2012 Antivirus Software Reviews

Panda Antivirus Pro 2012

Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 didn't make a good impression with us right from the start. As we downloaded and installed Panda, there were several red-flags that didn't sit well with us.

When clicking to download Panda Antivirus, Panda kept taking us to their Spanish site despite the fact that we never clicked anything Spanish related.

We also received a welcome email in Spanish after we registered. Somehow, Panda became confused as to what language we spoke--and we didn't see any way to clear it up.

Then, even worse, updates weren't downloaded during the installation, though we were prompted with a big red warning to immediately check for updates.

Next in the install the Windows firewall throws up a warning that Panda was trying to access/change it, which is fine.

Panda requires you to install the firewall separately, which is counterintuitive because they have a link that says "firewall" in the user interface, but it's greyed out.

Wouldn't it make sense for that link to activate the firewall, or better yet, to just install the firewall during installation? Instead, it has a tiny link at the bottom that just says "install," which you have to hover over it to see it's to "install firewall." Confusing and inconvenient.

As we finally dove into Panda, the negatives kept stacking up.

From a dark, hard-to-read user interface, to spotty antivirus protection, to poor customer and technical support, Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 simply doesn't make the grade with us this year.

Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 had mixed results when it comes to overall virus and spyware protection.

Most testing showed that Panda had adequate protection, but there were still a number of tests that showed Panda couldn't handle some of the more serious threats.

Many of the top, independent testing labs also Panda Antivirus average or at least passing grades.

• AV Comparatives
• Anti-Malware Test Lab (low score)
• PC Security Labs
• Malware Research Group
• AV-Test (low score)
• ICSA

Is there anything good to say about Panda Antivirus Pro? A little. Panda's real-time protection against emerging, zero-day threats scored well but was still behind other leading antivirus software.

Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 does include a firewall which is a rare feature seldom found in basic antivirus software. It's a strong plus, but even with it, Panda's real-time antivirus protection is only average.

As for scanning, detecting and cleaning embedded viruses, Panda had some trouble removing all components of an infection in multiple instances.

In the end, we agree with the other labs that Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 performs adequately when it comes to overall PC protection, but not well enough for us to recommend it.
Resource usage for Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 was average most of the time, but there were a few lingering spikes that were noticeably high.

CPU usage when just running idle was below 1% most of the time, but we found some high spikes that averaged out to 4%. Memory usage when running idle was acceptable at 55% across our test PCs.

During a manual scan, CPU usage was average at around 44% while memory usage was also acceptable at about 62%. Overall, Panda Antivirus caused some random system drag from time to time during testing but otherwise turned in an average performance.
The user interface for Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 is functional and basic. The overall look is very black and unappealing, but it gets the job done.

Panda uses a left and top navigation system. When clicking into each section, a new window opens with more controls.

Because Panda's user interface is so dark, it can be hard to read the settings descriptions, particularly on laptops with smaller screens and/or on older monitors.

Overall, the user interface for Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 is functional and better than some, but it's really not up to par with the competitors or as good as their interface was just a couple of years ago.
Technical support for Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 is not as concise and useful as it needs to be. Panda offers a few free, self-help options as well as premium services.

The free, self-help options include searchable FAQs, forums, and video tutorials, but should you need more direct, one-on-one support, you're going to have to pay for it. Prices range from $39.95 for custom installation to $89.95 for virus removal. Less expensive than some but not as good as free.

Links to the forum and FAQs were mysteriously hidden towards the bottom of Panda's support page, but when you get there, they provide good help for most issues.

There is, however, a strange wizard to use to make selections on what issues you needed help with. The wizard is fine, but the strange part is it leads to an email form instead of actual help topics.

Panda's technical and customer support feels very much like their antivirus software: rough and without enough thought.
Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 is set to automatically download and install virus definition updates by default. You can check or uncheck this option in the user interface to turn updates on or off.

However, Panda gives no option to select how often it checks for definition updates. We'd like to see at least some control over how and when virus definitions are delivered.

Without this kind of transparency, it's hard to have complete faith that Panda is completely up to date.
There aren't three valuable extra features within Panda Antivirus Pro 2012: the Software Firewall, Vulnerability Detection, and Rescue Disk.

Most noteworthy among them is the firewall, which is seldom offered in basic antivirus software.

Since nearly all other companies require that you opt for their more expensive Internet Security Suite to get a firewall, this is one feature we love to see in basic antivirus software.

The Panda firewall fared reasonably well against our basic attacks; however, against more advanced attacks, like those commonly used by advanced trojans and worms, Panda wasn't up to the task.

Ultimately, it's a feature that definitely enhances security, albeit not as much as we'd like.

This is a minor feature that scans your system for vulnerabilities in major applications and the Windows OS. Many viruses target your computer through vulnerabilities like un-patched Windows, Word, Acrobat, etc. This feature strives to warn you about these vulnerabilities.

If your system becomes so infected that you can't boot up your computer to scan it, you can create a Panda rescue disk that will boot and scan in safe mode. However, when clicking this option, Panda merely opens a webpage with instructions on how to create a Panda iso. Not exactly helpful or simple for most users.

Aside from the installation problems, Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 generally fared poorly in our testing.

Some of the major testing labs gave Panda passing or moderate grades, but our own testing revealed weaknesses in Panda's overall protection.

It had problems identifying emerging, zero-day threats and trouble cleaning viruses from our test PCs.

Panda's technical support is spotty and at some points hard to use. While they offer premium technical support, they at least need better free self-help options.

Finally, we encountered a problem with "Panda Permanent Protection" (its main component) crashing from time to time. We looked up the problem, and Panda acknowledges the issue and offers a hotfix download to resolve it (which it did).

Why the hotfix isn't in a regular software update isn't clear. By the end, we were so disillusioned with Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 that we can't recommend it this year.