Customer Reviews

Panda Internet Security 2009 - 3 User [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have been using Panda Internet Security (PIS) for a couple of years now and when the 2009 edition came out I was excited to give it a shot. I got a few unpleasant surprises, and a few good surprises too.

My target system is a Windows XP Home system with 1.25GB RAM. I will eventually try this on a Vista system.

I did some things a little bit differently this time. Having been registered in the past for previous versions, I figured that doing an online upgrade would be the least expensive way to go. This is not at all the case. Buying a CD and installing fresh is appreciably cheaper, in my case saving $30 because I caught this product on sale on Amazon. If you are already registered for an older version, consider just getting the CD instead of buying online, as you likely will save quite a bit of money. Panda is not the only security software vendor who has this pricing scheme, so expect this across the board.

Installation was a rude shock - the auto-installer crashed. I got a debugging window, and if I clicked on either button the installation stopped and I got nothing. To get the auto-installation to work I had to let the auto-install crash and then simply ignore the window (well, I had to move it out of the way). I could also have just explored the CD and run the binary directly. After that, the install proceeded normally.

The install failed in another, more subtle way - after installing from the CD it wanted to reboot the computer, but it did not eject the CD as it should have. As a result, the CD was the boot media and the system came up in rescue mode. This was an aggravation I neither expected nor appreciated. I do not know if this was a problem in previous versions as I always have used downloadable applications, not CDs.

After installation it was time to register, and PIS2009 wanted access to the internet. However, as I am on dial-up, PIS2009 blocked my phone connection as unauthorized and I had to close other dialog boxes before I could even address this issue. On the computer in question, the install was a full-up new install, not an upgrade, so I did not have the benefit of pre-existing settings.

Finally up and running, I decided to make sure the number I use for connecting was set up correctly. When I found the list of permissible numbers, I found some garbage entries in the list that made no sense. I don't know where they came from but I deleted them and all is well. Be sure to look in to this!

All right, let me explain the better things I discovered.

I looked at the process list and found that PIS2009 is still gentle on memory. There are some obvious memory hogs in the list, but the memory they consume is not as bad as I would have thought. In general, I would say that on a Windows XP system the memory usage is about half that of a comparable McAfee setup. This leaves a lot more room for other things to run.

The GUI has received a partial overhaul. The main "control panel" window is vastly superior to that of last year's version and it provides one-click access to just about everything in the suite. When about any option is clicked, the old dialog box from the previous version appears with the same familiar settings. It's all familiar and straightforward to me, though new users likely will find everything they're trying to find with ease. I do like the summary presentation of the system status.

I told the antivirus to scan the system. It took it almost exactly 30 minutes and it chugged through over 300,000 files in that time. Panda still has an amazingly fast antivirus. But new to this version is a common-sense feature that I haven't seen in place before - before initiating a scan, the antivirus attempts to download updates. In my particular case this is not necessary as all of my scans are manual and I only do them after an update, but for the majority of users (high-speed connectivity and scheduled scans) this is a great idea.

From what I can tell, the firewall is relatively unchanged. This is good, because the PIS2008 firewall was excellent. You can trust this firewall to keep your system free of miscreants.

I admit that I have not used the identity protection features of this suite.

Not so excellent is the parental controls module. It still requires setting up accounts and passwords within PIS2009 and then forcing everyone to "log in" when accessing the net. There is no ability to define a default behavior if no log-in occurs. I tried and failed to set up the controls without any special username or password, and it could not be done. I suppose this is useful in a pinch, but for daily family use it is cumbersome.

Registration and activation were painless.

I am still exploring the rest of the suite, but the overall impression I get is that it is a solid and capable system that does not beat your computer into submission. The installation could be a lot smoother, and the parental controls are still more or less useless to me, but the firewall and antivirus more than make up for these issues and overall I would recommend this suite as an excellent solution.

My new computer came with McAfee installed which expired after a few months. I've been using Panda the last few years and have been extremely pleased with everything about it. So I purchased Panda IS 2009. Uninstalled McAfee and installed Panda IS 2009 in my new laptop, expecting no problems. Well - I've had nothing but problems. Every time I get on the internet a box pops up and tells me my Internet Resident Proxy has stopped working. I have 2 options: Look on the internet for a solution or cancel. When I click on go to internet for solution, absolutely nothing happens, ever. And despite my "internet resident proxy" not working, the internet seems to be working as well as it ever did. (I have dial-up).
Also, every time I turn the computer on, about once every 10 minutes or so a red Panda box opens in the bottom right corner of my screen and tells me that in order to resolve problems with my automatic protection and antivirus, I need to re-start my computer. I've given up re-starting the computer, since I've now done it at least a dozen times, and it accomplishes nothing. Red box still pops up constantly.
Yet, every day Panda tells me it successfully updated itself!
Looked on the Panda Help website, found nothing matching my problem, so I emailed a technician. Technician emailed me back, saying my particular problem would probably best be dealt with by calling Panda, and he gave me a # to call, and told me usually there is a fee for getting help over the phone, but with the problem I was having, there would be no fee. So I called the #. The tech on the phone had me click here, do this, try that, then emailed a website link to me and told me to follow the instructions in the link. Did it, downloaded a fix for my problem. Installed it per the instructions, and it fixed the problems for a few minutes. The next time I got on the computer, my problems were back, and I'm just living with it until I have time to try to uninstall the whole thing and start over, which as far as I can see, is the only option left to me. The tech on the phone told me that there was a slight possibility that when I initially installed the new Panda software and did the initial update via my slow dial-up connection, some files may have gotten corrupted because of the slow download over my slow internet. Fine. My plan is to uninstall it. Go to town and use free wifi, install, and update. If the problems persist after that, I intend to ask for my money back. I'm very disappointed. My past experiences with Panda software have been great and I was looking forward to a problem-free install and operation. I guess nothing good lasts forever...

