Panda Platinum 7 vs Avast Home

Hi,i need an advice.A friend of mine has assembled a PC and needs a FREE AV.After having read many reviews,i have concluded to exclude Antivir,because of the lack of mail checker and some false positives (that i had).I excluded AVG because i consider version 6 obsolete by now.Also in all tests AVG 6 seems not to fare too well.

Under normal circumstances i would give him without second thought Panda Platinum 7 (promo free for a year),but i use it as backup scanner and on my pc the scan freezes always at some point,probably because can't unpack something.The bad is that it doesn't refer the file where this occurs.

Lately,i 've read many things about Avast(Razor where are you? ),inclulding a test where does pretty well,slightly better than Panda and also read the reasons of the failiures of VB.On the other hand,another test posted here (rokop?) wasn't too good.

So i m really puzzled.The profile of my friend:Easy of use is no issue,he learns quickly.In his old PC he was infected usually by trojans,not virus.

Which one should i reccomend him at the end? Which has better Trojan detection and unpacker?

Any private testers' opinions appreciated (AMRX or Firefighter for example?)

Thank you

 

It's RejZoR Well unpacking and trojan detection is a bright side of avast! along with great support,fast scanning and very small updates.
And avast! didn't really fail last VB100% test. Its the strange way how they test it. Vlk explaind on avast! forums that avast! missed a single HTML sample that was benign anyway (just "temp" file). avast! correctly detects the final "viral" file that comes out of that HTML. I don't trust VB100% tests for a long time now since i saw how big mistakes they make...

 

To Hyperion from Firefighter!

In my mind there isn't so big difference between Avast and Panda, but Panda is still slightly ahead Avast against trojans in my tests, 84.3 % vs. 75.6 %. About unpacking, I had only 17 files where Avast beated Panda 12 vs. 10.

The main reason why I prefer Panda is because of updating frequency, Panda at least 7 times per week, when Avast updates usually 2-4 times per week.

About ease of use in prefer Panda, in my mind it's one of easiest ever, but Avast is also very easy to use too. Autoupdates are in both proggies but Panda has quite good firewall in it, Sygate.

So, despite of that, Avast has been one of my longest favourites and is that just now too, I still prefer Panda in this case a bit.

By the way, Panda has quite good heuristics too, actually 65 of total 1143/1378 detections against my samples was detected by heuristics, when Avast scored 1065/1378 without heuristics. But I don't know, how many Avast has detected more if my samples are in email, where Avast is able to use heuristics.

Best regards,
Firefighter!

 

Thank you Rejzor In deed i have read the reasons of Avast not always taking 100% at VB ,i pass from the Avast forum from time to time and i 've seen that the support there is in deed very good.And honestly,i think that as far as virus are concerned,more or less,they are all above 95% detection rate,while in trojans things are really different.

I must say i have never used Avast myself (i m running KAV), that's why i m asking for more opinions.I thought Panda should be very good,but as i mentioned before,on my PC it has serious problems.

Hmm...Maybe i ll put him Avast and make him a "guinea pig",so when at November my KAV subscription ends,i ll put Avast too if it's really good

Other opinions?

 

Thank you very much Firefighter,very informative post.Much oblidged.

 

Hi Firefighter-
I'm curious, have you ever tested avast's VRDB against Panda's (or any other AV) ability to repair? I think that the ability to fix the damage caused by a virus is just as important as detection rate. I would think that avast would be ahead of the game in this regard, but I've never seen any tests to prove this.

 

To se7engreen from Firefighter!

I know that option but unfortunately I haven't tested that yet. Panda is excellent concerning disinfection operations too.

Best regards,
Firefighter!

 

avast!'s VRDB is a very good method of repairng infections. With avast! version 4.5 (coming this summer) they'll introduce VRDB 2.0 with even better repair ratio. It will feature faster VRDB database generation and bigger database (not physically bigger in MB,just more info about applications that it can repair).

