Panda Anti-Virus Titanium review

Panda Antivirus is aimed at users who want virus protection with minimum hassle.

Prevention

Panda proved very good at detecting the known viruses on our test PC, and managed to identify the older Trojans we'd installed. It didn't pick up any of the newer Trojans or backdoors at all, though - even when we set them running and initiated connections from the Internet! Panda is intended to make virus scanning as simple as possible, which means that few configuration options are available. Persistent scanning is always enabled. One handy feature is the program's SmartClean technology, which restores system settings that have been altered by Trojans. This means you'll be able to restore settings and protect your system even if you haven't made a system backup. Panda also gets another feather in its cap for not hogging system resources. Our test PC ran quite happily while Panda scanned files in the background. Panda also integrates with the most common e-mail programs and can scan individual mail folders - ideal for a PC that has a number of people using it. One concern is the fact that Panda's Heuristics option isn't enabled by default. Heuristics looks for tell-tale characteritics in code to spot as-yet-undiscovered viruses. If available, it should be turned on at all times.

Ease of use

Panda's update system operates automatically in the background - ideal for users who don't want to get involved with the nuts and bolts of the program. But while Panda's plain and simple interface will suit inexperienced users, the lack of sophisticated controls may frustrate those with a bit more expertise. Scanning specific files and folders is fairly straightforward, but could have been made easier by the addition of a few more controls and better integration into Windows.

Overall

Panda may not offer the sophisticated frills of products such as McAfee and Norton, but it gets the job done. With its lifetime licence and free automatic updates, Panda Anti-Virus Titanium is the only program here that you can simply install and forget about.