The security software market is flooded with products. Consumers not only have to cope with dozens of companies, but also with multiple products offered by the same company. The majority of companies offer two or three different security programs that are updated every year.
With different security products available, consumers face the problem that they have to evaluate what type of protections their computer actually needs. Even worse, picking the wrong program can leave the computer open for attacks.
Most vendors produce a basic antivirus protection product that protects and removes malicious software from the computer. The programs usually are bare-bones otherwise with little or even no extra features or protections.
Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 Review
If you look at the feature set of Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 you will notice that it comes equipped with a set of tools usually not found in antivirus software. A quick look at the product page over at the Panda Security website reveals that it ships with a personal firewall, a browser sandbox and several other tools usually not found in antivirus products.
Adding a firewall to the product makes sense from a customer perspective considering that many install only one security product on their system. For Panda, it is a way to distinguish their product from other vendors.
Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 users can install the firewall during installation, or later in the program interface. The program furthermore warns during installation if incompatible software is found on the system. This was the case with a Microsoft Security Essentials installation on the test system.
The program opens up in a dark, functional theme that displays the most important status information right there. Users see if the protections are working correctly, the last time of update as well as scan and detection information. A click on a security module, like firewall, leads directly to the preferences of the selected module.
The main screen links to additional modules near the bottom of the screen. This includes built-in tools like network management or the virtual keyboard, and programs that need to be installed first like the sandboxing component Safe Browser or USB Vaccine.
Protection
It is difficulty to assess the efficiency of antivirus protection. While it is without doubt possible to assess a program’s handling of known threats, it becomes virtually impossible to see how it fares with unknown threats. Still test results can act as indicators of a program’s efficiency in this regard.
AV-Comparatives Retroperspective Test of May 2011 saw Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 (the program’s direct successor) complete the test in fifth place with an advanced certification rating (the second highest). Only two programs, Avira Antivir Premium 10 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 received the highest rating of Advanced Plus.
AV-Test did not test Panda Antivirus Pro, only Panda Internet Security 2012. The program scored 15.5 out of 18 points, only topped by Bitdefender with a score of 16.5 out of 18.
Other reviewers, like Pc Mag’s Neil J. Rubenking came to the conclusion that Panda’s detection rate was better than its malware removal rate.
Reports
Reports are one of the strengths of Panda Antivirus Pro 2012. A click on the reports tab opens a menu with options to display event reports, and to display statistics and advanced statistics.
The event report is the program’s history log. Updates, malware detections and actions are displayed here in a table. Options to find, filter, print, export and delete entries are available. Panda users can use the information presented here to find out at first glance what happened security wise on their computer at a specific data and time.
The statistics and advanced statistics module display information about a certain time frame. Information include the program’s scanners but also network attacks blocked by the firewall.
Tips
First thing that new Panda users should do is to download Panda Safe CD from the official website. This is a recovery CD that the computer can be booted from when malware has damaged the system.
Another interesting find is that Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 can be installed and run in Safe Mode. Safe Mode is a bare bones mode of the operating system that prevents the majority of installed software and even some system components from being started with the operating system.
Safe Browser, included as a download link in the interface, is actually a standalone program that everyone can download and run. It consists of a version of the Firefox web browser running inside VirtualBox. The sandboxed environment ensures that attacks against the browser are blocked from reaching the operating system. The solution concentrates on one browser, products by other vendors allow the user to sandbox any program.
Warnings can be configured in the program preferences. Here you can enable or disable warnings for specific events.
Cpu load management can be enabled in the preferences as well. That’s especially interesting for slower systems that notice slow downs during scans. Enabling the option reduces the product’s cpu usage during scans.
Verdict
Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 ships with a lot of extras, like the aforementioned firewall component. Some components, Safe Browser and USB Vaccine, are standalone programs and not integrated into the product. More important than the module a security software ships with is how well it protects the operating system from threats and attacks. For Panda that ranged from top results to average results at best.
Giveaway
Panda Security has sponsored 10 Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 licenses. You can win a license by leaving a comment below. Please include your current security software setup in the comment.