 

Interesting point...So Avast keeps a database in order to repair the files later?Sounds good,but how much HD space does this database requires??

Oh and any idea of which one is lighter on resources?

 

Resource usage on the bottom of the charts.

http://www.rokop-security.de/main/article.php?sid=757

http://www.rokop-security.de/main/article.php?sid=693

I do like Avast. However, stating that is does great with trojans is a bit misleading. Many other AV apps do a much better job.

Played around with nearly every other AV on the market. Just returned KAV, waiting for them to fix a few of the outstanding issues. Decided to give avast pro a try. Light on resources, quick scans, good features. Now all they need to do is bump up the overall level of protection.

Panda, owned Platinum and Titaium, returned both. Support sucked and I ran into some compatibility issues.

 

To everyone from Firefighter!

I want to add one hypothesis of my own. If Avast's heuristics in email is as good as Panda's, it will score about 1130 total detections compared to Panda's 1143, so that difference is a absolutely within the failure marginal. But that's of course a hypothesis.

Best regards,
Firefighter!

 

Thanks for the links Tazdvl.Well,seems Panda is taking about 36 MB RAMWow,that's much!HD space is similar (i was afraid avast would take too much when i read about the database feature).

I really can't decide.i think i ll ask him what he prefers... Personally i ve seen the "pirate" Avast skin and i looove it

 

To everyone from Firefighter!

One more clarification. Avast was clearly better in riskware category constructors than Panda, 21/27 vs. 8/27 but in riskware polymorphic engines Panda won 22/63 vs. 7/63. Also in worms (IRC-, I-, P2P, Win32 etc.) Panda won 331/365 vs. 312/365. In other sub categories Panda was only slightly better than Avast or they were about equal.

Best regards,
Firefighter!

 

FF check yer PM.

 

Don't worry about VRDB. It doesn't store complete files,but just their "DNA".
Its usually around 6-10MB in size. Its a spit in the sea for todays giga hard drives (i'm still running 20GB Maxtor monster and i don't have any problems ).

 

dear Hyperion, how are you doing? first of all i'd like to point out that no matter what AV you use, if you want special protection from trojans, you should use an AT. well as you're not inclined towards KAV, you should use a good AT with your AV. well now i remember you want it for your friend. anyway tell your friend to use a good AT. Andreas Haak's a2 is a wonderful AT which also detects dialers, worms and spywares. BTW if you use Panda you won't need extra protection from dialers. the free version doesn't have a resident scanner now but the next version will have it.

returning to the Panda vs. AVAST issue........ hey i was never there anyway,
both are well maintained products. but i'll recommend Panda as many of you already expected. with Panda you'll get Sygate firewall which is very good. this firewall is a very important component when your friend has a knack of inviting trojans. apart from that Panda has daily updates, wonderful support and powerful heuristics. yes VRDB gives AVAST some leverage but i didn't test that feature so won't comment more. i'm using Panda in my XP-SP1 machine with 128MB SDRAM and it runs wonderfully. nor did i encounter any freezing issues or confliction. if you maintain your PC well your softwares will run smoothly. i used AntiVir, eTrust, AVAST, AVG, Norman, eTrust EZ, NOD32, Panda, McAfee, Hauri, Quickheal and KAV in this system, i never needed a format!

also FYI Panda bagged the recent Checkmark certification for detecting and cleaning ITW viruses. it also managed the Checkmark certification for detecting trojans and not producing any FPs with their specially crafted FP suite. Panda also has the recent ICSA certificate for detection. if you see Andreas Clementi's test you'll see it scored very well there. checkout his site and you'll see a professional comparison chart of Panda and AVAST both.

BTW you can also try eTrust EZ which is also a very good product.

 

Thank you AMRX.I ve been talking to the phone to him a while ago,he wants Panda because he has heard of it.But he doesn't say no to a backup av (i ll put him avast).

