Which feature would you most like to see in the next version Panda Cloud Antivirus?
Take the poll and help us design the next versions of your new favourite antivirus:
http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum/poll.jspa?pollID=50103
Panda Security specializes in the development of endpoint security products and is part of the WatchGuard portfolio of IT security solutions. Initially focused on the development of antivirus software, the company has since expanded its line of business to advanced cyber-security services with technology for preventing cyber-crime.
78 comments
why aren’t you include all the features
We will add as many as we can. We just want to get a feel for the priorities 🙂
okay
I think that two features should be implemented asap:
1. scan removable drives. Pendrives are the main points of infections (not attachments which are multiple scanned on server side!). Viruses from pendrives should be cleaned immediately because the drives are often plugged to different machines, so infections spread very easily. I want take care not only for my own safety but also for the safety of others.
2. scan downloads (http, ftp, etc.) and p2p downloads after finishing job. It should be done “one click” without setting path and command, just like easyMule cooperates with Rising Antivirus or some download managers with leading antiviral solutions.
I do not want firewall or other such features because I afraid the syndrome of Nero. The software was nice and sleek – now it is barely usable.
I would say in this order: 2, 1, 3
(Safety first, laziness/easiness second, tweaking last)
Perhaps Advanced Configuration something in the style of…
“Nero Burning Software” with their “Normal/Advanced Modus”
Cause I’ve heard somewhere that you guys like to keep the design simple (which I have to admit is a nice smooth skin)
Web/Email/Firewall are stuff for other programming-teams imo or upgrade plug-ins of some kind for panda.
But speaking of Email and Website… I do hope Panda scans the downloads and attachments already atm?????
@Terence Yes Panda CloudAV does scan the downloads and attachments as soon as they hit the disk and before they can execute.
I think the most important thing right now that is needed the most is the behavioural analysis, when something out of normal is going on it will detect it. The rest could be added later, as for automatic upgrade that would be nice, firewall, web filter, email filter that should stay in the suites.
One thing I think it’s yet to improve is the message shown when a infected file is replaced by another sized of 97 bytes (used by Panda to relate it with the real file in the Quarantine, I guess). Why don’t make this application really executable, with a code that once executed forces the Cloud Antivirus show a generic popup telling the file is blocked?
As I don’t know if I explained myself well, I made a reconstruction with Paint: http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/7529/blockedfile.png 🙂
@Pedro Bustamante
Yes, but I expect something more – the sequence should be like this:
1. lock the flashdrive when it is connected to the port (no autorun should be allowed)
2. scan it
3. if it is infected it should be disinfected
4. unlock the execution of scripts and programs
There are some antiviral solutions which can do it very well, like Ms Security Essentials. There are some which are truly hopeless, and what they do is some kind of security theater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater I was disappointed by Kaspersky 2009, which does not allow for infecting my computer, but viruses on pendrives could spread if one of two pendrives connected at the same time to my machine was infected. So I could infect someones computer (via pendrive) and I did not know about it because the antivirus did not signalize it in any way. Imagine what the person whom I infected could feel if I informed him that my computer was defended by one of the leading security suites but I unintentionally spread viruses. Get it?
I do not deny that scanning mails is important but the attachment which I send to somebody is scanned by my computer (it means by Panda Cloud Antivirus), Google server (I use Gmail), recipient’s server, recipient’s computer. I do not think I have received any infected attachment for 4-5 years. Scanning mail is like HIPS in firewall software – it is “en vogue” but the software producers often forget about plain packet filtering and rules. On the other hand there are some dangers which deserve to be noticed by the producers of antivirus software because the provide security in broader sense.
PS There is a small change I suggest – the main window of PCAV flips when I click the right lower corner. It should be flipped back if I click it one more time (right lower one!). Now I have to move the cursor of my mouse to the left lower one.
@yokozuna are you familiar with our Panda USB Vaccine? We’re thinking about integrating something like this as well:
http://research.pandasecurity.com/archive/Panda-USB-Vaccine-_2D00_-Version-1.0.1.4.aspx
@Pedro Bustamante
I installed Panda USB vaccine an hour ago and I have to say that it is EXACTLY the solution I was thinking about (however, there are some problems with exFAT support). Integrating Panda USB Vaccine into PCAV would be really great! Thanks!
aha~my GF‘s nickname is panda,so i choose this free AV for my win7 protection ,i just want that panda can add excluding ,and add “question†，because once panda delect my file whitout asking and i cannot recovery it at all,i was so upset.
and i do not know why when i intall PCAV, it asked i must unstill other anti-vrus software,even MSE,does PANDA alway think it’s the best choice?maybe ,maybe not.so i install PCAV frist then MSE.
i want that panda provide more configrition and the HIPS,but i want panda and the OTHERS CHOICE in itï¼
integrating usb vaccine is nice addition to Cloud AV, but with choice of automatic or manual vaccination method in Cloud AV settings.
and Some behavior analyzing in Cloud AV.
