While this Spanish anti-virus program is hardly a household name in Australia at present, it is gaining in popularity through its availability on the internet. Its low cost (around $78) and plentiful features have been a strong selling point for people looking for something a little less expensive than the popular Norton or Trend Micro products.


However, the offset to the initially lower outlay is that you have to ring Spain to speak to a techie if anything goes wrong that cannot be solved through online tech support.
Panda has combined both anti-virus and a basic firewall into a single low cost package and despite its Spanish ancestry the English version is clearly set out and easy-to-understand. Panda instantly updates itself as soon as you connect to the internet and its default settings provide you with a good basic level of protection.


Installing the firewall is optional but advisable, particularly if you have a broadband internet connection that is constantly connected. While it requires some additional setup during installation most users should be able to accept the default configuration.


The interface is similar to PC-cillin and set out as a web page with hyperlinks to each section. Panda has kept the terminology simple and the layout clean and intuitive. The main difference between this and other anti-virus programs is that unrepairable infected files are sent to ‘Hospital’ rather than to ‘Quarantine’, where they are kept in isolation to be either sent to Panda or await a new anti-virus update that may be able to repair them.