Protection

In independant tests, Panda's latest software detected and removed 91.8% of malware whcih is the lowest score below Kaspersky, Norton, and ESET's antivirus software however when testing their spyware, a mark of 95.6% was awarded, second only to the Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 software.

Virus definition updates are automatic and daily which is fair at best as we are now seeing hourly updates from Kaspersky, and even 10-15 minute updates with Norton.

In order for us to keep scoring on a leveled playing field, we will only be using the above data for our scores however you may want to consider Panda's lengthy list of features which includes an added firewall (which ESET and Norton kept for their larger security software bundles) and email protection for POP3 interfaces and free webmail services like Yahoo and Hotmail which means you would be protected in many more situations than some of the other software.

Features

Panda has gone beyond offering only the basics with the following main fatures and compnents in their latest antivirus:

1. Anti-Virus
2. Anti-SpyWare
3. Anti-Phishing
4. Anti-RootKit
5. Anti-Spam
6. FireWall
7. Instant Messaging Protection
8. Email Protection
9. Webmail Protection (ex. Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, ...)

Panda offers the most complete list of features in comparison to the other stand alone antivirus software reviewed and so our only perfect score.

Customer Service

We would have liked to see a live chat option like some of the other services but for now, email and phone support are available and both have shown to provide a quality service with the tests we ran.

Ease of Use

Panda AntiVirus Pro 2010 is fairly easy to use. With other software, you can get in there and tweak absolutely every little thing which is nice if you are tech savvy and understand what you are changing, but most of the time they throw in more options than necessary, some of which you may not even have a clue what they are there for. We liked that Panda’s antivirus software had a clean layout with only the ‘common sense’ options in plain view and easy to configure so it’s hard to stop it from doing its job, however in comparison to Norton and Kaspersky's latest, we feel Panda can still use a little improvement in this area.

Cost

Depending on how long and how many PC’s you would like protected, the cost varies however when looking at their 3 PC pricing, it is less expensive than most:

1 PC: Protection for 1 year - $39.95 Protection for 2 years - $67.92 Protection for 3 years - $87.89 3 PC’s: Protection for 1 year - $49.95 Protection for 2 years - $84.92 Protection for 3 years - $109.89

Note: If you have 2 PC’s, you would have to purchase the 3 PC’s package and use only 2 of the 3 licenses given. If you own more than 3 PC’s, additional licenses are available.

Conclusion

Panda’s Antivirus Pro 2010 software protects you from all major threats and much more with their added spam filters, email and webmail protection, personal firewall, and instant messaging protection features not offered by all antivirus software. They could use a little work on the software's user-friendliness but this could easily be overlooked as their scans use up little resources so you should still be able to perform regular day tasks and not see a very big performance change. Their virus scan is where our reviewers feel the most work is needed though as it scored lower and detected less viruses than other software but with all the added features, the protection you get for the price makes Panda a great value.

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More Antivirus Reviews:

Complete Security for PC:

- Real Broadband Essentials
- Norton 360 Version 3.0

Antivirus for PC:

- Kaspersky Antivirus 2010
- Norton Antivirus 2010
- ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4
- Panda Antivirus PRO 2010

Antivirus for MAC:

- Norton Antivirus 11 (MAC)