In computer news this week:

A review of the Panda Antivirus software program

With so many viruses going around, you need to be using anti-virus software on your home and business computers. For the past several years many brands of computers have come bundled with antivirus programs on them. The problem has been that these were really just trial programs. Many users continued to use these programs, thinking they were protected, and then they got a virus infection, because new viruses had emerged which they weren't protected against.

Whatever anitvirus program you use, you have to keep it constantly updated. In fact some programs will automatically update themselves whenever you connect to the internet. I actually don't like this feature - I want to be in control of my own computer. Others let you do it manually as you choose to, like Panda Software.

The Panda Software antivirus program is available primarily though the internet, at www.pandasoftware.com. You can download and buy it, or try it out first. The Panda Antivirus Platinum program sells for $ 29.95, has been highly rated by many recent computer magazine reviews. If you remember a few weeks ago I told you I had downloaded virutally all of the major virus software from the internet; all the big name stuff, and I didn't really like any of them for various reasons.

The Panda program installs easily either via download or from a cdrom. The program is very well documented and comes with a lot of information about the internet, various protocols, and virus information. The program remains resident at all times and scans your computer and the email it receives. It has an easy to use popup control panel that lets you scan just about anything; memory, floppy disks, hard disks, cdrom drives, and this control panel can be configured for beginning or advanced users.

In actual tests Panda detected and removed recent generic lovebug and word macro viruses I have come across. Panda has a built in virus dictionary, which gives you the details of virtually all viruses to date. It also has built in voice which talks to you as it runs its tasks and informs you of its operations.

Another feature unique to Panda is that it lets you create 3 disks to disinfect computers with. These disks cause the infected computer to boot up at the lowest level, Dos, and then it runs its virus scans of the entire computer at this level.

You can update the Panda program whenever you choose to, and it shows you clearly how long it's been since you updated it. You may also subscribe to their service which sends you the updates on cdrom.

Panda Software, headquartered in Spain, markets several other products, including Lotus Notes protection, and a security program designed to armor plate computer users against any security threats to their systems. Their documentation and attention to detail is among the best that I've seen, and I like everything about the program.

I found interesting statistics in their literature which point out that virus attacks are on the increase, and that 26% of companies surveyed estimated that they had spent betwen $ 5000 and $100,000 to recover from virus attacks.

You don't want to become a computer virus victim, and if you're not protecting yourself, it's just a matter of time.

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222 Spangle, Wa 99031 (509)245-3736 Email: fdspokane@mtamicro.com