Panda Cloud Office Protection

www.cloudantivirus.com

System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7; RAM: 512 MB; Drive space: 130 MB; Others: Internet connectivity.

Unlike standalone antiviruses and Internet security suites, Panda Cloud Office Protection is a cloud-based security solution tailored for small and medium size businesses. The benefits it offers to both IT administrators and end users are immense. It cuts down cost to a large extent and facilitates endpoint management. Also, being an online service, it can be managed from anywhere using the Web-based interface.

How it works

The IT admin has to first login to the administration console. Note that the number of licenses purchased is linked to the organization’s PCOP account. The antivirus can be deployed on the endpoints using the installation program that has to be run manually on individual PCs. Alternatively, admins may use the PCOP distribution tool which can be used for centralized installation on PCs connected to the network. The size of the software (Panda Endpoint Protection) is about 210 MB, so installation time will vary depending on the speed of the Internet connection. After installation, an icon appears in the system tray and the PCs on which the protection is installed get listed in the Computers tab of PCOP’s Web interface. From this point on, the protection on the PCs can be remotely managed and the users can use the antivirus on their PCs.

 The Installation and Settings tab allows organizing the PCs into groups. This helps to apply different security profiles to different sets of PCs. The profile editor helps creating scan schedules in which the scan type, date, time, file types, action to be taken, etc. can be specified. The type of malicious software to be detected by the program can also be specified. The heuristic scan feature analyses programs to detect potential malware. As for the firewall, the admin can choose to apply Panda’s default rules or the admin can create a customized set of rules. Here, various programs that transmit or receive data on the network can be blocked or authorized. Intrusion such as IDS attacks and worms can also be monitored and blocked. Once everything is configured, all that’s required is monitoring the endpoints. Reports can be generated  for various groups in which the admin can choose the time frame. The detailed report displays stats in pie charts for parameters such as protection status and detections.

The functions enabled at the user’s end depend on the parameters set by the admin. For example, the user may not have access to firewall settings. However, the users can perform scans on files, folders, drive partitions and external devices.

Performance

Panda Endpoint Protection that runs on the endpoints is extremely resource friendly. The memory footprint is less than 2 MB in idle mode and 6 MB while scanning. It took 39 minutes to scan the 20 GB system partition (19 GB used). These figures were logged on an entry-level desktop PC powered by Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 CPU and 2 GB of RAM. The OS used was Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit. Products by Panda Security have achieved very good results in the latest detection tests by AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives.org laboratories. Panda Internet Security 2012 was one of the top products with respect to protection and usability.

 Verdict

The biggest benefit offered by PCOP is its low cost and ease of use. The organization need not setup an infrastructure for endpoint protection. It’s entirely hosted on the cloud. However, cloud-based services have their drawbacks. The quality of protection depends on uninterrupted Internet connectivity. Should anything go wrong, it could spell trouble. For SMBs that don’t have resources and a high budget to implement a security solution, Panda Cloud Office Computing is a viable option.  

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NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2012

Your data today is more vulnerable to threats, more so because it tends to be scattered across the cloud. Although most cloud networks tend to be quite secure, gateways to malware tend to open up when you try to connecting your PC to the Internet.

Thus, just an anti-virus protection at times doesn’t suffice. Instead of setting up multiple protection software like an anti-virus and firewall that also affect the normal performance of your PC, you can opt for an Internet security package instead, which offers an all-in-one solution to put less load on your system resources.

Features

Targeted towards home Internet users, who want better control over their security suite, Norton Internet Security 2012 is a power packed tool. A few notches better than the 2012 Antivirus tool from Norton, the Internet Security suite offers a potent antivirus and spyware tool along with online identity theft protection. The Internet Security suite also provides Norton Online Family security for child-friendly browsing options. While installing the application, users can opt to be a part of the Norton Community Watch program that aims at controlling digital cybercrimes by forwarding data automatically to Symantec.

A strong Firewall

The firewall set up is probably one of the strongest facets of the tool. It not only blocks every popup effectively, but also stops users from killing the process from the task manager or even altering registry entries, making your machine secure to the core. The anti-spam mechanism is very robust too and boasts of high accuracy rates.

Keeping your identity protected

You can sync passwords across multiple computers using the Identity Safe login using your online Norton Account details. Identity Safe also lets you automate the process of filling Web forms using Identity Cards. You can create multiple identity cards with personal information, email and address, phone numbers, and one credit card. While the Identity Safe tool helps users save passwords and autofill forms, the service doesn’t start as a popup, but remains docked as a tool bar on your browser, making it less intrusive and easy to locate and use whenever needed. 

Well Integrated

Although the Internet Security suite doesn’t come with a built-in parental control tool, online back up or mobile security features, it gives you access to connect to these services using the main window. So if you use any of these features, you can still use them via the home page of the Internet Security interface.

 

SONAR 4.0

In a bid to curb FakeAV detection, Internet Security 2012 features the SONAR Policy Enforcement that can block processes that are suspicious. While this feature of the tool is aggressive, it does tend to go overboard by blocking even legitimate programs, making it a tad bit annoying.

Verdict

Norton has surpassed not just its earlier versions of the Internet Security suite, but has emerged as one of the strongest security tools to date. The decluttered interface and quick reference system insights, along with detailed reports help you understand the workings of your PC better.  It is not very resource-intensive either. Once you close applications connecting to the internet, the suite also reduces system usage accordingly. 

www.symantec.com

System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7; RAM: 256 MB; Drive space: 300 MB.

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