Panda Antivirus: was it worth the money?

The makers of Panda Antivirus seem to have decided to develop a software product, as they say, for all occasions. This antivirus has probably the greatest functionality of all similar software systems. However, when creating such a “universal soldier”, the developers, as might be expected, have perfected far from all the functions or at least brought them to a decent state.

As for the main function, computer security, the anti-virus corresponds in some respects to the characteristic declared by its developers, i.e. 100% detection of threats. However, there are reservations.

When tested on a Windows computer, Panda Antivirus detected more than 95% of malicious files pre-installed in the device memory. It also blocked all malicious files and ransomware running on the computer.

However, this test was confused by the computer’s scanning speed. The antivirus can scan a device for between one and five hours. Cloud scanning takes considerably less time, but it is moved to a separate option, which is very inconvenient for the user.

Testing the main function of Panda Antivirus on a Macbook, on the other hand, was not at all frustrating. The scanning was slow and even after six hours the files were not checked. Therefore, this antivirus is far from being the best option for fans of “apple” equipment.

The option to encrypt files is an unquestionable success of the program developers. In this case, everything is simple, straightforward but functional at the same time. There is also a very useful in some cases and quite well working option of irretrievable deletion of files.

The option to restore the system via a special USB disk has also proven to be very good. To test it, we happened to have a computer that had been accidentally “caught” by viruses. All malicious content was detected and removed rather quickly and the computer was restored.

The hard disk cleaner feature of Panda Antivirus is very good. It does not outperform comparable features in other software, but it still looks not bad at all.

The Autorun Manager is also nice, as it allows you to monitor the programs with autorun and disable those which are not in constant use.

The Panda Antivirus package also includes a built-in VPN which helps the user maintain their privacy when surfing the Internet. Testing has shown that this option, although it raises a lot of questions, is quite usable.

The performance of the module is at the “solid average” level.

Other advanced features include a password manager, anti-theft tools, parental controls, web protection, data protection and a virtual keyboard. The latter allows the user to secure themselves against spyware tracking keystrokes.