Vigilante
Posts: 1,634 +1
Alright, hoping to avoid any flaming, I'd like a good discussion on AV products right now.
We all know that Norton and McAfee are very much under attack by most virus writers, as well as the products just suck (imho!)
We have been selling Panda now for over a year, 2004 edition of both Platinum and Titanium. At the time we made this choice (from selling NAV), Panda had excellent reviews everywhere I checked. Best detection rates, 100% clean rate, multiple daily updates, etc... And it was an awesom product.
But now in the POST SP1 and SP2 world, I'm starting to have problems. Panda does NOT have a very good registration process, or REregister for additional time. Their site is often acting up, or will suddenly send you to pages in a different language!
I've also noticed with Panda, the two major problems I just can't overlook. Number one is that, sometimes, rarely but regularly, when Platinum is installed, the firewall just blocks all access to the Internet. This is not the default behavior. Normally the firewall always pops up asking what you want to do. But some rare cases it just blocks everything no matter what, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it except turn the firewall off.
The 2nd issue is that, more often then I'd like, when Panda is first installed, the automatic protection just doesn't enable on startup. The program comes up, and then says your protection level is low because automatic protection is off. In Panda, it says there was an "error". No help there. Panda suggests reinstalling it. Which of course I've done a million times to no avail. However, if you go in Services, you can manually start the protection service, and everything is fine. May take a couple times but it does start. It just won't start on bootup.
And last quirk with Panda is that it seems to take forever for the icon to show up in system tray. Like every program loads and Panda is always last, even a minute after everything else. This doesn't give me a good feeling, thinking that every program but the antivirus can start up and do it's thing before the antivirus comes up. I would much rather have the AV come up FIRST. Though this may be a non-issue.
So that leads to this thread. I want to consider selling a different product, although we are going to try the 2006 version of Panda and see how we like it. I am reasearching today's offerings for resale.
Here is my shortlist of features.
1. Robust. Yes, detection rates are good, but I want an AV that WILL work and install right, hopefully, every time. A program that knows how to handle its own services and make sure it will run. Unlike Panda where, on a clean working system, for no apparent reason, the auto protect service has "error" which seems to be unfixable. I want a robust AV that will install and work. And is easy for an end-user to do.
2. Detect rates. Of course it needs to pass industry standard AV tests, and have good heuristics scanning. I am not interresting in loads of extra stuff. I don't "need" antispyware and antihacks and anti-everything else. I just want good quality virus detector. And the heuristics scanning which will attempt to find new virus behavior and warn you or ask what you want to do about it. Which Panda had top rated a year or two ago.
3. Updates. I don't want a Norton-like 3 or 4 day wait for updates. One good thing about Panda, you will get new virus signatures every day. Anywhere from 1 new virus to 60 or 70 new ones.
4. Resources. The last count I had of Norton was TWELVE SERVICES running for their NIS suite. Not including regular startup programs. This is crazy. I want a AV that knows how to be small and unobtrusive. I don't see why an AV couldn't just have a couple services to do its job. So hopefully a small AV that doesn't get in the way to much. Panda is fairly small, but Platinum has a firewall, and the new Titanium has antispyware. So their service count is climbing, but maybe only to 4 or 5.
5. Price. Since this is for resale, we like to bulk-buy maybe 25 to 50 at a time. We can get Panda for like $8 bucks. So we need to be able to get it cheap so we can pass on the savings. We can't be forced to buy it ourselves for $25 to $40 or whatever, or we won't be able to resale very well. Or buy very many at a time.
6. It would be nice if the manufacturer had a good working web site, with a simple registration process, and a simple way to buy a new year. Panda was fairly simple, you just put a username and password in the program and that's how they track it. Norton's is stupid, with all their hidden license key files and what not, making it near impossible to change products without it thinking you are on the old license etc... So a good registration tracking feature is a must. A simple user/pass, or key you put clearly in the program. Etc... With a clean web site and good customer service.
Panda, as some of you know, have NO phone support apparently, not even for pay. This is what I heard, though they do have phone numbers for whatever. So when people have a problem with Panda, they end up calling us, simply because they can't find any options through them. It would be nice if I could say, oh, you have problems, call xxxx. Or at least tell people to get support from them, not us. Panda only does support through E-Mail.
------------------------------------------
Alright, hope that wasn't to much of a read, but changing company policy to a new Antivirus needs a LOT of research, not just a few personal biases. I know people like to recommend AVG cause it's free and a good option for people trying to clean up. But I don't think they are great for a retail product. A non-standard interface, slightly odd usage, not as good detection as the big boys. Still a great product, we can't really sell something that is free. Or even getting the paid-for version, what would be the point?
I also know some people like Kaspersky. But that just doesn't seem as "mainstream" as the other big names. One of those oddball things you wonder if they will be in business next year. I don't know.
I was doing some quick searches and found a place with rated the highest, some product called "The Shield Pro". I've never even heard of it.
So then, give me some real reasons why I should dump Panda in favor of any of your suggestions. Or point me to your favorite AV test sites. Show me some real world reviews and tests. Speak from experience. Give me some research. Show me the pros and cons. Feed me Whoppers. er. nevermind that last part.
