Panda Review – Full Report

Panda Windows 10 Install

Let’s have a look at what Panda Internet Security installs on our system. We go down to the system tray area to see what options we have when we right click.

There is a general GUI, a virtual keyboard, a gaming and multimedia mode, the option to share some product suggestions online, support help and the ability to turn off the system. So let’s go to the global protection GUI and do a scan.

Critical Area Scan

We’ll choose the critical area scan to see how long that takes. Once started, as usual showing the current items as scanned and a running total of the number of items scanned. A scan on my standard Windows 10 system took under four minutes. We have the option to shut down the computer when we complete by checking a box, but I usually let it complete the scan and immediately review the outcome. As I’m using a clean system, I’m not expecting any detections.

Panda Feature Set

Let’s look at the other options.
The other options include:
Protecting more devices so we can protect Android, Mac, and iOS devices. Details of what products we have can be entered into my account online, and then we can enter an activation code into the device.
A PC tuneup option can clean up free space. We will see how it goes with looking at the system, Internet Explorer, MS Edge, and Google Chrome. After looking mainly at the recycle bins, temporary files and registry files in the system, and temporary Internet files for the other systems the Panda PC Clean-up function says there 40 gigs of temporary files we can provide for removal. However, when the Clean-up completed, I see it’s freed up 4 gigs of space not the 40 gig promised us. Since it reports we have 37 gigs of recoverable space, I’ll let it try again although I expect to recover nothing. After running, it did indeed not free up any space, so I see this misreporting as a negative for Panda.

There are many options it gives us when we look over the drop-down menu on the front console. You see items for antivirus, firewall, process monitor, USB protection, Wi-Fi protection, a rescue feature, parental controls, data shield, application controls, PC tuneup, online backup, ana antitheft.

Personal Information Security

There are tools available which are a virtual keyboard, a file shredder, a file encryptor, password management, and purchasing more protection from their store.

Additional Purchase Options

Regarding the option to buy more protection for more devices, the costs for this seem high compared to competitors’ offerings such as the almost unlimited protection in McAfee’s offerings.
Parental control gives the menu options of turning parental controls on, denying websites, and viewing a list of sites visited. You can set up multiple users for fine-tuning control.
Now see what they’re offering for online backup. The offering has a free option at mozy.com of 2 gig so it’s a working with a third-party provider rather than doing it in-house. You can purchase more backup as needed.

Recommendation

Panda scores well in real-world protection tests. Use quick scanning most of the time. The pricing options for extra devices seems more expensive than for some competitors.

McAfee Internet Security is great for home use to protect multiple devices as it has a generous multi-device protection.