Panda Antivirus 2019 Review

How We Test

Selecting the right antivirus is extremely important. 

To help you figure out whether Panda’s antivirus is the right one for you, we have analyzed it according to 6 factors. In the graph below, you can see all of them, and how they impact the final score. 

If you don’t know what all these terms mean, don’t worry. In the next part, we explain each in a bit more detail. We also tell you how Panda’s antivirus scored, and which data sources we used.

Panda 2019: Protection from malware

The Good: Panda has good protection scores for Windows 10. Meaning it will keep you safe from malware and other online threats.

The Bad: Panda was only tested by AV-Comparatives, not by AV-Test, limiting our data.

What is a protection test?

There are two companies which are considered the world’s leading antivirus test institutes. These are AV-Test and AV-Comparatives.

Several times per year, they challenge over 20 antivirus software in a range of protection test. In these tests, they analyze the software on 3 different types of protection:

1. Protection from known malware

The key word here is “known”. Malware and anti-malware are locked in a continuous battle of cat and mouse. When new malware is developed, the antivirus attempt to discover and eliminate it.

When a new malware threat is discovered, its digital signature is uploaded to a huge database. Using this signature, the antivirus can detect the malware much faster in the future.

This is the classical virus scanning method, called signature-based detection.

2. Protection from unknown malware

Before a malware’s signature can be uploaded to the database, it must first be discovered. This means that there was a period, during which the malware was “unknown”. It had simply never been encountered before.

To detect unknown malware, the antivirus use a different method. This is called “heuristic file-scanning”. Here, the antivirus scan for suspicious behavior patterns, rather than digital signatures.

For instance, if a program tries to replicate itself very fast across a network, this is suspicious. Normal software doesn’t do this. So this program would be flagged as potential malware.

3. Protection from user-focused threats

There are a lot of scams online. A famous example is a phishing email that appears to come from PayPal and asks you to verify your account. Of course, this email does not come from PayPal. It is actually trying to trick you into giving up your account details.

To protect users from such threats, the file scanning methods are useless. Instead, antivirus software have developed other features, such as anti-phishing tools and web advisors.

Panda 2019: Windows 10 protection score

Panda scores excellently in the protection from malware, far above the industry average.

Note: Panda is only tested by AV-Comparatives, not by AV-Test. On top of that, it is only tested on Windows 10. We have no data for Android or Mac.

Panda 2019: Performance Impact

The Good: Panda had good performance scores for Windows 10, meaning it won’t slow down your PC, laptop, or tablet.

The Bad: Panda was not tested for Android and Mac.

What is a performance test?

When you watch Netflix or surf the web, your antivirus software operates quietly in the background. To do this, it requires some resources of your device. And depending on the amount of resources required, this can slow your device down.

AV-Test and AV-Comparatives both run performance tests to find out how much each antivirus impacts your device. Some are hardly noticeable, where others have a big impact.

Panda 2019: Windows 10 performance score

Panda’s perfromance scores are right on the industry average.
Note: Panda is only tested by AV-Comparatives, not by AV-Test. On top of that, it is only tested on Windows 10. We have no data for Android or Mac.

Panda 2019: Devices & Features

The Good: Panda supports Windows, Mac, and Android. It offers a free VPN, although limited to 150mb daily. And comes with a real malware scanner on Android, not just an app-scan.

The Bad: No support for iOS.

What is a devices and features test?

We analyze which operating software the antivirus protects, and which features it offers. Most antivirus software work with Windows, Mac, and Android. But only a few work with iOS.

This is a shame. iOS might be a safer platform, but its users could still benefit from a (free) VPN, anti-phishing tools, and anti-theft tools.

Outside of the supported operating software, we also check which features are offered for each device. Examples that can really lift a score are a (limited) free VPN as offered by BitDefender and Panda.

Panda 2019: Supported devices score

Panda’s core focus is antivirus for Windows. Nearly all its security features are exclusively available here. These include the firewall, wifi protection, USB scan, parental controls, identity and ransomware protection, password manager, clean-up tool, and free VPN.

For Mac, Panda offers a much more basic package: Just the virus scanner.
For Android, things are much better and this is also the reason why Panda scores so high in this category.

Panda’s antivirus for Android not only offers the standard app-scan, it actually gives you the ability to scan files and multimedia on demand. That is a step further than most antivirus for Android go.

On top of that, Panda offers a free VPN, speed optimizer, call blocker, app lock, and an advanced anti-theft tool. All for Android. Impressive.

For iOS, there is an app in the Apple Store, but Panda doesn’t even feature it on its website. It’s basically a phone locator. A feature that comes standard with iPhones. So this one can be ignored.

