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Panda Software, attempting to play with the big boys (Symantec and McAfee) in the U.S., has updated its security suite. The new offering, Panda Platinum Internet Security Suite 8.0, delivers very good virus protection, content filtering, and firewall protection, but comes up short on blocking spam and spyware.
Installing Panda is a breeze, but you do have to register the product (which means providing some personal information) to get your user name and password (and subsequent automatic updates). Pandas clean interface makes it easy to keep on top of updates and monitor your computers status.
Pandas default mode is “self-testing,” periodically checking for alerts, updates, and local problems, and displaying a dialog box in the lower right of the screen when needed. The pop-ups can be turned off or configured to show only specific information. Like McAfee VirusScan 8, Panda uses a bar graph to show the level of protection; clicking on More Information brings up the full status window. Turn off antivirus or firewall protection and the security level drops. Unlike VirusScan, Pandas status window puts the date of the last update right in immediate view.
Pandas antivirus capabilities are robust, with a daily update schedule for virus-pattern files. Scanning is fast and e-mail protection is unobtrusive. By default, Panda scans only specific files, but you can choose to have it scan all files. In our testing, Panda promptly stopped incoming viruses in .EXE or .HTA (HTML application) files, but it didnt stop Web archive (.ZL9 and .ZL7 files), because archive scanning is off by default in on-access mode. But when we attempted to open these infected files, Panda sprang into action.
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