SAN DIEGO -- In an ongoing battle between performance and protection, the following scenario plays out every day around the world: "Jeremy" has invested thousands of dollars optimizing his PC to ensure maximum performance on his favorite games. He has found that his antivirus solution makes his system sluggish, hindering his play. He turns off his antivirus protection so his experience will not be affected, and settles in for competition against his virtual opponents. During play, he receives an instant message and clicks a link that immediately infects his system. Game over.

Today's online world is fraught with malware attacks and this scenario plays itself out for the tens of thousands of gamers who compromise their computer systems and personal information by not running an anti-malware solution. ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, and Matrix Games, a computer and video games developer, have teamed up to reverse this disturbing trend. The strategic alliance will provide gamers with an automatic download of a free 30-day trial of ESET NOD32 software with the purchase of select Matrix Games.

CEO David Heath of Matrix Games said, "I spend a lot of time on my PC, be it for work or play. As a businessman and a gamer, AV software can be as much trouble as helpful in protecting my PC. Most antivirus packages can cause all kinds of issues with PC programs, including massive PC slow downs, game lock-ups, and large memory usage, causing problems with installing new software.

ESET