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Wow, it seems Panda has been improved vastly from last time. Really want to give it a go againg. I’m currently using NOD32 Antivirus for my desktop now.
My current setup
Antivirus + Antimalware : Avast Free Edition & Malwarebytes Antimalware Free Edition
Malicious Website Blocker : Custom hosts file + Avast Web Advisor
Anti Keylogger : Key Scrambler Personal Free Edition (Firefox only)…. :(
Good chanche to try a new version of this product ;)
I’m currently using AVIRA Antivirus for my desktop now.
I’m using windows XP. I don’t have any security software on my computer. No antivirus. No firewall.
My current security setup is ESET NOD32 4, I’m curious about Panda capability if compared to ESET.
Thank you for having chance to get a new version of this product ;)
I’m currently using AVIRA Antivirus now.
Currently using ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5. Panda looks promising.
Another great chance to win a license. I used the 3 months license I was very impressed with what it does. I hope to win a full license this time from you.
Thanks
Looks really good, always wanted to try panda out, pretty good reputation. I’m using avast free.
Thanks for the giveaway, I’ve used mostly kaspersky and bitdefender, but i tried the free edition “Panda Cloud” and it was really nice and simple,
Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 seems robust, please count me in.
I am using MSE at the moment. really want to try Panda Antivirus Pro 2012
I am using “Microsoft Security Essentials” at present. Had panda 1 year license which expired some time back.
I’ve been relying on Microsoft Security Essentials since I switched to Windows 7.
well,I think it`s usefull!
At this time I have Clam AV. I didn’t tought Panda would make such a good score.
Panda antivirus is a good security program. Panda improve each year. Act quickly and effectively. It also has a cool appearance. Useful to me. Now I use Comodo Antivirus.
Panda AV Pro 2012 is a very good security software. Currently I use the following:
PC 1 – Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6 + Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall Premium 5
PC 2 – Eset NOD 32 AV 5 + Comodo Firewall 5 ( firewall, Defense +, sandbox )
Thanks for this giveaway
Hi,
I currently use the free Avast 2011 solution with minimal settings, just basic AV. Count me in for the Giveaway. Thanks.
Thanks for this Giveaway.Please count me in.
I am currently using Kaspersky Internet Security +SAS pro.
The best AV! Please…
Great giveaway, count me in. My current setup is McAfee IS with Emsisoft
Thanks
Thanks for the review. Currently I’m using Microsoft Security Essentials, but that’s mainly because of the many options out there and not really sure which of the paid options would be better.
I tried Kaspersky Internet Security, which worked well, but found the tweaking for some games was more difficult than expected. (in the end some games had to have firewall completely turned off). Bit Defender was another I tried and chose because of the game mode, which was great – but some of the free games that have their one anit-hack programs appeared to conflict with BitDefender – and it seemed to always display that it was disabled and if it did not come back to reboot with the second option to reinstall. (version 2009, 2011 seemed to conflict with more of the games). I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no one perfect AV / Internet security application, the trick is to find one that fills most of your security needs and be aware of areas where you may be exposed.
Thanks again for the write up. You’ve now added another potential AV solution to my list to consider. MSE works, but I do want to get back to a paid AV product.
Great giveaway this renewed and improved Panda antivilrus product. Hopefully I win.
Hey, I’m still using the Kaspersky Pure that I won last year! But it only has exactly 30 days left in its license. It would be great to replace it with Panda AV. :-)
i use avast free. thanks for this very nice giveaway and for very good software!
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Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 seems to be a very interesting security software. At the moment I am only using Microsoft Security Essentials. Because I already had some problems with this setup (2 virus infections), a additional virus scanner would be very helpful…
I use Panda cloud antivirus. It is lightweight and unobstrusive and serves my purpose but a full Panda Antivirus Pro license would be something!
Well I am using Microsoft security essential right now, but I hope to use Panda. So please Count me in.
I pray to God, and Martin to get Kaspersky Internet Security 2012!
I think Kaspersky is the best gift for Christmas!
Thanks for this Giveaway.Please count me in.
I ‘m using Avira AntiVirus Premium,now.