What are your thoughts on cloud anti-virus?

Panda Cloud Anti-Virus

It sounds like an interesting way of protecting yourself over the internet, but I wanted to hear what you guys think.

Is it a good concept/idea?

More advantageous than traditional Anti-Virus software?

 

This is very interesting..I've never heard of this..I like the *homegrown effect* on this... Thank you for sharing..I hope more forum members also add their own comments!


Cin

 

I have installed it yesterday, and no problems since. I was using Windows Live OneCare prior to, so I can't really comment to the difference between the two in terms of speed/resource hogging...

 

Oh awesome! I'm glad you tried it out..will you provide some feed back on this over the next week or so??

Your feedback could influence others, etc.


Cin

 

I have my own 'Cloud' antivirus. Nothing new to me.

My setup:
-My own slimmed down customized version of Windows XP server
-Norton Corporate
-Vmware workstation
-Share all the storage medium on my computers
-Scan all of my computer once a year through LAN.

I never get viruses so having a cloud antivirus is more efficient.

 

You have a great setup!

The Cloud just seems nice cuz it appears to be *homegrown* to me..

Cin

 

Sure. If anything pops up, I'll post it here.

 

An interesting approach although not entirely new, I'm curious about it's detection rate.
It should be quite high with their Collective Intelligence.
This free beta version of Panda Cloud AV is especially usefull for folks who like the 'set and forget' approach.
You'll have to like it because any file deemed as malware will be deleted.
There is no option to send files to quarantine if the AV categorizes it as malware.
Files that are deemed 'unknown'; where Panda AV isn't sure whether they are good or bad, can be quarantined.

Also, take into account that, when offline, viri/malware are only detected through the signature database (of which a local cache is stored on your notebook); there is only heuristic scanning possible when you have an internet connection.
And, " only PE files (.EXE, .COM, etc.) are checked against the cloud. Non-PE files such as pictures, documents, etc are not scanned from the cloud".

More info can be found here.

edit; It's 32-bit only.

 

Curious if it as "light" as they say it is.

 

If it runs lighter than Avira, I'll be impressed.

 

Great...can't wait to hear your feedback & I'm certain others look forward to it, also!


Cin

 

you want light / powerful? simple NOD32 FTW

 

I think he already uses light/powerful/simple = Avira AV!!



Cin

 

As a first line of defense - pretty pointless and useless I'd say.

As an "on demand scanner" - has a lot of competition already - Kaspersky has an on demand online scanner - I bet other companies offer one too.

But let me say why as first line of defense I'd call it pointless.

It should be pretty easy for a programmer/hacker to lock down ports used by an anti virus software running on a cloud - doing this will mean the programme cannot update etc.
Traditional Anti virus suites don't need an active connection to work - they only need a connection for updates.

 

It looks and sounds promising, especially for folks who have a low amount of RAM Memory, or those who want an antivirus on-the-fly.

I hope that it turns out O.K, Cloud Computing shows a lot of promise.

 

The idea of placing protection remotely is interesting. I recall hearing a while back that D-Link was trialing Anti-malware as part of the router, so nothing is actually running on your computer and all the traffic is going through the router anyways so it made sense. I'm not sure how effective it is.

Of course in D-Link's case when you take your laptop with you on the road you lose protection.

 

This Cloud AV is very intriguing so I just installed it. I then removed Avira (gulp) so we'll see how effective this is.

Everything is very simplistic. This is the settings page:



The Scan options:



And finally, the Status page:



From the Status page it seems that this is not just AV, but targets worms, trojans, spyware etc...

Maybe it's in my head but my internet seems a little slower too. And Security center is reporting Panda as actively protecting my system in both Anti-Virus and AntiSpyware (along with Defender of course).

 

Here is another question:
How will that protect you from possible malware on USB drives??

If you are not connected to the internet - that's a no go.

 

I think that I will give it a try tomorrow or past tomorrow, and post my thoughts in this thread.

 

Say whaaaaaaaat? you mean it does not store the virus definitions after aquiring them?? so I the laptop won't be protected offline? are you sure? can anyone confirm this? I was hoping to replace the pcs i repair with this oen since I kinda like Panda software

 

The way I undestand it the actual key stuff is "on a cloud".

If you had all the virus definitons etc. on your computer then its a normal antivirus.

The fact that someone above claimed internet is slower would make it likely that traffic goes through their servers first before it get's to your PC.

 

It does, as I've written earlier in this thread;

Read the Panda blog link for specific details.
Cheers.

 

That's a good link. The frequently asked Qs answers just about all the questions we've had so far.

Also, I commented yesterday that my internet seems slow, well my system as a whole was sluggish after install but according to the blog, after the program is installed, it did an initial background scan (which took a while and slowed everything down, constant HD access etc...) but today everything seems back to normal, speed-wise.

I'm liking it so far.

 

This is good news! If you have continued success...maybe I will have a go at it!
(Avira AV 9 is still my #1)

Cin

 

Prevx has been doing this "cloud" protection for awhile now;

http://www.prevx.com/

Active forum here; http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=104

Highly recommended and IME, a much better product than Panda's offering.

 

Panda is still in Beta so it's not finished yet (beta 2 is apparently coming any day now). You should also mention that Prevx is not free; in fact it's even more than Norton Internet Security 2009. Panda is completely free and will continue to be free after the beta is done.

 

There is a free version, but for detection only. I have used it in this mode for nearly two years now.

Overall, paid or not, at the present time I would definitely recommend Prevx over Panda.

 

If the Cloud Antivirus turns out alright, I might install it on my other computers that have small amounts of RAM memory.

 

Hi MaXimus, this is Sean-Paul from Panda Security.

