NANO Antivirus Review 2024: Is It Worth Installing?

NANO Antivirus is a solid solution, featuring a pretty decent malware scanner that updates with new definitions every 4 hours, ensuring it stays up to speed with modern threats. It’s also light on system resources and comes with a beginner-friendly UI.

You can control every aspect of the scanner, including which file extensions it scans for and what parts of your system it checks. It performed well in my tests, catching more threats than Windows Defender. I particularly liked that I could tweak where my notifications appeared when it detected viruses. I also appreciated the game mode, which turns off notifications during scans.

However, a few drawbacks keep NANO from being one of my top picks. The main issue is that it doesn’t offer many extra features. While it includes some web protection, it isn’t as powerful as that of many top competitors. And unlike Norton, it lacks advanced features like a VPN, dark web monitoring, or a smart firewall to block online threats.

Irrespective of these limitations, NANO Antivirus Pro is reliable at beating online threats and has unique, affordable subscription options. It comes with a risk-free 30-day free trial you can use to make sure it works for you before buying it.

NANO Antivirus Full Review — Highly Customizable Malware Scanner (But Not Many Extras)

NANO Antivirus Pro offers a powerful and highly customizable malware scanner. It scored very well during all of my tests, beating trojans, worms, ransomware, and all sorts of viruses. Its scans are fast and thorough, and you can fine-tune nearly every aspect, down to what file formats it looks for.

But at the same time, NANO Pro doesn’t offer enough extra tools to stand out. It lacks a VPN, a firewall, dark web monitoring, and a lot of other tools that top antiviruses like Norton include. Still, if you just need an effective malware scanner, it’s a reliable pick.

NANO Antivirus Plans & Pricing — Unique Pricing Model (With Coverage for up to 1,000 Days)

NANO Antivirus offers 2 plans: NANO Antivirus Free and NANO Antivirus Pro. The Free plan only comes with a stripped-down version of the malware scanner and real-time protection, while the Pro plan comes with all of NANO’s features and 1 device license for $1.20 / month — with options for more, which I’ll explain shortly.

The way NANO handles subscriptions and device licenses is strange and somewhat unconventional. Rather than standard subscription terms, you can pick up NANO for 30 days, 100 days, 200 days, 300 days, 500 days, or up to 1,000 days. There is no way to get annual plans, though the 1,000-day plan is a pretty good deal.

The unconventional part is how it handles device licenses. Adding more devices essentially divides your subscription time across them. For example, if you have a 100-day subscription and you need to cover 2 computers, your subscription will last 50 days per device.

Despite the unusual pricing, NANO Antivirus Pro is quite budget-friendly. You can try it out by taking advantage of its 30-day free trial. However, it doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee.

NANO Antivirus Security Features — Excellent Malware Scanner + Effective Real-Time Protection

NANO Antivirus provides an excellent scanner. It adds new virus definitions to its malware database every four hours, keeping it constantly updated with the latest online threats. It’s light on system resources as well — I noticed no slowdown during full scans, even on my older laptop.

NANO gives you the option between full scans, which search every file on your computer, and express scans, which quickly target the most important areas of your system. When I put it to the test, a full scan took about an hour and detected the vast majority of my malware samples, including several that Windows Defender failed to catch. That said, it failed to reach the 100% malware detection rating that top tier options like Norton and Bitdefender meet.

You can also fine-tune every aspect of your scans, including only scanning specific file extensions, setting the nesting level, and scanning NTFS streams. These options might be overwhelming for beginners, so unless you’re a more advanced user, I’d recommend leaving the default settings. And that’s okay, because NANO works perfectly well “out of the box”.

The real-time protection is also fairly effective. It performed better than Windows’ built-in protection, though just like the malware scanner, it fell short of Norton’s perfect detection rating. I like how it comes with a detailed event log you can use to see what viruses it’s caught.

NANO Pro also comes with web protections that monitor emails you open and websites you visit for threats. It didn’t perform particularly well in my tests, and blocked fewer phishing websites than Chrome’s built-in protection did. Additionally, it lacks customization options, such as creating whitelists or managing blocked sites.

NANO offers a handful of other features, including a game mode that blocks notifications during gaming sessions, and the ability to scan removable media for infections. While these features perform well, there aren’t enough of them to call NANO a well-rounded antivirus suite.

Overall, the malware scanner is effective and gives you a lot of control over your scans. Although it’s a little light on features and the web protection could be better, NANO remains a reliable antivirus choice.

