Panda Internet Security

Panda Internet Security is a top shelf antivirus and antispyware package. With its stellar scanning technology, this software provides great security and online protection.

Panda Internet Security 2009 protects you from viruses, spyware, rootkits, hackers, online fraud, identity theft and all other Internet threats. The anti-spam engine will help keep your inbox free from junk mail regardless of your email program. The Parental Control feature ensures your children can use the Web safely also.

The user interface is not much to look at and does not present a sense of security like competitors. You see the status of your computer in four different areas: Security Protection, Unwanted Content Filters, Optimization and Backup Copies, and Updates/Subscriptions. Panda provides an easy to read protection status report and statistical data, but suffers from too many menus that clutter the interface. Configuring may cause headaches while you must click through a barrage of menu windows to make settings.

The firewall is adequate by default. If you want to adjust the settings it can get a bit confusing with the complex menu. You can run this out-of-the-box with no advanced settings and it will definitely put your system in lockdown, but you may get frustrated with trying to make settings for shared folders or P2P networking.

Although the user interface is cluttered and not very user-friendly, you just can’t ask for a better combo of antivirus and antispyware in one package. The anti-spam could have been more refined leaving this an average Internet Security suite in comparison. I was not impressed with the anti-spam or anti-phishing. Also the parental controls were a bit weak, you can set passwords and set up web filters but it need some improvement as far as setting accounts and the overall content filtering settings.

Panda has limited customer support. I did not encounter a live chat or support feature on their site. They provide some FAQ’s.

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