Prevx Blog
Prevx Suggests Panda's Cloud Antivirus Is Bloatware With A Fancy Name
Posted by: Mel Morris
Prevx has the only thin-client cloud based anti-malware solution
Firstly, let's define the characteristics of a thin-client, cloud based anti-malware solution. We believe that Prevx 3.0 is a good example. The client or security agent is a tiny 800Kilobyte download. It provides a full range of anti-malware protection including powerful rootkit and 'early life' malware detection and remediation. It has no locally stored signatures. It has no discernible impact on system performance. It has class leading low levels of system resource utilization and a minute footprint. It feeds and feeds off the World's largest online threat database. It is always up to date. It can scan a system in much less than five minutes.
Compared to Prevx 3.0, Panda's Cloud Antivirus isn't even close
Let me now explain why I believe that Panda's Cloud Antivirus doesn't shape up. Well firstly, it is an 18Mb download, which Panda obviously thinks is impressive. It is actually 22.5 times bigger than the Prevx 3.0 agent. It isn't even that much smaller than some of the full blown conventional AV packages from vendors like AVG, Symantec, McAfee or Kaspersky. We tested the agent yesterday and were left totally underwhelmed. It missed a common place TDS rootkit completely and took more than 1.5 HOURS to scan one of our office PCs running Vista and using a 45Mbp/sec dedicated internet pipe. About 30 times longer than Prevx 3.0 took to scan the same PC, find and remove the TDS rootkit.
Panda is only 3 years late to lay claim to being the first with a cloud based AV
I wouldn't mind Panda trying to lay claim to being the first to market with a cloud based AV but they are actually three years too late to make that claim. I wouldn't mind that quite so much, if I hadn't demonstrated our Prevx 1 and Prevx 2 solutions (also cloud based like Prevx 3.0), to their Chief Technology Officer, 3 years ago in Panda's head quarters in Bilbao. With that in mind, such a claim was knowingly false when they made their announcement this week. But I suppose, it comes from a market sector that has got used to overhyping security solutions, for years. You know, alongside the product names like Total Protection, and 'all you ever need security for online banking' etc. Which are similarly bogus claims. But in Panda's case I find their claims simply rude and offensive given our previous dealings!
We don't even claim Prevx 3.0 is a silver bullet, but Panda's Cloud Antivirus only fires rubber bullets
OK, I can hear the protestations now. But it's only in Beta. Maybe the 18MByte download still has debug code in it and it will eventually shed 90% of its bloat before it goes live. But A SILVER BULLET!! Hardly, we wouldn't even claim that for Prevx 3.0. Panda's Cloud Anitivirus may claim to being a Silver Plated Rubber Bullet. You know like the socks described as Cotton Rich that leave your feet aching after 5 days standing at RSA 2009 and 3 days this week at InfoSec.
Panda, we used to sing your praises, and we know you can do better
Having played with Panda's Cloud Antivirus beta for a few hours I believe it is so far off the mark it will need a complete redesign and redevelopment to even come close to the mark. I'd also recommend downplaying the marketing hype as it only leads to greater disappointment for your users. Maybe you could position Panda Cloud Antivirus as an in-house proof-of-concept, or better still, a prototype!
10 comments so far
- Ste_95 on Apr 30 17:22, 2009
- user on May 1 9:39, 2009
- Pedro Buster Mental on May 1 22:35, 2009
- carlos corbin on May 2 4:53, 2009
- Xenu on May 3 8:41, 2009
- Daniel on Jun 18 8:53, 2009
- Phantasm on Aug 27 19:45, 2009
- Spike Spiegel on Sep 2 15:18, 2009
- Health Insurance Guy on Nov 12 9:47, 2009
Prevx's the best, anyway, everywhen and everywhere!
Either Prevx or none!
Who cares if Panda missed a crappy TDS rootkit?
Without Panda, the civilized world would have been destroyed years ago!
Panda is still the only AV that can detect the dreaded "Princess Di" virus!
Only Panda was able to save us then, and only Panda will be able to save us when the terrible Elron virus strikes next week!
I come across Prevex by chance , when browsing on the internet for info on a virus my pc got becuase of entering sites to get a crack for a program i wanted to get for free (st i do on & off...).My AV "McAfee" could not get rid of this virus and some others more i got infected by doing this...
I had never heard of it and i gave it a try and download it . It was all surprisingly good: the AV solution (then called "Prevx Edge") downloaded , intsalled and made the scan easily and in a matter of minutes.
This left a good taste in my mouth , to start with, but even better it detected all infections and was capable of erasing them - well, as long as you bught the AV, this the only "bad" thing,,,But this is fair and obvious.Evrbd has to live off st and cannot give things away...-
It seemed to me such a good product and discovery, that i didnt think twice and got it , without lookin any further for any other mainstream AV solutions trials (such as panda, trend, karspersky, nortom....). That is, i decided to pay for it an go, which is st i dont do very often...
I ve never been such happy with an online purchase like this and this AV is sim`ply the best i konw so far.
I tried to know a bit on how this AV worked, cos it seemd incredible to me how fast it got thgs done, and thuogh i read several info, i didnt understand much , as i,m not an expert on AV and things like that : i´m just a plain internet user and musiclover...
Also i wanted to know about the company behind this brand (Prevx) -i am a curios person in this kind of things, i meam , Company profile, Company´s countrry, investors...- , and ,i must say, this was the thing i liked less, as i could not find out all the details i´d have desired to know about , especially which country this company came from (i was hesitating btween USA or UK).
In any case , this is a freaky thing of mine....
these days , by reading a bit on the Prevx Research blog (at the website) , i found out a bit more about what the hell "Cloud-based AV solutions" meant , which is st i had lastly found/read on some others sites (Panda site, for instance...)
Now i understand why this AV works so fast and effectively, and its clear to me that "Cloud and community feedbacking based AV is the future of anti malware solutions...
To sum up:
I´m very happy with this product , ease and simplicity of use, nice and intuitive User´s interface (this also very important to me -some AV like Norton 360 are just a headache and can only be understood by computer masters, i would say, I removed from my Vaio two months bfore the trial expired, sick of it-
One more thing, Lastly All major AV Brands force u to buy their highly-priced AV, with the excuse they r giving you 3 licenses (60 euros), as if all people had in their homes 3 or more pc´s....this is a rip-off!
at least i could buy this antivirus for 23,5 euros more or less (i bought it in dollars , the difference in change played in my favour....
Last thing; Support Service: Simply excellent. They reply quickly and seriously.
Good on you boys!
Carlos Corbín Espinosa (España-Spain, city of Valencia, 2-may-09)
BONUS! If you buy Panda Clown Antivirus, Tom Cruise will come to your house next week and jump up and down on your expensive while leather sofa.
If someone has a problem with your PC . Choosing Prevx. It protects from viruses, Trojans and worms, blocks spyware and adware, protects instant messengers , provides proactive protection from unknown threats . Personally , It's the best security software I have ever used
Prevx is one of the best out there... love it. Purchase Prevx seriously..
Am I the only one with the distinct feeling that all the comments on that page are either from Prevx or from Panda themselves?
Ah!!! at last I found what I was looking for. Somtimes it takes so much effort to find even tiny useful piece of information.
Nice post. Thanks
I have used Prevx and Panda products for years. This Panda cloud clooge is probably the worst product they have ever produced. I don't blame Prevx for taking the hump - Prevx's latest agent is first rate.