Panda Cloud Antivirus is a freeware antivirus that is probably the best deal in the security tools industry. Cloud Antivirus differs from standard free antivirus (AVG, AVAST) in that it doesn’t rely on standard definition files. This means that the software never needs to update itself. Instead, Cloud Antivirus relies directly on Panda Security’s Main Servers for its virus identification. The advantage is that the antivirus program is alerted at almost the same speed as Panda Labs is alerted to emerging virus threats. Therefore, Cloud Antivirus provides the highest protection possible against new viruses on a minute by minute basis. A user can navigate over to the cloud antivirus website to see how many viruses Panda Labs is detecting in real time. In the last minute after writing this sentence, there were 10 new viruses that were detected.
Another feature that separates Panda Cloud Antivirus from the pack, is its auto protect capability. The software has a built-in real-time shield that registers with Windows Security Center as an active antivirus. I wanted to test how the real time shield performed in real world circumstances. I downloaded the test virus file from eicar.org and I was instantly alerted to a virus being neutralized by Panda Cloud Antivirus. This is an amazing feat considering that the antivirus doesn’t carry any local virus definitions. Also, while Panda Cloud Antivirus is idle is uses about 21 megabytes of RAM across two processes. This is really a low memory footprint and this makes Cloud Antivirus perfect for older computing systems. Most free antivirus will utilizes at least 5 active processes slowing the computer down even more.
The interface is where Panda Cloud Antivirus really shines. The software is probably the most easiest to use antivirus yet. The only product that has an even comparable interface is CA antivirus. Panda Cloud Antivirus only alerts the user to the information that they actually need to know. For example, the main page just show a large checkmark or X and a correct or incorrect status. If there is an incorrect status, the antivirus displays a “Fix Now” button to easily solve the problem. Next, to start a scan, it is as easy as clicking “Quick Scan” and if a user wants to scan certain files “Scan other items…”. The aesthetics of the interface also really mesh in with the Windows 7 and Vista Themes. For example, when moving a cloud antivirus window, it will become transparent and when clicking the Trash (Quarantine area) the whole antivirus will flip around in a 3D animation similar to Norton Internet Security 2010.
The quick system scan is a breeze in that it only took about 10 minutes to finish. The scan only increases the system memory footprint to 31 megabytes from 21 megabytes. This really shows the efficient coding that creators have programmed into Cloud Antivirus. Unfortunately, I did run into one problem during a virus scan. The scanning progress stays at 99% for longer than it actually took to get from 0 to 99%. I assume this is a bug that can be easily fixed and it doesn’t affect the integrity of the scan in any way.
Panda Cloud Antivirus also offers many other features. The reporting section is very informative and helpful. When hovering over an item, a tooltip will appear and explain to the user the threat and its location. In the settings area there is an option to participate in the Panda Virus Network. This means that all computers with Cloud Antivirus act as detectors sending the latest suspicious and virus files to the cloud. This means that Cloud Antivirus utilizes millions of users detection statistics to provide any one user the maximum virus protection.