NANO Antivirus Ease of Use & Setup — Intuitive & Highly Customizable User Interface

NANO is a very easy-to-use antivirus. I particularly liked the UI. It’s highly intuitive and easy to find any feature. From the homepage, you can click on tabs to view different categories of features, such as Actions, System Guard, and Settings. Click on a tab to see more options.

My favorite aspect of the UI was the customization options. NANO Pro lets you tweak where notifications pop up on your screen, your default desktop position, and the sound effects. Not many antiviruses let you customize the UI, so I’m happy to see that included.

The installation process is arguably the most cumbersome part, mainly because it takes a while. There were only a few prompts to click on, but the installation took about 20 minutes. For comparison, antiviruses like Norton and Bitdefender take less than five minutes to install.

My other gripe is that some options aren’t beginner-friendly, and there are no in-app explanations. For example, if you don’t know what it means to scan an NTFS stream, you won’t find any answers within the app.

NANO Antivirus Customer Support — Detailed FAQs + User Manual (But Basic Email Support)

NANO doesn’t have a ton of customer support options, but I really like what it does offer. It comes with a detailed FAQ section, a user manual, and fairly basic email support.

The FAQ section contains several dozen questions, each with a fleshed-out answer. Many of the FAQ entries include links to additional information if the provided answer isn’t sufficient. I’d like to see a better format for jumping to specific questions or topics, but that’s my biggest gripe.

The user manual opens up a separate PDF that covers everything you need to know about NANO, including setting up scan schedules, what to do with quarantined files, what the various settings mean, and more.

The email support is nothing special, but the support team is responsive and informative. I asked a few questions, and they politely responded to each one within a day.

That said, I’d like to see real-time support options. A live chat or phone support would be more helpful for addressing immediate concerns. Even a chatbot would be useful for finding specific information in the manual or FAQ section.

Overall, though, NANO’s customer support is pretty good. It doesn’t have live chat options like Norton or other top competitors, but its FAQ section and manuals are full of useful information that should cover most problems you run into.

Is NANO Antivirus Worth Installing?

NANO Antivirus Pro is worth trying — and not just because it offers a 30-day free trial. NANO Pro isn’t the most comprehensive security package out there, but it provides a powerful and highly customizable malware scanner that’s mostly beginner-friendly and easy to use.

The scanner caught the vast majority of malware samples during my tests, achieving high marks by using a massive malware directory that updates every 4 hours with new virus definitions. It lets you schedule scans, and search for specific extensions, folders, and files on your computer — and it contains a ton of customization options on top of that. The real-time protection is equally impressive and scored well in my testing.

NANO Pro’s biggest drawback is that it doesn’t come with too much else. There’s a game mode that stops NANO from sending notifications during gaming sessions, and customization options for more UI elements than the average antivirus, but nothing else that makes it competitive.

Top antiviruses like Norton come with firewalls for increased network protection, data breach monitoring to make sure you’re not the victim of a breach, parental controls to manage your child’s online activity, and a lot more. NANO Pro lacks all of these features.

But if you just need a simple but effective malware scanner that gives you a ton of customization options, NANO is great. As mentioned, you can try it out risk-free for 30 days before committing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is NANO Antivirus Pro free?

NANO Antivirus Pro isn’t free, but NANO does have a free plan. It includes a basic version of NANO Pro’s malware scanner, missing many of the customization options. Unlike many free antiviruses, NANO Free offers real-time protection. That said, there are better free antiviruses out there, but having real-time protection at least means NANO can protect you from most online threats.

What extra features does NANO Pro come with?

Most of NANO Pro’s extra features focus on improving the quality of its malware scanner. It offers console scanning, a customizable UI, and a game mode that stops it from demanding system resources while you game.

However, it doesn’t come with any of the extra security tools that top antiviruses come with. NANO Pro lacks a VPN, a firewall, dark web monitoring, parental controls, or any other extras that come included in top antiviruses like Norton or Bitdefender.

Is NANO Antivirus Pro safe?

Yes, but I hesitate to call it comprehensive security. NANO Pro can protect you against all types of malware, including ransomware and trojans, but it doesn’t come with any extra security tools you might need, like a firewall or a VPN.

If you’re looking for comprehensive protection, Norton is a better option since it protects you from network threats, phishing scams, data breaches, and a lot more. That said, if you’re just looking for affordable and effective malware protection, NANO Antivirus Pro works great.