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Panda Titanium Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware 2006

As we noted in the intro, the difference between spyware and viruses is negligible, so Panda includes anti-spyware functions with its antivirus product. You cannot buy the spyware product separately, so choosing Panda means that you have got to ditch your existing antivirus software.

The advantage to this approach, though, is that one daily update is all you need to update the AV and anti-spyware protection. This version of the software doesn’t have centralized management and reporting, but Panda supplies several different versions of its scanner that do, including BusinessSecure.

It is worth talking to a Panda representative to find the product that matches your business.

The scanner remains the same, though. Because it is integrated with antivirus protection, you only need to schedule one scan to clean a computer of both viruses and spyware.

We found that the scan would take almost 100 percent of our test PC’s processor time and the application would lock up.

However, after a few minutes, the scan would finish correctly.

It did well with its spyware detection, picking up most of the threats we had installed on the PC, but the information was not presented in the cleanest way. Panda would just report the type of spyware that was found, but there was no way to click through for further information.

Panda supports real-time monitoring of Internet Explorer settings, and will notify you, which is useful against hijackers. There is not quite the same wide scope of monitoring and blocking tools offered by other applications on test, howeverPanda’s TruPrevent application is a heuristic and behavioral scanner to detect unknown threats. It is a difficult tool to test, but there is no harm in having it running and might just prevent a problem.

This is a product best integrated with the rest of Panda’s suite, including the personal firewall. This adds an extra level of protection that’s not possible with just antivirus plus anti-spyware.

It’s a tough package if you opt for the whole suite, but as you cannot buy Anti-Spyware 2006 by itself, it’s no good for companies with existing antivirus.

Product title
Panda Titanium Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware 2006
Product info
Name: Panda Titanium Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware 2006 Description: Price: $49.95
Strength
One package for anti-virus and anti-spyware.
Weakness
Cannot buy the anti-spyware seperately; processor-intensive scans.
Verdict
The one-package approach is good for businesses looking for a new security system, but it is a shame you can't buy the anti-spyware seperately.

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