Product Review: Panda Internet Security 2010

        PROMOTIONAL


Panda Internet Security 2010 looks and feels the same as the 2009 version. The menu placement, the color scheme, the layout of the options, and the detailed information are all exactly where they were one year ago. Anyone who upgrades will forgo the need to learn new menus or features. They can just install it and go.

Installation, which was wizard based, ran quickly, and finished in just under six minutes. When you start the process, you have the option to select how the software is installed. After that, it will launch a quick scan of system, memory, and some of the C: drive.

Panda Internet Security was faster when it came to usage and resources, and stronger detection-wise, in 2010 than it was in 2009. Most of the improvements come from Collective Intelligence, Panda’s cloud services that bolster detection performance, and tweaking in memory usage. Another improvement is the firewall controls. Before they were easy to use and work with, now they are still just as easy for manual control, but there is more focus on automatic “Smart Configuration”. Panda's firewall totally handled the basic task of making the computer invisible to attack from outside. Panda doesn't ask the user to make security decisions about what programs can access the Internet. It handles known good and bad programs appropriately and monitors behavior for any unknowns. The user doesn't have to answer pop-up queries.

The Web filtering parental control component filters Web content in 15 categories and 56 subcategories and logs any violations. It is not installed by default.

Panda's antispam accuracy is among the best for a suite. In testing it missed less than 8 percent of the undeniable spam.

Malware blocking was significantly less effective at blocking new malware than at removing existing infestations.

Panda detected almost all the malware samples tested and it is especially strong against rootkits (it detected all of the rootkit samples), removal of rogue security software, and recognizing phishing sites. The 2010 edition matched Internet Explorer's accuracy and was only slightly below antiphishing champion, Norton.

Overall, it offers solid protection, easy navigation, comprehensive help, and it is almost invisible until it needs to act on something.

Retailing at $79.95 direct for three licenses.

System requirements: Microsoft Windows XP 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit

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