Panda Cloud Antivirus
After 10 years of being dedicated to AVG antivirus, I've finally decided to try something new. There are a few reasons that lead me to choose this.
AVG antivirus was wonderful a few years ago. It fit all the requirements: small, unobtrusive, lightweight in terms of system resources and it actually worked catching viruses. Also it had the correct economics, free for home users and business bulk packs for small businesses with servers.
Over the years, AVG has become bloated. Going from 31MB in v7.5 to a whopping 141MB in the latest v10. Downloading the package takes awhile on business T1's and goes against our core beliefs. Adding an extra 10-20 minutes just to download something doesn't thrill us.
AVG has become obtrusive. It's continuous nagging messages about upgrading to pro and trying out system speed is pure tricks to the unknowing, fooling them into paying for unnecessary items.
AVG has become a burden. On more than one occasion, AVG doesn't install correctly, zarks the install and removal can be a lengthy process. This is on top of the already lengthy install process. The system resources needed to run AVG has also increased becoming a burden on the system.The system dogs and pants every time a scan is run. Not cool.
Lastly AVG is unable to catch the TDSS rootkit. Despite saying it catches rootkits, AVG doesn't. This requires other tools like ComboFix. The problem is ComboFix doesn't work with AVG, requiring an AVG uninstall, ComboFix run and AVG reinstall. Again, not cool.
At the suggestion of Majorgeeks.com, I've decided to try Panda Cloud Antivirus. It meets all the original requirements: small, unobtrusive, lightweight in terms of system resources and it actually works catching viruses.
Panda is a small 31MB and downloads in a few seconds. I like that.
The install process is a breeze and doesn't try to upsell you on anything.
It is a server/client system. Unlike traditional server client systems, the server is Panda's server, making this the first cloud antivirus available.
The Cloud Antivirus is unobtrusive. This means no nagging messages after installation.
Panda's pricing is right with a free version and a professional version for those in need.
Others seem to agree. Here's a poll about who's switching to Panda: http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum/poll.jspa?pollID=50108
I'm just excited I get a large part of my day back as service calls have just become shorter. Hopefully this doesn't turn into longer calls as I have to see for myself about its virus catching quality. Wish me luck.