VIPRE's Active Protection is automatically enabled and provides real-time protection for:

• web surfing
• file access
• email
• USB drives

Panda's "TruPrevent Technologies 2.0" is part of their real-time scanning efforts.
While TruPrevent is a solid idea, it has drawbacks, including

VIPRE Antivirus detected and eliminated approximately two thirds of viruses and malware in independent testing.

Basically, TruPrevent attempts to analyze potential threats and defeat them before they infect your computer.

The remaining questionable third was correctly labeled for the user to determine what should be done. .

Precisely why is unclear, but the net result is that the overall real-time scanning of Panda Antivirus is below average.

The antispyware component of VIPRE was formerly sold as their award-winning "CounterSpy" software.

Panda's overall malware protection is good.

Now that same antispyware engine is seamlessly integrated as part of VIPRE antivirus.

Both work together to thwart incoming spyware and virus attacks on your PC. .

When it comes to spyware in particular, Panda's "Anti Malware Engine" kicks-in to defeat most spyware attacks.

VIPRE antivirus is well known for its low resource usage for good reason.

Panda antivirus used more than twice the overall PC resources than VIPRE did during a manual scan.

During a manual scan, VIPRE's resource usage was less than half that of Panda's.

CPU usage was about one third more than VIPRE.

The CPU usage during scanning was approximately one third less than Panda.

Panda antivirus comes in just under 4% for memory used during real-time protection.

Memory usage during real-time protection was well beneath 1%.

VIPRE's user interface is very clean and simple.

The Panda antivirus user interface can be a little confusing.

• antivirus settings
• antispyware settings
• last antivirus/spyware scan
• current risk level
• last updates

While the tabs are clearly labeled, we found the section pages took time to figure out what you're supposed to do.

After a scan, the results page is easy to understand and labeled clearly.

The "Scan" page is clearly labeled and easy to identify tasks, but other pages didn't seem as intuitive.

Overall, the entire user interface is pleasing, easy to navigate, and simple to understand.

Panda's user interface is certainly not bad, but there are places it could use some improvements in clarity and usability.

It's impossible to say enough about Sunbelt's customer support (Sunbelt is the maker of VIPRE antivirus).

Panda's customer support still needs some work.

Their representatives are all US based and responded quickly and professionally to all support concerns.

They offer the usual knowledge base, FAQ pages, and email support, but they still don't offer phone support to the average 1-license user.

Sunbelt has an extensive online user guide and knowledge base plus phone, email, and chat support all free with no hidden charges.

Phone support is only given to those who purchase multiple licenses or their higher-end products.

Their support links and phone numbers are all very easy to find and not hidden like some of their competition.

Bottom line: phone support is crucial these days when it comes to antivirus customer care.

The initial VIPRE install is very fast and easy for anyone.

Like VIPRE, Panda antivirus is easy to install.

The setup wizard walks you through just a few setup steps, and then you're done.

Also like VIPRE once installed, Panda will ask you to do a full update which can take 10-15 min. This is normal.

After the install, there is a slight lag time while VIPRE connects to its database and downloads the most current virus and spyware definitions.

Future updates to the antivirus software and of definitions were much quicker.

This is normal but can take 10-15 min. After that, all future updates are much smaller and download much faster.

If we add up all of the major comparison points, VIPRE easily comes out on top at the best antivirus software this year.

While Panda Antivirus has improved greatly over its previous year's blunders, the software (and the tech support) still have room to improve, particularly in terms of system resource usage.

VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware is very light when running in the background, yet it's still powerful enough to stop viruses and other malware.

Free phone support is needed for single-license users.

The install is easy; the user interface is clear and concise.

Panda antivirus still runs too slowly for our liking.

The user interface is good but still needs some clarification and clean-up.

We can't call Panda the "best antivirus software," but we can call it "good." If you're already familiar with the Panda brand, it's not a bad choice.

For other consumers, VIPRE will likely be a better choice.

VIPRE does a good job when it comes to email virus protection

Inbound emails are scanned before they hit your inbox.

VIPRE works with all major email clients, so you should be covered if you're using:

• Microsoft Outlook
• Outlook Express
• Windows Mail
• Other POP3 and SMTP mail clients (Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Eudora, etc.)
• Thunderbird
• IncrediMail
• Eudora

Panda claims to work with all email programs, and while we don't know of any that don't work, but "all" email clients is a broad claim. Your mileage may vary.

Overall, Panda's inbound email scans were good, though it did take more system resources when large emails were being scanned.