@William Digiglio
Second that! Auto update to new version also of course.
Firewall would nice for to avoid need to use many different applications to protect PC. Also Email and Web filtering would be also good features.
Let’s just have a stable version first with no bugs.
Then keep it light; IMHO firewall, email filtering etc not needed.
Web filtering and Behavioral analysis are major things you need to add and maybe something to watch your internet when you go on major games! That’s how I get most of my viruses downloads and games something there for that would be the best feature.
Personally i’d prefer the level of config like it is now. Just add behavior analysis and auto-updater and i’ll be a happy camper.
Simplicity is the key for those who just want the program to do the job with least interactivity with it. But not having an auto-updater is a big problem for less knowledgable users. That’s why i prefer to install MSE on PC’s of such users. It’s fully automated, doesn’t require any registration and just does the job. Including auto updating of defs and program itself.
@RejZoR
I agree that is all that is needed.
I agree with RejZoR 21-11-2009.
An automatic updater is essential for ease of use and for users with inadequate computer knowledge.
1.)autoupdate to new version.
2.)USB Vaccine
3.)If possible provide offline update pattern file like the Retail version of Panda Antivirus does. Because we need offline update in case internet down or the p.c infected virus and cannot go online.
Thanks!!
Hi, I am currently using cloud antivirus and so far impressed with it. In my view, automatic upgrades to newer versions will make this a set it and forget it product just like MSE. One thing I would like panda to improve upon is to increase the self defence of the product. It is easy to turn off panda using task manager or similar process managers. As this av becomes popular it will become the target for viruses and if the computer is attacked by a zero day malware.Personally I don’t like av being turned off using external applications. In vista the main av service is protected by UAC and so it is safe. I am not a computer expert so correct me if I am wrong. I thank Panda for providing such an excellent product!!
@hepin We are incorporating more advanced configuration options like the ones you mention into version 1.1. Also now you can go to the Recycle Bin of Panda Cloud AV and recover any disinfections made by PCA.
Yes auto-updating to new versions is one of the most important things we’re building for version 1.1. Also some of the other suggestions will be incorporated as well 😀
alright i just saw the results and what are people thinking? if they are going to work on anything it should be behavioral detections much more important, if its a free product update it yourself, as for email filtering as long as your not stupid it should be easy to avoid malware, firewall just get a different free one (comodo), web filtering get a different program AVG, in most peoples opinion who know what they are doing will care much more about behavioral and also seeing that as the most important paRt of an AV than anything else
I’m new here, and I’m interested in can I install and how I can update Cloud AV on Computer which haven’t internet connection?
i agree but would like to see email scannning added because of all the spam malware that gets passed .
Nyc…. i just like the fact that it can be used with other antivirus like avast!
@Dejan No need to worry about updates. Cloud Antivirus scans from-the-cloud and keeps its cache synch’ed for offline operation.
@tolu actually it *cannot* be used with other antivirus. Running two different antivirus products together at the same time can have a big impact on your PC.
A easy way to send (report) suspicious files from within the program to Panda?
I want this antivirus
here you go you can get it here.. http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/
In Panda I didn’t find updation of Security. It should be visualize to each & everyone whoever browse this site.. I hope it would be added as early as possible for further security 4 my P.C.
Greetings to the team that did such a fantasic job on Panda Cloud Antivirus.
I run Panda on my home desktop with Windows, and it’s a great product. However on the road, I run a Asus Eee PC 8G (7″ screen) netbook computer running Linux. I’m wondering if there will ever be a version of Panda Cloud Antivirus that will be able to run on lite Linux systems ? I would just love it for my Eee PC
Thanks and best regards, R. Williamson
catoni52@sympatico.ca
@plantaids if you are talking about signature updates there is not any it is all in the cloud. If you mean program updating i believe that will be out in panda 1.1
The most important feature i would like to see is web filtering. 90% of viruses come from the web so that would seal the deal. Panda does not need to update definitions only update the program
I find it to much of a hassle to submit suspicious files to Panda, email is to much for the average user.
Of all antivirus programs I have seen I must say that Comodo did solve this in a very easy way, please have a look Pedro and see if something like this could be implemented in your product.
Panda will benefit from a easy delivering system of suspicious files.
behavioural analysis and the USB drive scanner.
i was using farst time i hoop this is best
@Pedro Bustamante
Keep it small, fast and clean. Do not add anything ‘because our competitors have it’.
– Windows has a firewall of its own. No need for another. Thunderbird has a filter of its own. No need for another.
– Web filtering ? -Please NO ! I have tried some and have more troubles than advantage.
