Panda Internet Security 2016 Review

However on a side note, I'm not sure if it was me but I found the iOS side was a little misleading due to the packaging at the back seemingly stating that you could run a scan on the iOS device for Virus’s. On closer inspection this only applies if you install the software on the Mac and then scan the phone from here as the iOS App running directly on the device only provides a Geo-location service; so you can find and disable the device in case of loss or theft.

Even so its only a minor observation and I am being picky here because as I mentioned at the start the software has improved since its early days...

Interface

For this review I focused on the PC Side (Windows 10 to be more precise) as to be honest I have not got an Android device or Mac to install the software on to.

I remember in my early look at the Panda Software that I always felt the interface was a little cumbersome to use, but thankfully the devs have done a great job with the 2016 version and now the interface offers an intuitive means to navigate through the options.

Once the software is installed it places the customary icon in the bottom right corner and clicking on this reveals a series of widgets that clearly indicate what services you have active on your PC and there is a larger status window which showcases how many files have been scanned, the number of virus and malware detected. From here I found I could clearly access small to larger scale reports which informed me about the files it had discovered that were deemed virus laden. I could then print this report off or save it to my PC as a text or csv file. What's also handy is the widgets can be customised to include what you want, thus if I wanted to move the USB widget to another screen or delete it, I can.

Alongside the widgets you also have a handy drop down menu which lists all of your features.

I found activating new features, such as the Data Shield protection, which can protect system folders or file extensions (all customisable of course), goes through a small step-by-step guide to let you know exactly what the feature will do when its activated. It’s a simple, but welcome touch for newcomers to the software.

To be honest the feeling I got from Panda Internet Security 2016 was that it was giving me back more control over how I wanted the virus checker/firewall setup and not the other way around; I liked this a lot!

Firewall

Speaking of firewall's the software replaces the bog standard windows variant and it sits there in the background monitoring your machine. I found it was easy to add exceptions, so programs that I wanted through the firewall could be allowed access and I had no major issues to report here.

Note: The Firewall can block TCP Port Scan, UDP Flood, UDP Port Scan, SYN flood and several more (all customisable via message rules and toggle switches).

Likewise as I was saying earlier about more control, you can go extreme, so that any software/service that launches will have to request permission before it can gain access to your machine.

For me though I used ample protection and by this I mean if you launch say an application that taps into the data of a protected folder or even a printer with an IP address, it will pop up a small notification in the bottom right hand corner that prompts you for clearance. Again these prompts were not occurring every five seconds so I managed to balance the software to give me adequate protection while not impeding on the functionality of my machine and the every day tasks that I do.

Additional Protection

The software also includes WiFi Protection (scan your WiFi connections), Parental control so you can block certain sites from being accessed by your children and USB scanning; which you can set so that every time a USB stick is inserted into the PC it will scan it. Additionally you can create recovery media so in the event of a virus getting through you can run this tool at boot time to scan and remove problems.

On top of this you have online banking protection, in the form of a virtual keyboard that can be deployed to key-in sensitive passwords and so forth.

I would have preferred something like Avast Pro uses i.e, a dedicated Safe-zone browser, but the small keyboard at least offers the added protection for entering the sensitive data.

Finally the software also provides online backup of your data via a 2GB Free Mozy account.

Protection and Performance

One thing I hate about total internet security solutions is the drag it has on system performance and while Panda does cause added delays when opening emails for the first time (as it scans this process) and the same for web browsing (the initial page that is) it was not machine crippling and on the whole I have not noticed the security presence since I've been using the software for the past two weeks.

Mind you even though it was not noticeable I still had confidence that the security software was doing its job; it was most certainly actively blocking intrusions or malware - again the software informs you about series attempts on your PC's security via the notification message at the bottom right corner.

There was one false positive during testing, but this was more the software I was using causing this issue; even so it's still a good idea to keep an eye on the notification and report system so you can add exceptions if needs be.

While I was not going to deliberately install or access virus riddled sites in the name of testing. I did download the EICAR virus test which is designed to test the virus checker's competence and it blocked the latter files every time.

Scanning

In terms of scanning you have a Critical area scan (system files), a Full (every thing on your PC) and a custom scan option (choose your own folders, with the ability to get the software to deal with problems automatically and shut down the machine afterwards for unattended access). You can also right click files from File Explorer to run a quick scan on them.

Scans can take a while depending on what it needs to scan, but the latter scans (in my opinion) were all comprehensive enough and I felt confident it would find any problems if it needed to. However don't take my word for it, as the software does have a 30 day trial so you can judge for yourself.

Summary

At the end of the day a good security solution is all about confidence and Panda’s software gave me this confidence and that’s key. Coupled with its intuitive interface and unobtrusive nature i.e, it allows you to get on with your work without pestering you every 5 minutes, I can certainly recommend you download the 30 day trial to try this out for yourself. The only downside for me was the iOS side, as the Geo-location app was not required due to the phone already having an integrated 'Find my iPhone' function. Mind you, if you do have a PC and MAC then at least you wont need to pay for a separate licence (as the software has a 3 device licence attached). Note: All the price details are mentioned in the separate box-out below.