Your computer will absolutely be protected even when it is offline. Cloud Antivirus stores a “local cache copy” of Collective Intelligence for offline operation and as soon as you disconnect, it still works in the background, checking every file against its local cache of detections. This local cache includes, amongst other things, detection for all malware files which are currently in circulation and affecting users.

If you or any of the forum members have any questions or concerns, feel free to post them here. I'm happy to address them.

 

Hi Sean-Paul, nice to see you here answering questions.

I've had PCAV beta installed for a few days and I've noticed a general system slowdown coupled with a significant HD access (thrashing) happening about once or twice a day lasting for about 30mins each time.

I have since removed PCAV and reverted back to using Avira and this has stopped.

While I have no proof of this, I have a strong suspicion that PCAV was partially the cause. Maybe an automated background scan?

Do you think my suspicion is plausible? And is there anyway to have some control over when, how frequently, or if at all, the scan occurs?

Thanks.

 

Hi Sean-Paul, nice to see a Panda representative present here.

Could you inform us what (roughly) the detection ratio is of the signature database compared to the heuristics you guys have implemented "in the cloud"?
Or is the heuristic part only used to 'run' unknown files and see what behaviour it is likely to show?

Also, will you guys be up for comparative testing like from AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives when this product comes out of beta?

Props to Panda for making this a free product btw.
Cheers.

 

Wow! What a nice visit!
I'm really intrigued with your AV Application, that I might have to unload Avira AV..to try it out!

Glad your here to answer any questions/comments!

Kudos!


Cin

 

Well, since I installed it, I've had no problems with it whatsoever. Decided to use it on both my desktop and laptop. It seems to be more thorough and error free than my previously installed OneCare. Been using it for about a month now.

If any of you guys have any suggestions you could leave a comment via the PCAV progam to share your ideas/thoughts.

 

Thanks for the nice feeback DYBS! It's cool it's working out well on both you lappy, and desktop! I wish you continued success...Maybe I will install on my Netbook now, just to *test it*


Cin

 

Do you use it together with another anti virus or just PCAV alone?
I want to try PCAV, but am quite worried about its performance, especially if I use it while disabling my Avira/ThreatFire. Especially because I use my computers mainly for work 75% of the time.

Kudos to the developers for making this free though. Like Baserk, I also love for PCAV to participate in AV comparative tests.

 

Yeah, its been working great for me. Hope your future testing turns out to be a positive one.

I use it PCAV alone. No problems so far (performance-wise).

 

Yeah, I hope so too. I kind of use my Netbook as a *test all* lol
Will report back afterwards....(I don't foresee any prob's everything has been fairly easy on my Netbook..cept for MSN).


Cin

 

Sean-Paul from Panda Security here... I’m happy to tell you that we’ve officially launched Cloud Antivirus out of beta. We’ve all been working hard over the last several months to bring you a number of key updates, including an updated user interface, improved performance, real-time access to the latest malware detected in our user community, new Web site and online support forums. We’ve also made Cloud Antivirus compatible with Windows 7/64 bits, which was one of the top requests we received throughout the beta.

The download if you’re interested (it’s still free) is available on the Cloud Antivirus site: http://www.cloudantivirus.com. Also, if you have any questions or technical issues, please post them here and I’ll be sure to address them openly here in the forum.

 

I won't be an early adopter for a number of reasons -- mainly the lack of customizing options in the current release and the fact that I don't want to trust security to a new and relatively untested product. But will keep my eye on it because it has great potential

 

Just thought i'd post this for those who are wanting to know more about Panda Cloud AV.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355827,00.asp

 

HTML:

[quote="arjunned, post: 5571980"]Just thought i'd post this for those who are wanting to know more about Panda Cloud AV.

[URL="Just thought i'd post this for those who are wanting to know more about Panda Cloud AV."]LINK[/URL][/QUOTE]

Broken link... or rather not there at all

 

sorry abt that. link changed in previous post.

but here it is so u dont go back a page.

Cheers.

 

Thanks.
Interesting article - but I think they need to improve their malware removal...

 

Yes. Most Definitely. But their detection is brilliant. Really impressive. And remember its just v1.0. Thats really promising.

 

Promising indeed but the scanning bugs need to be resolved;
' full scan' can sometimes seem to hang at 99% for ages when it's scanning archives, ' fast scan' shows 'scan was interrupted' and 'scan completed succesfully' in the same window) and the 'internet connection' message bug need to be resolved.
The beta for 1.1 will be available in a couple of months according to Panda dev. Pedro Bustamante. (PCAV thread on Wilders link).
Panda Cloud AV will also have added features in future releases.
No idea what though....

 

Ya. i remember how a lot of us tried to get it out of Pedro over at Wilders.
But he wouldn't give in!

Hopefully they'll have automatic updates up and running with 1.1 with maybe something like behaviour block.
I wonder why quite a few ppl voted for a firewall as a feature request. I'd think something like a Behaviour Blocker would be more important.

Avast! has implemented a BB in their new v5 beta. I'm sure it'll be a great added feature to the free version.

 

i try panda in 30 days... very good... no virus...!!! very light resources... speedy PC

 

I'm content with my setup

Asus g50vt
- Kaspersky Internet Secruity 2010
- SUPERantispyware

My small Netbook
- Avira personal free version
- SUPERantispyware

My computers haven't broke, suppose that means they are doing their jobs.

 

what kind of superantispyware you used???? the free version???

 

i found out that this cloud panda have something in conflict with windows defender, the panda icon is missing when you install windows defender...
and some drivers are continuing to permit by the windows defender even if you permitted it... again and again, every time i open my netbook, i will permit that drive again...
so now i uninstall windows defender and im fine now with this set up:

windows firewall
winpatrol
PANDA CLOUD ANTI VIRUS

very light, cool set up...!!!
if you have better set up than this, please let me know...