Panda Internet Security is an excellent protective suite that is easy to set up and install. This software will give comprehensive protection in all aspects of internet security. Although some users might experience from some design issues, but the system performs relatively well when it comes to detecting and fixing viruses and spyware.
Antispyware Effectiveness: 5/5
Panda Internet Security will detect keyloggers, trojans, browser hijackers and other spyware threats that might arise in your system. The system even comes with the capability to send all warning messages to an email address. This option enables you to monitor a computer while you are away or keep-watch on the security of your children’s computers.
Antivirus Effectiveness: 5/5
The antivirus and antispyware system is grouped under the same tab. Here you can choose areas of your computer you want to scan and how often to start such scans. All configurations have default settings, so you don’t have to alter the settings if you don’t want to.
Firewall Effectiveness: 4.5/5
Panda’s firewall is a very capable firewall indeed, however this particular system can be difficult to configure for people who are not familiar with computer systems. The nested menus on this particular section are pretty confusing and this might pose as a problem when trying to configure the firewall. Luckily the default configuration is good enough for most people and will need very little change except when using some P2P and online gaming applications settings.
Other Security/Features: 4/5
Panda Internet Security even gives you the ability to set passwords on your computer system. This will help keep parental controls and other configurations from being changed by your children or other computer users in your household.
As part of the parental control feature, you can configure the web filter and give each user a specific configuration. You can select from the following preset filters: Kid, Employee, Teen or Default. You can also set the filter to block specific content from the internet. The one downfall to this section of the suite is that the Panda Internet Security accounts are not based on your existing Windows accounts, whereby this means you will have to memorize another user name and password to browse the internet.
From the main menu on the system, you can view statistics and reports based on how many active threats Panda Internet Security has found on your system. The statistics are displayed in pie chart format so that you can easily view and understand the data.
Ease of Use: 4.5/5
The main screen is easy to move around and it even shows the status of your computer in 4 different areas: Security Protection, Unwanted Content Filters, Optimization and Backup Copies, and Updates and Subscription. If the light shown on this particular section is green, your PC is fully protected and protected from any internet threats.
While the main menu is informative and practically easy to use, setting some of the configurations here is another matter entirely. There are some options that need you to click through five layers of menus, which can be very confusing indeed. This makes Panda Internet Security 2012 hard to setup, and may cause problems for the average computer user.
Ease of Installation/Setup: 5/5
The entire Panda Internet Security suite is very easy to install, whereby the system did not give any problems or what-so-ever during installations. However, after uninstalling the software, there were several system directories and files which the uninstaller left behind.
Help/Support: 5/5
Panda has a fantastic and very informative user guide and FAQs section to help you to use the software and answer common questions. You can even contact customer support by the respective email as well. However, it seems that Panda does not come with live chat or phone support.
Summary:
In my opinion, I truly believe that the Panda Internet Security is an above average security suite. Of course, the system offers many of the same features that many other security suites offer, but I believe that the developers from Panda Security should address the lack of intuitive menus and an overall feel of security on their system. I think the interface for Panda Internet Security can be given a good overhaul, for the benefit of average computer users. Personally, I think that the security suite should be given a more modern look that could go a long way towards making the security system feels safer.
However, I do think that the Panda Internet Security suite is perfect for many computer users in the market. If you want a good protective system which can actively provide protection for your system, I’m pretty sure that the Panda Internet Security will serve you well. You can forget about installing separate software for adware, spyware, or even a firewall, as clearly, the Panda Internet Security has everything that you need, under the security suite.
I have included more snapshots of the Panda Internet Security system below (click to view): |
