A Month in Software (01-12-2011)

Panda Cloud Protection - "Founded in 1990, Panda Security is the world’s leading provider of cloud-based security solutions. Panda Security was the first IT security company to harness the power of cloud computing with its Collective Intelligence technology. This innovative security model can automatically analyze and classify thousands of new malware samples every day, guaranteeing corporate customers and home users the most effective protection against Internet threats with minimum impact on system performance."

Panda Cloud Antivirus

I read about Panda Cloud Protection a while back and have finally gotten around to sharing it with you. Before I break it down for you, let me give you a little bit of background about antivirus software.

Antivirus (or anti-virus) software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including computer viruses, worms, and trojan horses. Such programs may also prevent and remove adware, spyware, and other forms of malware.

A variety of strategies are typically employed. Signature-based detection involves searching for known malicious patterns in executable code. These signatures are found in what is called a virus definition file which is being constantly updated by the antivirus software company.

However these updates can sometimes take months to get out simply because the company needs to wait for someone on the Internet using their software to get infected, where then a sample of the infection is sent back to their labs where they reverse engineer it and then release an update for everyone else to remove it.

Well Panda Cloud Protection has remedied this problem by releasing its own FREE Cloud Antivirus. FREE because what Panda has essentially done is remove the company labs portion of an antivirus software and made us, the users, its virtual lab. So the more users it has the better the lab performs, hence why its FREE.

If one of us gets infected, all other users get notified and protected in a matter of minutes rather than having to waiting for an update from a current antivirus software company. Here is a video from Panda Cloud Protection that explains it way better than I can:


  • Pros: PCA is an excellent choice for the average users with a simple interface and completely automated features with automatic updating and removal of malware. The detection level is generally very high thanks to its 'cloud' technology.
  • Cons: One minor reservation I have is that PCA seems to erroneously detect certain browser/system-related applications, for example VideoCacheView, and because of the automatic quarantine this made it a fraction bothersome.
  • Available editions: Flash browser-based latest edition available all the time.
  • Used for: Used for all Microsoft Operating Systems.
  • Installation: Installtion is fairly simple and mostly automated once you have downloaded the .exe file from  http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/.

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