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I’ve been running Panda Cloud Antivirus on my XP and Vista 32-bit machines since right after it’s initial public beta release. I really like this antivirus program because it’s light. It doesn’t bog down my machine. The scans are "always on" so there is no need for daily (or scheduled) full scans and my definitions are always up to date. Most importantly, it doesn’t slow down my machine.  Granted, I’m not what I’d call a "high risk" user. But at the same time, I’m not overly cautious in my web surfing. I’ve been waiting for the 64-bit version…and now it’s here! I didn’t see any big fanfare about it, but when I checked Panda’s site the other day - lo and behold there it was. The answer I’d been waiting for.

Now, I realize, a lot of people don’t think this application is as good as those that have been around for awhile, and perhaps it isn’t, but it works for me. I haven’t had any malware or viruses slip through. It’s important to remember that no antivirus solution is 100% secure. The malware developers are always a step ahead of the malware removal applications. In this recent blog post there are details about detection rates and I think Panda does quite well at #1 with 99.4% detection.

This is still a beta, but it’s free, and it’s a program I really like. Unless I find some big glaring reason, I doubt I’ll switch back to standard antivirus programs. I was having a problem where AVG (when scanning) would churn away increasing my laptop temperatures upwards of 125 degrees. Since installing Panda Cloud Antivirus, it has not topped 109 and my overall usage (on both cores) has been reduced significantly. It’s important to note that immediately after installation it does do a full scan. This scan is not faster than a traditional AV program, but I did not notice any performance degradation during the scan. After the initial scan, unless you choose to run a full scan for some reason, your machine is always protected. Even if you have no internet connectivity, there are a set of definitions that will still be protecting your machine.

If you’d like to know more about how Panda Cloud Antivirus works take a look at this article.  I researched this before my first installation of the program, and I was confident enough in the theory that I was willing to put a beta AV on my machines. If you know me, you know how seriously I take security on a computer and this was not a decision I made lightly.  I have not regretted this choice for even a moment. My personal opinion is this is worth testing out. If you don’t like it, you can always go back to a traditional antivirus program, but I think you will like it as much as I do.