Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005

There’s the good, the bad, and the ugly in Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005. The good is the antivirus component, which is flat-out outstanding, equaling that of ZoneAlarm and almost matching Norton for the best in this roundup. It’s comprehensive, yet easy to use, and it’s able to scan files, e-mail, and instant messages.

The antivirus tool boasts Panda’s TruPrevent technology that goes beyond merely checking downloaded files against a database of known viruses. It also checks them for virus-like behavior (an important feature to protect against newly released viruses that haven’t been added to the database yet). This feature nicely complements the suite’s Genetic Heuristic Engine, which checks for malware traits in e-mail and IMs. Between the antivirus and anti-spyware tools, Panda’s suite nearly matches ZoneAlarm as the best in our roundup when it comes to detecting, blocking, and removing adware, spyware, and tracking cookies from your PC.

The suite’s parental controls are excellent, providing easy-to-use tools to keep your kids away from the dark side of the Web. We like the included anti-phishing component that keeps you from responding to falsified e-mail messages that try to get you to give up personal financial information, as well as the anti-dialer tool that keeps hackers from running up your phone bill.

The bad in this suite is its firewall. It’s able to deter hackers from accessing your PC and to keep programs from silently uploading your data to the Internet, but it sometimes fell for Trojans that disguised themselves as legitimate applications. The ugly part of the suite is its anti-spam tool, which is more-or-less useless when it comes to keeping spam out of your inbox, at least if you don’t want nearly all your legitimate messages to get blocked in the process.