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Panda Free Antivirus is a small-sized and very simple-to-use anti-malware application that resorts to cloud technology to rapidly find and prevent Trojans, worms, viruses, spyware, adware and other forms of malicious activity, without sacrificing PC performance. It has been warmly received by the user community in the past, and the latest edition offers a new look that blends with the Windows 8 Metro UI.

Speedy installation with third-party offers

The setup procedure takes little time to finish. However, users should be careful when going through the wizard stages, as Panda Free Antivirus offers to download and install third-party utilities that it does not actually need to work properly. By paying a little attention, they can be avoided. In addition, it automatically creates an entry into the Windows Explorer right-click menu, although this is not mentioned anywhere in the setup.

Metro UI look and powerful security measures

Faithful to the Metro UI appearance, the interface contains large colorful buttons in the main window which can be re-arranged, just like sorting app tiles in the Windows 8 Start Screen.

Statistics show the total files scanned and quarantined, along with blocked threats. Users may access the scanning module, monitor active processes for suspicious activity, deflect USB-based virus attacks, as well as create an emergency boot USB drive in case Windows refuses to start.

Various scanning modes and customization

Panda Free Antivirus can perform a full checkup on the computer for malware agents, verify only popular hiding areas in critical scan mode, look only into specific directories and drives, as well as quickly scan selected files, folders and drives via the Windows Explorer context menu.

Novices may apply the default configuration with optimized settings when performing scan jobs, while advanced users have the possibility of tinkering with this arrangement when it comes to compressed files, behavioral blocking, automatic virus neutralization, alerts, exclusions, and so on. The real-time guard can be deactivated at any time, while scans can be scheduled to run automatically.

Performance and conclusion

Our most recent tests have revealed that Panda Free Antivirus does an excellent job when it comes to identifying infected files while remaining light on system resources. However, it may take a very long time to get rid of them, depending on their volume. The way we see it is that regular users who do not usually explore the depths of the Internet will most likely be satisfied with Panda Free Antivirus, but the adventurers will probably turn their heads to something more reliable.

New in version 16.0.2 (November 12, 2015):
• official site does not provide any info about changes in this version

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
• RAM: 64 MB.
• Hard disk free space: 100 MB.
• BROWSER: INTERNET EXPLORER 6.0 OR LATER.

OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 (32/64-bit