Panda Cloud Free 3.0

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by Windows_Security, May 8, 2014.

  1. TaranScorp

    TaranScorp Registered Member

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    I installed Panda 3 free and it didn't install a taskbar icon or a shortcut icon on my desktop so I have to bring up Windows task manager to make sure it's running in the background. Is this normal?
     
  2. NWOAbschaum

    NWOAbschaum Registered Member

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    no, thats not normal.
     
  3. TaranScorp

    TaranScorp Registered Member

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    Is it because I didn't install the toolbar?
     
  4. RejZoR

    RejZoR Lurker

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    No. Not installing toolbar thingie just makes Panda scan only local files and not HTTP connections. The rest including the interface is not affected.
     
  5. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    The taskbar icons notification is possibly configured to just show notifications. (Windows 7)
    Change that to show icons and notifications.
    (just a guess)
     
  6. Techwiz

    Techwiz Registered Member

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    Still using Panda 3.0.0 Free. Eliminated desktop pop-up advertisements. Kept the less annoying Need More Protection advertisement.
     
  7. ance

    ance formerly: fmon

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    Did you buy a licence? ;)
     
  8. guest

    guest Guest

    If I understand your post correctly, how?
     
  9. guest

    guest Guest

    So far I've got 2 FPs with Panda Cloud Free. TBH, I find the Process Monitor feature to be kind of pointless.

    EDIT: Also JFYI, Panda Cloud failed to keep the 100% result for real-world protection test conducted by AV-Comparative. It has fallen in June and July tests.

    Although it has resulted 99.9% for those June and July tests. *puppy*
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 3, 2014
  10. Techwiz

    Techwiz Registered Member

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    These companies always ruin solutions when they go public, so I'll leave it at I've found a hardware and software solution for blocking the CAV Free EN file that they keep spamming. I've been ad free for a while and debating about whether to share my findings due to the negative comments posted here. What I am willing to do is post my initial success in blocking these pop-ups. The method is more exhausting but it should work until they patch it.

    (1)figure out the file address by right clicking advertisement and select view source code
    (2) copy address into browser, learn multiple versions exist.
    (3) figure out how to keep it active long enough to find file by right click the advertisement and select view properties. Keep this windows open, even if the ad vanishes it won't expire from the folder you will be navigating to shortly.
    (4) disable the hidden folder option in Windows 7
    (5) locate where they are being stored
    C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\Panda Security\Panda Cloud Antivirus\
    (6) There are multiple folders in this section, they can appear randomly in any of them
    (7) Spot the modified folder by date in windows or look at the active file at the bottom of this folder. File at the bottom of these folder appears when ad is active. It will have matching serial.

    For Example:
    {0C147823-13AE-4EB7-ABDD-XXXXXXXXX}
    Just look for the folder that matches this string 0C147823-13AE

    http://www.use.com/images/s_5/Blocked_File_6f7696bb90e4e7783196_1.jpg?is=true&ps=true

    (8.) Use a third-party application such as firewall to block the file. Comodo places a file in its place and no new advertisements will appear in that folder. The issue is you end up with a lot of alert reports doing this, but at max I've only seen 2-3 pop-ups in a day. None since I've implemented the more permanent fix. Ideally you want to block the file or block write access to the folder.

    http://www.use.com/images/s_2/Blocked_File_4b35a6c55ee23a722862_1.jpg

    (9) Repeat until every folder is blocking. This is about 20-30 folders. Too lazy to count them.
    (10) There is another panda folder with similar folders that could also be used in this same directory, which make up another 10-20 folders. You should also look at blocking those. If you install panda without uninstalling the older versions, left over folders from the previous version could also be used. I've only see this happen once, did a complete uninstall and reinstall + bit addition clean up.

    On a side note, I've figured out how to remove the locked file for the promo.png that shows up in the panda GUI. I've tested the method and it works, but I've reinstated it since these types of advertisements are preferable. If panda does read these threads, I hope they take note of this fact. Fine with advertising, but please stop the annoyances please.

    All of the steps here are legal and do not violate the terms of service. Your not modifying their product in anyway, with exception to the last side note ;) but it should work. There are probably much easier ways to do this, but this is my initial mind set when I started out. Hopefully you guys can work from there and figure it out.

    No, running the free version.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2014
  11. Tyrizian

    Tyrizian Registered Member

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    Panda should just integrate an Upgrade Now button that is noticable enough to grab someones attention (Just like How Avira free has it), rather than having annoying notifications with advertisements on them.

    I can deal with an Upgrade button.
     
  12. guest

    guest Guest

    @Techwiz
    Well you can just PM me if you didn't want to make it public. :)
     
  13. jaodsvuda

    jaodsvuda Registered Member

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    Same here,on WinXP sp3.A week without a single hiccup,than sudden system crawling since yesterday.Took me 29 mins. to move 1,5 Gb GOG game to another partition.Today , AV stopped during flv-download.
     
