Cloud Anti-Virus from Panda

I would provide a link, but im not sure what the policy is on that.


Anyways, what do you guys think?

 

That's the first sentence from the link provided above by Kestrel13!. The first part makes sense: it's a free antivirus. Cool. But what the :*** does ".. resides mostly off the host system and in the cloud .." mean?!?!?!
:confused

 

Hungry for more info about this so-called "cloud", I went surfing. I found this VERY informative article by the folks at USAtoday. Apparently, the 'cloud' is the internet. So it relies entirely on internet access. It seems that the AV app sends any/all questionable (or not questionable) files across the web (how does it decide what to scan?) and determines what is malware by comparing it to other rec'd files which are also compared against known malware signatures. Hmmm.... does anyone else see a HUGE flaw here? Many viruses restrict your web access; they block certain sites (I've seen viruses block microsoft.com and majorgeeks.com but allow newegg.com). Many viruses jump into web transmissions; what's stopping them from jumping into the 'cloud'. And what about privacy? Why does Panda get to look at everything on my PC in real-time via the web and determine what is "OK"? Where do they draw the line? What's "dangerous" in the "cloud"? Personally, I'll be staying FAR away from this.

[dlb]

(sorry for the rant. I've had a few :drink :wine LOL )

 

Tried it and did not like it.
Kept calling SAS and SpywareBlaster as a virus and killed the processes of both.

 

I had made a full disk clone backup of my drive BEFORE installing Panda.
I believe in insurance when dealing with Beta programs.Fortunately,it was not needed.

 

I don't think it's the drinks dbl. When reading up about this Panda Cloud a few days ago without any drinks, I saw it more like a thundercloud. :-D Additionally, I immediately spotted that privacy issue and said to myself right away..... no way, definitely not for me and no trying out that stuff either!!

The privacy reason is also why I stayed away from Google Chrome and not signing up for WOT.

 

Dlb, to answer your question:

Once a machine is taken over by malware or hackers they can do pretty much anything, such as blocking access to webs, etc. This is true with traditional AV as well as with Cloud Antivirus. The approach we're taking with Cloud Antivirus is to shorten the time from when a new threat appears to when we protect our users against it, preventing the infection as early as we can and of course, if infected, disinfecting as thoroughly as possible.

 

I was actually pretty interested in Panda Cloud, as I think the future's heading in the Cloud direction anyway, where most of our software will lay on big servers...I'm not *betting* on it, but that's my notion, so since I was at the end of my Avira contract...and I *like* Avira better than any other AV, I decided to *not* renew w/Avira, and I did install PandaCloud...now I knew this computer was virus free, and did complete scans w/Avira before installing Cloud, then uninstalled Avira...so far I like it: I did run one total scan immediately, and other than a few cookies which I purposefully left on, "just to see", it caught nothing, tho it took a while, and since then I've had it running a week or so, and I like it...

I don't go to 'naughty' or questionable website, fwiw, usually just usual, here, wiki and the occasional dictionary and infosearch...so I thought it was worth a shot...

If I come crying here in a few months, or the "malware removal" forum w/my head hung down, I'll be pissed, but so far...so good....

 

To those of you who've been testing out the beta, we've released version 2.0 today. We fixed the initial slow post-install scan some users experienced, created an “undo” option for the recycle bin and addressed a number of other issues.

This version does require a download (after uninstalling the current version). You can get the full scoop and the link to download 2.0 on our blog: http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/2009/06/30/cloud-antivirus-beta2-released/

Also, please keep your eye out for version 3.0 in early fall. We’re working on some exciting stuff for that version: new platforms (Windows7, 64bits), improved features, a new site, a Collective Intelligence real-time encyclopedia and more.

 

Interesting review by a guy named Matt here. His reviews are fairly basic but at the same time quite eye opening.

cheers

 

Yeah: I got the beta2 myself...I had caught a couple of trojans on a friends pc, so I brought the HD over here, and cloud caught them too...I like the way it's setup, but they've got to get better at catching stuff...

 

Me, I give people with problems a USB stick with malwarebytes on it.

Most of the time a computer with problems can not get on the internet to try and fix it.

Also, one of the first things I do to a suspected infected computer is to remove ALL internet access so if there is something nasty on it, it can't get out and do its dirty deeds.

For me personally, cloud computing goes against what I do in the course of cleanup.

 

Oh, I agree, as far as cleanup goes...I just like it for, u know, preventative AV...the only reason I checked his HD w/Cloud, was just to see if it would catch shit, since I knew it was infected anyway...after that I ran the usual, including malwarebytes...I mostly was just curious if others were trying it, as long as they have clean systems and updates and stuff...and it's free, non-intrusive, etc.

 

I’m happy to tell you that we’ve officially launched Cloud Antivirus out of beta as of today. 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 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.

@duckfeet Are you still using Cloud Antivirus? If you have a chance to try out the 1.0 version, let me know what you think!

 

Sorry I hadn't replied before, but yes I have the 1.0 version and it has performed fine. I like this and do believe that as long as one has a "clean" computer it performs just fine. The problem I have, is that friends of mine tend to wait until they are malware-ridden to start installing AV, and of course, this doesn't work.

But I do believe that Panda are aiming in this direction, and now w/google and MS all getting up in "the cloud," I just sort of see it as the future. I find it works great and is easy to set up. I have a friend who's computer picked up all kinds of crap recently, from rogue AV to Vundo to Rootkit agents, and I posted her logs in the malware forum...she had put in Avira after being infected, after letting Norton slide, and now it's too late...

Take care...

 

The link to download Panda Cloud AV is http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/

You should also check out the blog, where Panda's team interacts directly with users and provides product details and updates http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/

 

I like Panda Cloud, but I pity the user who gets so infected he can't connect to the cloud. Then its not very useful at all. I use it, but am an advanced enough user to know the pitfalls and avoid them.

 

"The cloud" in general is something that i'll never buy into, but to go that way for an AV, actually makes me shiver a lil bit

I might have a go but i could never have it as my "proper" security.


Another thought, wouldn't you need a symetrical BB connection, to be able to upload at the same time/speed as you are DL'ing, to keep everything "realtime"?


Q

 

There is always a lag time, and virus definitions updates are ~ every 6 minutes. The idea is sound, as the more users, the more powerful the antivirus, and the quicker the response, but there is always the danger if you are removed from the net.

I think that you will find that the sharing of data is more like BT...but dont quote me on that, I am not for certain.

Gotta love the less than 1mb ram load it takes though....:drool.

 

That is an appealing point to it, I must admit