Panda Cloudbased Free Antiviurs

[JonathanT]

Panda introduces cloud-based free antivirus. It's available in beta here.

[MidnightCowboy]

Thanks for the link - I've been following this already and it seems to be very interesting. Panda have a lot of respect within the security software sector and rightly so. I maybe have a few doubts (although probably unfounded) about how effective the "cache" protection might be while off-line, but with something like a-squared installed to use on demand there really shouldn't be a problem anyway.

I definitely intend to run this and will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

[MidnightCowboy]

What we do know:
Panda is a highly respected member of the PC security community
They've spent almost three years and a lot of money developing this software

What we don't know:
If it works

Well, having spread comments all over the web about there being no such thing as a "set-and-forget" security solution I now see that Panda have released one! So, I though I'd better try it out.

This is truly a minimalist's dream!

Installation was simple and straightforward. Configuration choices thereafter are zero unless you want to opt out of the automatic management feature or have a proxy. It isn't advisable to disable the auto management because this will also prevent information being transmitted and added to the "Collective Intelligence" network. No doubt Panda sift other information from your PC in the process but if the system works then I don't mind them having it.

One interesting feature on the GUI is the separation of any malware found into 9 groups. One of these is tracking cookies so a simple effectiveness test would be to scan with a-squared, clear out what you have, do a Panda scan after a few days then repeat with a-squared to see if there's any difference.

It does need an internet connection to be fully effective although a caching system provides a slightly lower protection level otherwise. For the majority of users this is never going to be an issue.

On this machine there was no noticeable impact on system performance of any kind. Scan time was 14 minutes and average memory use is running at just under 18MB.

My firewall informs me that Panda initiates several connections at seemingly random intervals but only one or maybe two are ever established at any one time.

Oh, and if you're really bursting to push a button, there is an events report feature.

Time as always will prove or not the effectiveness of Panda's new venture but if it works this could send the signature scanners as we know them to dinosaur land.

[prairie dog]

Thanks for the review MC. I am REALLY interested in this, but want to give it awhile to see if there are any bugs. Im not savy enough to mess around with beta's and also need thid PC for work.

Please keep us informed with any issues you may come across. Thanks!

[MidnightCowboy]

This wasn't really a review as I've done no real testing at all in terms of detection effectiveness. In any case JonathanT is much better at AV's than I am! This was just my observations having loaded it and messed around for a few hours because it's raining and I've got no customers!

That said I'm pleased you found the information useful and I will update the post.

I've just swapped the PC with Panda on to become my main internet machine and I'll leave it like this for at least a week. Tomorrow, if what I've read materializes there will be an Rc2 V3.9beta of CIS hitting the Comodo forum so I might disable the AV on that and run it with Panda for a while. This combo should serve to highlight any compatibility issues with either one and I'll keep everyone posted on that too.

You certainly have to see the Panda GUI to believe it. I keep thinking there's
a couple of windows I've missed somewhere!
Attachment 86

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[wdhpr]

lol
Hope we don't see a smoldering heap of ashe's

[prairie dog]

I ended up installing Panda on an old computer of mine running xp sp3. no other security sofware except windows firewall and a couple on demand scanners (MBAM and SAS). Download was quick and easy and the first scan went smoothly. So far no issues but have only been running for a few hours. Will update if any issues arise. I like what I see so far

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by wdhpr

lol
Hope we don't see a smoldering heap of ashe's

Yeah, well recently Comodo hasn't even liked working with itself let alone anything else but feedback from the beta 3.9.74913.496 has been on the whole quite encouraging, unless you're running Vista! If the Rc2 appears today I'll take a deep breath and go for it!

[tony]

I read this on Life Hacker today and was impressed. Don't know as I would go for it as yet as Avast seems to have caught everything so far whilst i have been on the Game hunt. Which I have decided it too dangerous a journey and given up. I will let someone else now take the strain of the games search across the net.

Tony

[peter]

Apparently on thr main panda site it syas"
'Once the Beta period has finished, the detection capacity of the antivirus will reduce considerably as it will no longer have access to our Collective Intelligence servers.

From then on, you can get the free version and benefit from special conditions when you buy the full service.'