Panda Internet Security 2009

Panda's suite caught over 95 percent of spyware designed to steal passwords and financial information.This is a marked improvement over our previous testing, when Panda caught just 69 percent of those particularly harmful varieties. In behavioral detection testing it, caught 9 out of 15 malware samples based on how that malware acted on a test PC, but that placed it only sixth in that category.

A new Internet-based addition to the 2009 version called Collective Intelligence sends a hash, or signature, of a to-be-scanned file, along with information about its behavior, to Panda servers. By comparing the signature against a large online database of signatures, Collective Intelligence attempts to bolster the scanning abilities of the program on your PC and speed the suite's ability to detect new malware.

Panda's package clocked in with the best on-access scanning speed, which tests how long it takes to scan files as your PC opens or accesses them (though it proved the slowest suite for scans kicked off manually or according to a schedule).

It covers all the bases for expected features and adds a few extras, with parental controls, backups, antispam, and antiphishing. The suite also includes a useful vulnerability scanner that can check for patches missing from your PC. Though some of the extra features could use more polish, Panda's application was the only suite we tested that offered all of them. The vulnerability scanner, for one, is a welcome extra, since practicing good PC safety means making sure your computer is up-to-date with patches. But you'll need to launch the scan manually (you can't schedule it), and the overall security-status report won't change even if you're missing a critical patch.

To use its parental-control feature, you'll need to create a log-in and password for each person using the computer. Each log-in has its own profile that defines site restrictions. Then, when anyone starts up a Web browser, the user is prompted to select a parental-control log-in and enter a password--distinct from any that might be necessary for the Windows account--in a pop-up.

Panda's backup feature can back up by file type (such as photos, Office documents, or Internet favorites) or by selected folders or drives. It's relatively easy to set up, but you can schedule a daily backup only to another hard drive or to a CD or DVD. Its antispam option adds a toolbar and spam folder to Outlook and Outlook Express.

Panda's offering has a good interface and provides the fastest on-access scan speed of the suites we tested in this roundup, but its good--though middle-of-the-pack--malware detection prevents it from being a top pick.