Panda is still one of the top choices for free antivirus protection, thanks to its refreshed look and fewer reminders.
Panda Free Antivirus (2019): Features
As is usually the case with free antivirus tools, the feature set isn’t huge, but all the essentials are there, such as on-demand scans. Keep in mind that this is not a fast scanner: if you choose a full scan, know that it will take several hours to complete. Even a “quick” scan goes through the entire Windows.
Fortunately, this isn't something you'll have to do often, as the package monitors threats in real-time. If you click on the appropriate icon, you'll be able to look up a report of recent activity and review and restore quarantined items.
The settings also include a decent set of options: among other things, you can tell the program to automatically switch to game mode when an application is running in full screen, notify you before a virus is blocked, decide whether to perform a scan for potentially unwanted programs, and configure cloud parameters for unknown files.
There is also a USB protection feature, which protects USB devices to prevent the spread of flash drive-borne worms.
You can create a USB data recovery drive, as a backup for future problems, or click to launch Panda's free Cloud Cleaner scanner, which scans your system without having to be fully installed on your computer, making it harder for malware to detect and access the system.
For those who prefer to do their own research, Panda's process monitoring tool lets you see at a glance which active processes are accessing the internet – a very useful feature for advanced users. And if you spot a process doing something it shouldn't, you can quarantine it with a single click.
The software also includes simple device and license management features, although these are so basic as to be of little use: you can view active software licenses and monitor mobile devices using Panda Anti-Theft software, but you can't make any remote changes to settings on private machines.
One last feature worth mentioning is the VPN. It works with Hotspot Shield, but here the terms are slightly different: you can choose your exit node location from a choice of 23 countries, but the data limit is even more limited, giving you only 150MB per day. Upgrading to an unlimited license is a bit pricey (£57), although it does cover five devices.
There is also the “Security News” screen, which provides you with press releases from Panda’s website.
Panda Free Antivirus (2019): Malware Detection and Performance
Although Panda Free Antivirus has a small feature set, it is very effective when it comes to detecting malware. AV-Comparatives recorded a perfect score of 100% in all known malware tests.
Performance was also strong: the lab rated Panda as “fast” for archiving files and installing applications, and for all other activities – including web browsing and running applications – it proved to be “very fast.”.
Panda Free Antivirus (2019): Disadvantages
At this point you're probably wondering what the downsides are. The answer is that in its default configuration, Panda Free Antivirus displays occasional ads - but these can be easily disabled from the general settings page.
It also tries to install a “smart shopping” extension, but you can avoid it by simply unchecking the relevant box during installation – or you can remove it from your browser after installation.
In fact, the biggest caveat about Panda Free Antivirus is its false positive rate of 1.6%. That's worse than almost all of Panda's direct competitors, except for Microsoft Windows Defender.
Panda Free Antivirus (2019): conclusion
Overall, Panda Free's performance and effectiveness make it one of the best security suites on the internet.