I also know that he needs AT protection,in fact i ll put him a2 and Ewido.He is very imprudent when surfing,he don't want to abbandon IE ,nor disable active X. He is also a Kazaa super fan (it's full of viruses) ,so no wonder why he has been getting trojans.And unfortunately he doesn't like auto update,he had AVG,and his definitions were always old.

Anyway,my problem with Panda is that it works fine,but during the entire HD scanning encounters something and it gets blocked.As if it couldn't scan it and was keep trying and trying...I don't know.Maybe it's also my fault that i have all its processes disabled(set to manual start) from the control panel admin tools, services.Anyway,for the rest i keep my PC clean,including the registry.I don't have real time AT,but i have installed KAV5,Abtrusion Protector,Script Defender,Panda (1st on demand),Clam Win AV (2nd on demand), A2,Ewido,Adaware,Spyware Blaster,SpyBot,Sygate firewall,Reg Prot and use Firefox and all in deed works fine except this problem with Panda.Though it scans normally single packages i download .I also use Pop Tray,which i consider the best mail "antivirus" as i eliminate at the server the unknown mails,preview,and activate antispam filter.

Unfortunately,my friend is more lazy to use all this stuff.That's why i wanted the best freebie.

About ETrust,you 're right,i had forgotten about it,but now that he heard about Panda,i doubt i can convince him to drop it.You know...the "name" of the product has much weight to the average users.

Thank you all very much for your comments.

 

Just tested Panda Platinum 7. Damn thing died after first update just like AVG did.
I tried to open Opera browser and Pandas engine fired up to 99% CPU Usage and building resources over 50MB(i had to kill the process). Removed it asap and installed back avast!. I liked the way how it shows virus/firewall warnings

 

Whew Boy, that sounds good, but I think you need to get a few more AVs on that box, just to play it safe ...

 

dear Hyperion, what version of Panda you're using now? tell us about your OS and RAM. you should disable real-time scan from Panda configuration. have you checked your scanning report? check the box which says "cancel the scan and report if some incident occurs" in scan configuration. one more thing. when you're scanning with Panda disable your all real-time scans for viruses, trojans and spywares.

dear RejZor, i don't use opara so i don't know about any issues. have you tried checking the box which says "enable CPU load detection". i hope Hyperion's friend is not using Opera. i don't like Panda's message screen crawling up, it reminds me of McAfee.

 

dear Randy_Bell, i never used more than one AV simultanously in this system. sometimes i spend hours browsing the Internet without an AV. i just used that list to tell people that if they maintain their system well it'll go months and years without any problem. this is because i always see people complaining their AV leaving "this and that" and refusing to install or uninstall. i never encountered those problems.

 

I m using Panda Platinum 7.07 on Win XP Home 768 MB RAM DDR @ 333Mhz,Athlon XP 2500+.

I have disabled everything "real time" in Panda To be more precise,i have disabled the automatic update (i do it manually once a day) ,the "file protection",the "email protection" and the "firewall protection".

I hadn't the box checked...Thanks.I just did and i ll start a new scan.Oh,i ll disable KAV's real time monitor too as you suggested.I don't have any other running in real time (i hate having many applications at startup).

I ll report back at the end of the scan.Thank you very much.

 

dear Hyperion, now i know why you're using Sygate firewall even when you have Panda Platinum. geez can you lend me some RAM? i'm using only 128MB and that too of the old SDRAM variety. wish i could run DDR

BTW the latest Panda version is 7.07.01

 

Ok,it was blocked again.The file name disappears on the top.I made 3 tries.The first time it stopped after 3000 files,the 2nd after 4000+ files the 3rd after 7000+.I have uploaded a screenshot,i hope it works.If i cancel it the report says that the scan was completed.

PS:My friend uses IE unfortunately.

 

I run the "original" Sygate because i suppose it gets updated more frequently,that's all.

Ah,Panda didn't warn me about new version.i ll go download it now.Thanks