– Advanced configuration. The most advanced configuration system I have so far met, is in use in Linux: plain text files, which can be edited with any editor you have. Any GUI only hides the parameters. Besides, when you have managed to make the configuration, you can copy the settings file to another PC or to backup. In windows this is just about impossible.
The three reasons to move to Panda Cloud from another well known brand was were speed, speed and speed. This another brand eats 500 MB RAM, 500 MHz and 35 W.
Another thing.
It would be nice to have a Live CD version of the program. In some cases I have unplugged a HDD and connected it to my laptop via USB-IDE cable to run the check to passive HDD. It would be easier, If I could run this kind of sleeping system check without taking apart the PC.
Of course there is no way to make W7 run from live CD, so it should be Linux or (MS)DOS.
Few improvements required to maintain running CloudAv on Admin Vista SP2 computer. CloudAv seems to crashs occasionaly. Also, my friend mentioned a negative aspect of Cloud technology: “What if the Cloud get hacked? Doesn’t that mean we users are comprimised to it too? Then again, Panda will probably say that our Cloud will not get hacked, but what if it does?” Any staff member can answer this? He’s starting to get on my nerves :p… oh and for the poll… Firewall + Webfilter all the way !
Regards,
good antivirus
@Mistofeles Regarding the livecd option, we have a free Panda SafeCD which you might want to check out:
http://research.pandasecurity.com/panda-safecd-3-4-3-5-released/
@buzz1825 Even if the Panda Cloud gets hacked, the only thing that the agent is checking is program signatures, so they couldn’t compromise your PC in this way.
I wonder about one thing. If the Panda servers go all down, does that mean my computer is no more protected? That’s the bad side of cloud computing isn’t it?
@Marco If our servers go down you are still protected by PCA’s local cache of Collective Intelligence and the local heuristic engine. You will not be protected against the new malware that shows up, just as you would not be protected against it with a traditional antivirus if the signature update servers go down. For a more complete arguments for and against take a look at:
http://research.pandasecurity.com/arguments-against-cloud-based-antivirus/
I think the next milestone should be supporting additional platforms. First Mac, then Linux and BSD.
Hi.
I love Panda.
There’s one thing I want in 1.1 – please let the antivirus install in PCs not having an internet connection.
Regards
I agree max. Not all computers have an active internet connection at all times, especially laptops
You forgot one important thing in your poll, It should be as light as possible and not resources hungry. I must tell you that the beta you issued before had a problem , after leaving it to work for some time on a PC that works 24hrs a day it caused the system to become heavy.
If it won’t be very light then despite of any features no one would want to install it.
Will I also need a firewall with the panda Cloud anti virus program?
I agree with Yuval. You need to keep it thin. That’s why I switch. AVG was getting to Resource hungry. I also just want an anti-virus. I don’t need all the firewall junk slowing me down and blocking everything under the sun like Mcafee and Symantec.
This would be a nice program for my in-laws…
But I’m already using Panda Global Protection 2010 (just renewed for 2010). So obviously this will not be necessary, but one thing in your video concerns me: You state that it takes or can take up to 48 days for virus signatures to be updated with tradition anti-virus software. My current Panda updates me daily and I’ve always assumed that it’s up-to-date and state of the art, but…it seems like you’re selling your Cloud Anti-virus against your current products.
I’m probably missing something obvious, but please, if you could, clarify this for me.
With Panda Cloud antivirus, all my connection go through Panda cloud and are analysed (per your video). So Panda Cloud has access to all my transferred data/ connections and passwords transferred etc…? sounds dangerous to me.
@Fat Nakago The other paid Panda products like AVPro, Internet Security and Global Protection 2010 also have cloud-scanning already, so you have the same level of antivirus protection against new viruses as with Cloud Antivirus if not more (as they have more features).
@George I think you misunderstood. Your traffic and files do not get sent to Panda to be analyzed. Only small signatures of your program (EXE, COM) files are checked against the cloud. This takes very little bandwidth which you won’t even notice.
This will be like an ideal antivirus for netbooks. Thin in resource consumption, but still offers effective protection.
One thing I did not understand is that what exactly gets sent to cloud. Till now I thought that all the files are being sent, but in the last comment you mention that only signatures of program are sent. Could you clarify this.
Hi, I think we’ll need a behaviorald detection, USB Vaccine.
I agree with Max, not all PCs connect to the internet (like me :D).
I think we need an effective firewall but keep this perfect performance on my Pc the same .
I need also more information about what exactly gets sent to Panda ??? tell me something makes me feel safe .
also i forgot to tell you something .. my pc gets frozen for bout 2 or 3 minutes every time i open it .
Something I see in all these comments that scares me is the apparent number of folks that think they need an integrated firewall with their AV.
The “suite” concept though “handy” is dangerous and in most cases, troublesome.
First, in many cases, single source total defense can leave single sourcepoint for attack to leave system with dropped security.
