Panda Antivirus and Firewall Review

 
Panda Security Firewall and Antivirus 

PC Security software licensed for home networks.

Reviewer: Chris Kaminski 

Date: Sep 10, 2006 
(trial download links below)

Summary: 
Panda Firewall and Antivirus can be installed on three computers on your home network for only $49.99. The ‘fee’ software is fast, easy to operate and has a small memory footprint. It’s now what – I run on my home network.

Security software licensing for my home network was getting expensive. Between my three main computers I was spending almost $200 a year. I had a mish-mash of software providing firewall and aintivirus protection, each with their own licensing and expiration dates. This had to change.

I went – on a search for a single vendor that could provide me with inexpensive licensing for multiple computers. I didn’t want a huge bloated security suite that slowed my computer up and I especially did not – want to pay $150-$200 a year like I had been. What I found was Panda Security.

I was first turned on to Panda because of their generous licensing system. For $50 I could install their Firewall+Antivirus on three computers. If you only need the AntiVirus the cost is only $30 for two computers.

Panda also has a full ‘Internet Security’ package for $79.95 that includes Parental Control as well as the other features. Here is a summary of the features.

	Antivirus	Antivirus + Firewall	Internet Security
Trial
Purchase Price	$29.99	$49.99 *Best Value*	$79.99
AntiVirus
AntiSpyware
WiFi Protection
Firewall
IdentityProtect
Parental Control
Max computers protected on one license	2 Computers	3 Computers	3 Computers

Simplified Interface
Panda Security puts all of their security features into a single panda icon. Clicking the icon brings up a summary display that appears almost too simple for the amount of features the software has.
 

 

Even the statistics screen is simple and easy to understand. This is fantastic for non-technical users and folks that don’t like to be bogged down with too many small security details. Much like iTunes, the more you dig the more features you find. I quickly found the detailed Scan Reports and a vulnerability report giving me all the details I had craved.

 

Settings:

Configuration and Settings are where most of the AV/Firewall packages out there get really bogged down in details. They often fill the screen with 100’s of checkboxes on one screen, have confusing ‘profiles’, poor option categorization and super technical terminology. Panda takes the route of offering only a few major options for each feature and correctly assumes that most people do not need to mess with the inner workings of their security software. I really like this approach and would not be afraid of installing this on my parents computers. I used to like software that let me mess with every configuration option but these days I like simple effective programs that let me get back to work as soon as possible.

 

See the Gallery of Config Screen Shots
or
See the Panda Internet Secuirty Details

 Conclusion
Panda has successfully created a suite of security software products that removes much of the complexity and bloat of some of the other packages on the market. I would recommend the AntiVirus or the Firewall+Antivirus for all but the most technical user. It would also be a great package to install on parents or less technical peoples computers. As for the Internet Security package, I do not believe the content filtering options are robust enough to restrict your Childs computer usage properly so I would stick to the firewall package and purchase a robust parental control package like NetNanny.
 

Trial

Antivirus

Antivirus + Firewall

Internet Security

Update:  Some other software developers now have multiple computer protection but only in their high end products, not their basic antivirus or firewall/antivirus products.  I still think pand AV+Firewall is the best deal. 

Panda Antivirus and Firewall Review