Panda Internet Security Review

Overall Rating

Clear interface, simple to use

Bug-ridden, glitchy, will not run on Vista without problems, poor detection rates.

I recently bought a PC and requested that Panda Internet Security 2007 and Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 come bundled with it. I did not realise at the time that the latter product superseded the former. I had problems installing the products anyway - the versions that came bundled with the computer were not Vista-compatible and as my PC's OS was Vista, they would not install.

I contacted my PC supplier, as really they should have seen better than to bundle incompatible software, and they suggested I contact Panda directly, so I did, and downloaded and registered Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 from Panda's website. I then downloaded Panda Internet Security 2007 and realised that it had all of the functions of Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 plus some extra ones, so I installed and registered that instead.

I contacted Panda to explain I had registered for both products at once and a customer service representative kindly transferred my Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 subscription over to Panda Internet Security 2007, giving me two years' subscription. I was impressed that Panda had done this.

However, the program seems to have numerous glitches that have led me to uninstall it and replace it with a rival product. Firstly, when the computer boots up, it takes a long time before Panda Internet Security 2007 is finished readying itself - I have a high-spec PC (Intel Dual Core E6700, 4Gb RAM), but the program still takes over 30 seconds to get up and running. When I ran a diagnostic program on Vista it informed me that the Panda Internet Security 2007 takes over 30 seconds to boot up. After the 30 seconds, a yellow box appears at the bottom right of the screen saying "New Network Detected". For the first week or so I would click on "Connect to Network" or "Select Network" or whatever it says, and it would work fine, but before too long I would get an error message.

The error message said: "Access violation at address 39A43EE3 in module 'PProMg.dll'. Write of address 044450B7."

I would click OK, then try again, and it would usually work, but after two or three boot-ups it would stop working altogether. Each time I would uninstall Panda Internet Security 2007, for which, frustratingly, I would need to download a special program that blocks scripts and provides a clean uninstall, and reinstall it. Then of course I would need to update the program. The whole process required several restarts and took over 30 minutes.

The program would then typically work fine for a few days, before the above error message would appear again, inexplicably. There didn't seem to be any direct cause, it just happened after a while. However, last week, on perhaps my fifth reinstall, when I installed Panda Internet Security 2007 I was unable to connect to my wireless router. This of course meant I could not update the program, which rendered it useless. Enough is enough, I thought, and fully uninstalled the program with no intention of reinstalling it.

I have since spent £40 on Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0 and have so far been very impressed - there is no 30-second wait on boot-up, updates run smoothly and quickly, and the program has superior detection rates and update frequency. It is more expensive, but in this instance it looks like you really do get what you pay for.

Why is Panda Internet Security 2007 plagued with these problems? Is an update going to rectify these issues in the near future? Was the Vista-compatible version rushed out before it was really ready? Are these problems (particularly the specific error message) common or unique to me?

I now have two years' subscription that I will not be using - I am hoping for a refund on the cost of the subscription, as Panda Internet Security 2007 on Windows Vista is simply not fit for purpose.