Second, take lessons from the Norton/McAfee model… suites invariably place an UNDUE overhead on systems. Much better running smaller, independent apps. Do you want a Radio Shack stereo or a component system?????
Firewalls…The windows firewall CAN be configured to do EVERYTHING you need a software firewall to do. Again, no need to throw potentially problematic, 3rd party suites on top of Windows… (it has a hard enough problem managing itself lol)
Firewalls like ZoneAlarm etc were the cats meow in the early days. EVEN Zonealarm free has become bloated, incorporated too many modules, and so, problematic.
Since you are in this forum, it would seem that you are interested in effective and speedy performance. If that’s so, don’t go requesting module upon module be incorporated into a base product. Leave the firewall and other things as separate products!
@Mike
@mike,
sorry mike your wrong. Symantec antivirus is so fast and so light now that you wouldn’t even know it was running. In the past symantec slowed my pc to a halt, even the best PC’s. Symantec purposefully revamped its AV to be the current lightest available, even lighter than nod32. They even made a gaming version of Norton that is even faster/smaller. here is a great review: http://www.av-comparatives.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139&Itemid=164
Hi i have a question! does this Panda antivirus work for the Windows vista? By the way i find this very interesting! i am trying it with my desk top that has the windows 7. So far so good.
I need Indonesian Language in Language install Option please..
@Terry
Panda Cloud works great with Windows Vista I’ve been running it for over 6 months and zero problems. I have it running in conjuntion with windows defender turned on. panda has caught one virus and windows defender caught one. So, two, in total, in 6 months, and computer is great running smoothly.
I have tried to down load the Panda Cloud Anti-Virus and my computer states all files were successfully downloaded. On the bottom of my computer it still says that my beta period has finished and that it no longer protects my computer. When I restart my computer a prompt appears saying that I can download a free version. What do I need to do ??
@Sherry Chennault You will have the beta version installed. Panda Cloud Antivirus version 1.0 is already out. Do the following:
1.- Download Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0 from http://acs.pandasoftware.com/cloud/CloudAntivirus.exe
2.- Click on Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and uninstall Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta.
3.- Reboot.
4.- Install PCA version 1.0 which you downloaded in step 1.
@The blog entry – lightweight is good. Those with older computers need a working antivirus too! AVG and Avast forget this at times. However, Avast in particular balances this out with a rich feature set that I can individually enable and disable as I need to.
I’m concerned that I don’t see it even listed in the communities that let me read the studies myself. Yes, it will take a moment for the community to catch up.
As for the firewall issue:
Many of these suites are from companies that specialize in Antivirus *or* Firewalls, but found they could increase their profit margins by slapping together the piece they’re “missing”. There’s only one place that I know of that publishes thorough reports on firewalls: matousec.com. They’re recommending a free firewall from PCTools.com or a Comodo internet suite, based on the tests they do. Note that it would take testing each firewall against every virus *Ever* to truly test a firewall to the fullest, and this would be impossible. Matousec has chosen wonderfully what viruses, malware, etc they test based on what’s infecting people, and what’s coming out. They updated their list of tests pretty recently.
The Comodo suite, who’s firewall passes 100% of the tests from Matousec, is a prime example of why suites just don’t work. Comodo is wonderful for firewalls. They always have been competitive and recently free, and always come out as a top-rated firewall. However, their antivirus is a joke! The problem with their suite product is the hassle of disabling the antivirus, which can sometimes *still* fight with the antivirus users intend to use. Two Fighting antivirus products ruin your protection and slow your computer down. Not a happy time.
With Comodo’s standalone firewall less scrutinized, we don’t know how much of the firewall’s functionality we lose by dropping their antivirus. Until next quarter’s tests come out, the PCTools firewall is the way to go.
The main thing is that it stays lightweight.
The number one reason people are ditching other free AV solutions and are switching to pandacloud is the fact that it stays out your way and just does it’s job, it doesn’t try to overwhelm you with ‘features’ and take over all your system resources.
If it were to lose this aspect then it’ll just become another one of those “Used to be great but was killed by bloat” kind of software titles.
Can Panda Cloud be installed on to windows 2003 server.
Thank you
Cheryl
@Cheryl Nope, only for workstations right now. If you need something for the server I recommend Panda Cloud Protection (for business) at http://cloudprotection.pandasecurity.com.
this is the very fantastic softwear for computer security.thanks for free download option……………..
I run Windows Vista and my antivirus was working fine now it keeps reading error and I cannot get to funstion anymore. Any ideas? It says Error 11 by the way.
@Christine Sams There’s a solution to this problem. Please check our Panda Cloud Antivirus Support Forum:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Insides-of-Panda-Cloud-Antivirus-111793.shtml
tiny as it posible, light as paper. advanced config needed to leave the file I wont to virus or no virus. I like to ask me to delete the file or not
A nice feature would be to have the option to automatically scan removable media once it is connected