Emily Thompson from lead development. This was her response “ Good afternoon Sam, I appreciate you letting me know. Have a great afternoon, Emily Thompson Lead Development Assistant ESET North America That’s the response after 6 hrs wait time and ten emails to solve my renewal. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a technical issue. Not happy at all. As a physician, I have more important things to do these days than wait in phone or send emails to ESET

It is relatively inexpensive as compared to most of the other antivirus solution and also doesn’t consumes too much of CPU power while running in the background. Well, for a casual user like myself it seems enough.

I have been using it for many years and never had any problems. I don't visit suspicious sites though... that might be the case LOL