What are your thoughts?
We all know that Norton and McAfee are very much under attack by most virus writers, as well as the products just suck (imho!)
We have been selling Panda now for over a year, 2004 edition of both Platinum and Titanium. At the time we made this choice (from selling NAV), Panda had excellent reviews everywhere I checked. Best detection rates, 100% clean rate, multiple daily updates, etc... And it was an awesom product.
But now in the POST SP1 and SP2 world, I'm starting to have problems. Panda does NOT have a very good registration process, or REregister for additional time. Their site is often acting up, or will suddenly send you to pages in a different language!
I've also noticed with Panda, the two major problems I just can't overlook. Number one is that, sometimes, rarely but regularly, when Platinum is installed, the firewall just blocks all access to the Internet. This is not the default behavior. Normally the firewall always pops up asking what you want to do. But some rare cases it just blocks everything no matter what, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it except turn the firewall off.
The 2nd issue is that, more often then I'd like, when Panda is first installed, the automatic protection just doesn't enable on startup. The program comes up, and then says your protection level is low because automatic protection is off. In Panda, it says there was an "error". No help there. Panda suggests reinstalling it. Which of course I've done a million times to no avail. However, if you go in Services, you can manually start the protection service, and everything is fine. May take a couple times but it does start. It just won't start on bootup.
And last quirk with Panda is that it seems to take forever for the icon to show up in system tray. Like every program loads and Panda is always last, even a minute after everything else. This doesn't give me a good feeling, thinking that every program but the antivirus can start up and do it's thing before the antivirus comes up. I would much rather have the AV come up FIRST. Though this may be a non-issue.
So that leads to this thread. I want to consider selling a different product, although we are going to try the 2006 version of Panda and see how we like it. I am reasearching today's offerings for resale.
Here is my shortlist of features.
1. Robust. Yes, detection rates are good, but I want an AV that WILL work and install right, hopefully, every time. A program that knows how to handle its own services and make sure it will run. Unlike Panda where, on a clean working system, for no apparent reason, the auto protect service has "error" which seems to be unfixable. I want a robust AV that will install and work. And is easy for an end-user to do.
2. Detect rates. Of course it needs to pass industry standard AV tests, and have good heuristics scanning. I am not interresting in loads of extra stuff. I don't "need" antispyware and antihacks and anti-everything else. I just want good quality virus detector. And the heuristics scanning which will attempt to find new virus behavior and warn you or ask what you want to do about it. Which Panda had top rated a year or two ago.
3. Updates. I don't want a Norton-like 3 or 4 day wait for updates. One good thing about Panda, you will get new virus signatures every day. Anywhere from 1 new virus to 60 or 70 new ones.
4. Resources. The last count I had of Norton was TWELVE SERVICES running for their NIS suite. Not including regular startup programs. This is crazy. I want a AV that knows how to be small and unobtrusive. I don't see why an AV couldn't just have a couple services to do its job. So hopefully a small AV that doesn't get in the way to much. Panda is fairly small, but Platinum has a firewall, and the new Titanium has antispyware. So their service count is climbing, but maybe only to 4 or 5.
5. Price. Since this is for resale, we like to bulk-buy maybe 25 to 50 at a time. We can get Panda for like $8 bucks. So we need to be able to get it cheap so we can pass on the savings. We can't be forced to buy it ourselves for $25 to $40 or whatever, or we won't be able to resale very well. Or buy very many at a time.
6. It would be nice if the manufacturer had a good working web site, with a simple registration process, and a simple way to buy a new year. Panda was fairly simple, you just put a username and password in the program and that's how they track it. Norton's is stupid, with all their hidden license key files and what not, making it near impossible to change products without it thinking you are on the old license etc... So a good registration tracking feature is a must. A simple user/pass, or key you put clearly in the program. Etc... With a clean web site and good customer service.
Panda, as some of you know, have NO phone support apparently, not even for pay. This is what I heard, though they do have phone numbers for whatever. So when people have a problem with Panda, they end up calling us, simply because they can't find any options through them. It would be nice if I could say, oh, you have problems, call xxxx. Or at least tell people to get support from them, not us. Panda only does support through E-Mail.
------------------------------------------
Alright, hope that wasn't to much of a read, but changing company policy to a new Antivirus needs a LOT of research, not just a few personal biases. I know people like to recommend AVG cause it's free and a good option for people trying to clean up. But I don't think they are great for a retail product. A non-standard interface, slightly odd usage, not as good detection as the big boys. Still a great product, we can't really sell something that is free. Or even getting the paid-for version, what would be the point?
I also know some people like Kaspersky. But that just doesn't seem as "mainstream" as the other big names. One of those oddball things you wonder if they will be in business next year. I don't know.
I was doing some quick searches and found a place with rated the highest, some product called "The Shield Pro". I've never even heard of it.
So then, give me some real reasons why I should dump Panda in favor of any of your suggestions. Or point me to your favorite AV test sites. Show me some real world reviews and tests. Speak from experience. Give me some research. Show me the pros and cons. Feed me Whoppers. er. nevermind that last part.
What are your thoughts?
.
