When we say Antivirus, it means the software cleans up Viruses and prevents execution of malicious program. Along with these, Panda Antivirus PRO 2012 includes firewall protection, antispam, parental control, and more. By saying more, I mean Safe Virtualized Browser, USB Vaccine and Safe Disk.First Run
If you are using this promotional installer then, Activation Window appears from where you can choose “Try Free for 180 days“. Main Window notified me to update Virus Signature database though it was just 8 days old. Updating process took long compared to others and post-update includes reconstructing downloaded files which added to more time.
High-Tech Interface
It is dark black and looks like it should be to resemble some security research lab and divided in 5 sections. Default Status section shows the status of various components and notifies for any problem to be resolved. One click Fix for all issues like we find in other similar Security products. Other Sections of Main Window lets you access Scanning options, Reports and Services.
Full System Scan
Panda is ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs certified for virus detection and virus removal. Also, Panda has a decent Lab score on AV-Comparatives and AV-Tests for on-demand and retroactive tests and Overall usability test respectively.
On my Clean System, it took around 35 minutes to complete the full scan. Comparing to Kaspersky which does this under 25 minutes. On an infected PC, though detection was 100% but for some, Panda wasn’t able to act upon and remove.
Also, when it came to blocking malware, Panda was fair in detecting malicious download.
Firewall
This isn’t pre-installed but you can install it by clicking on Firewall on Main window. It doesn’t nags you for known programs and lets you choose whether to block or not certain program trying to access Internet.
Compared to other similar Antivirus products who do not come with Firewall, Panda offers a nice bonus which is also effective.
Safe Browser
This is again an optional component which has to be installed separately. Safe Browser lets lets you browse certain website which you think is harmful to your system in Sandbox. By Sandbox, I mean safe virtualized isolated system which won’t affect real system files.
Safe Browser is actually a modified Firefox browser running inside VirtualBox. It is quite bulky on space grabbing around 800 MB of diskspace.
Talking about effectiveness, It is linux based so, Windows targeted malware doesn’t act upon. Tool still needs some tweaking as usability is poor.
USB Vaccine
This is a bonus feature which you have to install. It can totally disable autorun for all devices and drives on your computer, thereby thwarting malware that propagates using USB drives.
The network manager displays all PCs on the network. You can blacklist any device to totally block its access to the protected PC.
Conclusion
It is quite fast, beautiful, clear, simple, quickly scans your entire computer, detects and disinfects great threat immediately, has a great and simple automatic firewall, do not slow down the Internet.
Virus Detection is good with average removal capability.
Though Safe browser is a mess, another Bonus feature- USB Vaccine is great feature.
Scanning uses a core function like many other anti-viruses and the system scan runs a little longer, but generally do not feel the same computer slow down in any way, or the Internet. I recommend.
Download Panda Antivirus PRO 2012 Free Key for 6 Months
Panda has organized a Promo for Facebook Fans which runs for 180 days. You can download it from here – AP12_Facebook.exe