Panda Platinum Internet Security

Protecting a computer while online now requires so many security tools that it often makes sense to opt for the convenience of a fully integrated suite such as this latest version of Platinum Internet Security.

Offering a fit-and-forget solution to the ever-increasing threat from viruses, hackers, spam, spyware, porn diallers and inappropriate web content, it appears to have all bases covered and is available with a choice of three, six or 12 months-worth of security updates.

Installation is painless enough and is followed by the obligatory online check for program updates. In order to take advantage of the automatic virus update facility, though, it must be registered as soon as possible after installation. Once done, the latest signatures are downloaded and installed without delay.

The status of the various modules that make up the suite can be viewed from the home page. It is plain, almost to the point of being mistaken for part of Windows itself, but does a good job of making it quite clear if any urgent action is needed.

Defence against viruses and email-borne malware in general comes from Panda's anti-virus engine and affords as much protection as you're likely to need. With regular updates critical to the effectiveness of any anti-virus protection, we were pleased to receive as many as three per day during testing.

It's always wise to take advantage of post-installation system-wide scans and here we were impressed with its speed. Unlike some anti-virus scanners that slow down the host system to a crawl, its ultra-fast engine places much less of an overhead on system resources.

The firewall element of the suite does its job well and the defaults mean that virtually no configuration is needed. It even allowed shared network resources on the host machine to remain available to other network users, a feat not all firewalls can match.

The first time it made its presence known was when it blocked its own update manager from accessing the Internet after it had updated itself.

Otherwise, it was aware of most of the Internet-enabled applications on our test PC and didn't make a nuisance of itself.

Within Outlook, the included spam filter made a pretty good job of consigning spam to a separate folder. Additional toolbar buttons allow for the quick recovery of false positives, as well as banishing any spam that may have slipped through the net. It also works with Outlook Express, albeit slightly differently, but some manual configuration is needed before it will work with non-Microsoft email clients. It's a lot easier to get to grips with than Norton's Antispam, but lacks the bells and whistles of McAfee's Spamkiller.

Web content filtering is an essential part of Internet security where children are concerned and here Panda scored well. A range of predefined category-based filters can be applied to individual user accounts and there is plenty of scope for customisation. Password protection is a given, and both blacklists and white lists can be configured on a per-user basis should determined teenagers discover any loopholes in its coverage.

Under the hood, there's useful network activity information and a reporting tool that pulls together messages and alerts from all the modules into one easily digested screen. Anti-dialler protection ensures that dial-up connections can only be made through specified telephone numbers, while the anti-spyware module neutralises any attempts to access confidential information.

In terms of all-round effectiveness, we were generally impressed with the package as a whole. It provides protection across the required range of likely threats and needs only minimal intervention once it's up and running. Where it really needs improvement, though, is in its user friendliness and it has a long way to go before coming close to McAfee and Symantec's suites in terms of the complete out-of-the-box user experience. It's a shame, then, that it's marginally more expensive than its big-name rivals, as this severely limits its appeal among those looking for a trusted name on the box.

Contact: Panda Software 0906 609 2120
www.pandasoftware.co.uk

System requirements:

• Windows 95 or higher
• 300MHz processor
• 128MB of Ram
• 60MB of free hard disk space