  14. Techwiz

    Techwiz Registered Member

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    It's come to my attention from clients, co-workers, etc. that panda has started pushing out ads that are bypassing the earlier suggested method for blocking. The new advertisements are HTML based appearing in:
    C:\Users\PC-Name\AppData\Roaming\Panda Security\Panda Security Protection

    Because they are HTML based, they produce a number of supporting files .css style sheets and image files used to construct the advertisement. To block the advertisements, you really only need to block the HTML files in the Panda Security Protection folder. You can multi-select and add these in Comodo quite easily from advancd settings, defense +, protected objects, blocked files. Just add application, navigate to the above location, and shift click the HTML files. This should block the new advertisements. These advertisements seem targeted at preventing URL filtering. You can block the other support files from downloading as well, but this is a lot more work on a file by file basis. I'd suggest a faster, blanket approach of blocking changes to the Panda Security Protection folder or at least its subsequent folders using a third party application. Also look at blocking these URLs with a filter:

    *proinfo.pandasoftware.com/tostada/cav23/renova/cav23_renova_eng_31928.htm
    *proinfo.pandasoftware.com/tostada/cav30free/renova/cav30free_renova_eng_35032.htm

    If your not using Comodo to block the URLs, ignore the asterisks at the start of each URL address unless required by the your software. There are a couple other addresses that have been used on occasion, but it's been over a year since I've seen them triggered. These rules should suffice for blocking advertising until Panda decides to try something new. Treat this like blocking drive-by downloads and malware/spyware/crapware installation and you should find the tools you need and plenty of guides to walk you through blocking these files. I'd considering training panda to aggressively remove these files if I thought it would be less annoying that blocking. I can image the virus detected pop-ups :)
     
  15. dansorin

    dansorin Registered Member

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    i used PCAV on 3 computers for years, but gave up after the introduction of the annoying ads. these guys at Panda are insisting so much with the ads, i think they are brain dead. really guys, are you so in to Panda that you put up with these irritating ads and find complicated workarounds that end up being bypassed just to deliver more ads? it's not like PCAV is the absolute and ultimate antivirus.
     
  16. Brocke

    Brocke Registered Member

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    Seems as if they are the new avira now with the ads
     
  17. Techwiz

    Techwiz Registered Member

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    For me the decision to stay was simple, panda runs extremely light on my systems. I work from a laptop for school so the lighter the better since I have a lot of software installed and I use my desktop for gaming and traditional anti-viruses are too bloated. The way I see it, your going to run into this problem no matter where you go short of paying for a bloated paid version that may be annoyance free today (but who knows how long that will last) or switch to a on-demand scanner only or no-antivirus strategy. I'm not saying that I won't jump ship eventually, but blocking the advertisements seems the simplest solution at this time. To be more precise, I've run into compatibility issues with other antiviruses in the past and I have no intention of making changes to other software that I actually swear by to accommodate some other ad-free antivirus that may offer less functionality or additional functionality that isn't particularly useful. Especially since a lot of the free antiviruses also serve up ads, some of which are much harder to block than panda's. I guess its going to come down to what you want from this software. Either way your going to have to make compromises to get what you want. I can't think of a single antivirus product on the market that doesn't require some sacrifice from the user. Whether it be performance due to bloat, incompatibility with your favorite software forcing you to make other changes, buggy GUI and updates, etc. I can't tell you how annoying it was to update the antivirus on my sister's computer. That thing required daily that we stopped its services, delete the corrupted update files, and retry updating. Even though it was a free version with fully integrated anti-malware/spyware/virus it was too buggy to work with. For me making a switch was easier. In this instance, its the exact opposite. Staying here and blocking the ads are much easier than fighting with new software problems.
     
  18. LagerX

    LagerX Registered Member

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    Seems like new version is out:
    http://download.cnet.com/Panda-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10914099.html

    Or, more like a small naming change
    15.0.1 - Panda Free Antivirus. Also got newsletter regarding this.

    snag.gy/sZ4V7.jpg

    So I would guess XMT is also included in new free antivirus Panda is offering. Great!
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2014
  19. BoerenkoolMetWorst

    BoerenkoolMetWorst Registered Member

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    I tried going to the Cloud AV blog, but it's already redirecting to the main Panda site.
    Btw, Panda Cloud Pro users will be updated to Panda Antivirus Pro.
     
  20. LagerX

    LagerX Registered Member

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  21. atomomega

    atomomega Registered Member

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    Is anyone still running version 2? I find it to be the best version of Panda Cloud.
     
  22. internet addict

    internet addict Registered Member

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    Has anyone had a problem with the new version of Panda Free Antivirus giving a generic error upon trying to activate it? I tried activating it three times and kept getting a generic error message.
     
  23. shadek

    shadek Registered Member

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    How so if I may ask? Test results shows an improvement in terms of protection and detection with version 3. :) Would be interesting to know your experience.
     
  24. internet addict

    internet addict Registered Member

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    Must have needed more time. It finally worked.

    Another question I have though is, I installed the toolbar, but do I need to search from it in order to get the protection? And could I uninstall the toolbar and still have url protection?
     
  25. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    USA still the best. But barely.
    Using this on an X60s Thinkpad. Working well.

    Right before I tried Avira. But Avira kept on turning off the firewall Windows or Online Armor didn't matter which. W7 pro x86, weird behavior for sure.
     
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