Installed product about 3 months ago on an 18 month old PC (dual core, 1GB RAM, 100GB HD (70GB used).

Pros:
1) Easy installation.
2) Easy to configure/use.

Cons:
1) The principal issue with the product is that it automatically launches a virus scan (pavjobs.exe) on a daily basis. That would be fine except that this thrashes the hard-drive and makes the PC unusable for the 3 hours it takes the scan to complete (on my PC). The only way to stop the scan is to quarantine pavjobs! This is problematic because the restore doesn't always work and pavjobs.exe is deleted - no more virus scanning. This means you have to uninstall (an hour long process) and reinstall.
2) Support is abysmal; the Help Desk are basically clueless and there don't appear to be any decent online forums.

Other users don't have these issues so maybe it's related to HD usage or PC configuration. Who knows; Panda certainly don't. Caveat emptor!

I've used Panda internet protection software for 2-3 years now and like it better than McAfee and the other products. Plus, buying from amazon lowers the cost and each box you buy allows you to use the software on up to 3 machines. So it's a good deal. If you buy it, don't renew it through panda, just buy it again from amazon for the best rate. You'll like this product -it's much more clear and easy to use than it's competitors products.

I have used Panda now for 2 years running. It is easy to use, runs in the background, and doesn't bog my system down. Plus I can use the 3 user license to cover 2 friends computers. I also like the Panda icon in my tray. It continues my "bear" theme. Seriously though it is a good product that has worked well for me and my friends. The only drawback is that when it comes time to renew, the prices at Panda are double what Amazon charges. So I bought it from Amazon instead of renewing with Panda. Then you have to delete the old and install the new, but the program did that for me. That is why I only gave it 4 stars. If Panda still charges more in 2010, I will do the same thing!

This is an excellent product. We have used Norton in the past but decided to go with something else. Panda is an excellent choice. You can find it much cheaper here on Amazon.com. Very pleased!

I'm not a "techie", so I can't give any info in that area, but here's what I do know: This is my 2nd year for using Panda Internet Security and it works great for my desktop PC and laptop. The 2009 version seems to be a little more user-friendly over 2008; the layout of the screens in the window look better and they seem to be easier to navigate. Installation is a breeze (you don't have to uninstall the old version of Panda). Automatic updates (every time you go online) are unobtrusive. Alert notifications (for every little thing!) can be user-defined so you don't have to be bothered with the pop-ups unless you choose to...you can just let it do it's thing in the background. It can seal your system in a steel cocoon, a gauze curtain, or somewhere in between, according to your preferences. It doesn't bog my system down like some of the others I've tried. The spam filter is self-learning, so at first you really need to monitor that folder to teach it what you want to let through. There is free 24 hr tech support, but I've never needed it. You can upgrade to the newer version through the Panda website when your 1 year subscription expires...but you can buy it a lot cheaper at other places (like Amazon). And best of all, I haven't been invaded by any of those horrible things lurking around on the internet!!!

I wrote a review of Panda Internet Security Suite 2007 which you can read elsewhere on Amazon but thought I'd post this update here for those who are considering buying it.

Be aware that Panda Software feels that they have the right to send you marketing emails FOREVER, even if you unsubscribe repeatedly, which I did, and which they have acknowledged I did. Since declining a renewal in the fall of 2007, I've received a number of marketing emails from them, the latest on April 28, 2009. At the bottom of this spammy message, they said even though I'd requested no further solicitations, they still have me subscribed so that they can send "informational" emails like this one!!!

Don't choose to do business with Panda unless you want to get email from them forever, whether or not you want it.

I thought i would try Panda, big mistake, slows your computer, very intrusive and i believe it has "securerom" in it too. Anyway i deleted it and went back to "Live One care' hassle free and not intrusive whatsoever. By the way before you ask, My computer is a quadcore with 8 gigs of memory and running a 8800 gt card, so it,s not the computer, its the program, save yourself some grief and buy something else, ANYTHING else except for Norton, thats worse.Oh and it stops Window Defender from running too. Have a great day.

When I originally install this if Feb. after using the free trial period online,(bought the CD because it was less than doing it online) it loaded fine and was updating for about 3 months. Now all I get that it cannot not access the update server. It is completely useless.
Will not go this route again.