Overall, Panda’s strongest protection is on Windows and Android. Here, it’s a great choice.

Panda 2019: User Reviews

The Good: Panda has excellent user reviews in both TrustPilot and the Google Play store. On TrustPilot, it scores an 8.7 out of more than 10.000 reviews. Exceptionally high.

The Bad: Nothing.

What is a user review test?

User reviews have become incredibly important. From Amazon to TripAdvisor, they are everywhere. And for good reason. They not only provide insight to the product quality, but also the customer service.

Sadly, companies have discovered that user reviews are a powerful marketing tool and some attempt to manipulate them for their own gain. This makes it hard to know which user reviews to trust.

We have analyzed the data from TrustPilot and the Google Play Store. TrustPilot is the leading independent user review website, and the Google Play Store has the largest collection of software-focused user reviews in the world.

Panda 2019: User review score

Panda does exceptionally well in this category. Not only does it have the most user reviews by far on TrustPilot (over 10.000), it also has an average score of 8.7. Truly an impressive result.

In the Google Play Store it has far less user reviews than the big brands Norton, Avast and BitDefender, but still scores a very respectable 4.3 stars out of 5 from over 28.000 user reviews.

Panda 2019: Value for Money

The Good: Panda comes at a very competitive price, while offering a free VPN. Giving it very good value for money compared to the expensive American brands McAfee and Norton.

The Bad: Nothing.

What is a value for money test?

We compare the protection and bonus features an antivirus offers, with its price. We then compare this to the offers by the other antivirus.

Panda 2019: Value for money score

Panda offers very good value for money.

Not only is its protection top notch and does it have excellent user reviews, it also features a range of great bonus tools such as a password manager, parental control, and free (150mb daily) VPN.

And most importantly in this category; its price is very competitive.

Panda 2019: False Positives

The Good: –

The Bad: Panda had a surprisingly large number of false positives in the test. This means that it mistook a lot of clean files for malware.

What is a false positive test?

When antivirus try to protect you, they sometimes mistake a harmless program for malware. This is called a false positive. The test labs, AV-Test and AV-Comparatives, register how often antivirus make these mistakes.

False positives are not dramatic. Every antivirus has a certain amount of false positives. However, some have considerably more than others. And this can be annoying. For instance, when your antivirus blocks a program that you are trying to use, because it thinks its malware.

Panda 2019: Windows 10 false positives score

Panda flagged a surprisingly high amount of clean files as false positives, scoring below the industry average.

Note: Panda is only tested by AV-Comparatives, not by AV-Test. On top of that, it is only tested on Windows 10. We have no data for Android or Mac.

Data sources we use

Protection, performance, and false positives data:

The core of our analysis is formed by the protection, performance and false positives scores by AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. These are the leading IT security test labs that test the best antivirus software several times per year.

In our scoring, we take the average scores of all their tests since January 2017. These include over 30 tests, spanning more than 20 antivirus software.  We found BitDefender, Norton, Panda, BullGuard, McAfee, and Avast, to be the best across all platforms.

User review data:

The review data come from Trustpilot and the Google Play Store. 

TrustPiliot is a Danish company that focuses solely on the collection of user reviews. Over the years, more than 200.000 companies have been reviewed by over 45 million user reviews.

The Google Play Store is the app store of Android devices. It has one of the largest databases of apps in the world, including software user reviews.

Data sources we use

Protection, performance, and false positives data:

We have analyzed all tests by AV-Test and AV-Comparatives since January 2017. These are the two leading IT security test institutes in the world. Several times a year they challenge the best antivirus in their protection, performance, and false positives (called usability by AV-Test).

Since January 2017, there have been over 30 tests, challenging more than 20 antivirus programs. We have found BitDefender, Norton, Panda, BullGuard, McAfee, and Avast, to be the best performers. See our comparison of the best antivirus to find out which of these is the best one.

We have used the data of the test labs to calculate the average scores for each brand over several tests. And also to calculate the industry average per category.

This is valuable, as it shows you how a brand performed over a wide range of test, rather than in a single one. And how it compares it to the other brands. Giving you a measuring stick to know if they performed well or not.

User review data:

We have analyzed the data by TrustPilot and TrustRadius. The two international leaders in the collection of verified user reviews.

TrustPilot collects user reviews from consumers. These have analyzed over 200.000 business with 45 million reviews on its platform.

TrustRadius collects highly detailed reviews from business buyers. The average review here spans more than 400 words, 4 times longer than the average user review.

Value for money, device and features data:

We have analyzed each antivirus program on the devices its supports, the features it offers on each device, and the price it requests in return. All this data, therefore, comes directly from the cybersecurity companies.

Links:

For links to the exact articles and web-pages used, read on below.