Panda Cloud Antivirus is a unique entry in the free antivirus race. Most free antivirus products still rely on signature updates to detect new malware, but Panda's program instead uses fresh data about malware direct from Panda's servers. As a result, Cloud Antivirus put up some excellent results in some malware detection tests, but its scan speeds were slower than we would have liked to see.
G-Data AntiVirus 2011 (US$30 for a single-PC, one-year license as of 11/23/2010) placed fourth -- albeit a close fourth -- in our roundup of 2011 antivirus products. G-Data continues its recent trend of strong malware detection, blocking, and removal in 2011, and couples it with a good interface.
When we looked at the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials in 2009, we were impressed with its clean, easy-to-use interface, but less so with its sluggish scan speed. This still holds true for Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0; also, it hasn't kept pace with newer antivirus products when it comes to detecting malware.
Comodo Internet Security Premium came in fifth in our late 2010 roundup of free antivirus products. Although it was last among the products we tested, it did a very good job at blocking brand-new malware. Its detection of known malware lagged behind top performers, though, and it tied for the most false positives.
BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011 ($US40 for a one-year, three-PC license as of 11/23/2010) ranks second in our roundup of 2011 paid antivirus software. In our tests, it did a good job at detecting malware, and was the top performer at removing infections from a PC, which pushed it up the leaderboard, but it had some trouble blocking live malware attacks, preventing it from climbing any higher.
Ah yes, the on-again, off-again HP Slate running Windows 7. Before CES, it was a buzz-worthy expected product, but its brief appearance in Steve Ballmer's CES keynote left some rather disappointed. But a new video making the rounds on YouTube shows what might be the HP Slate in action, running Windows 7.
IE 9's main browser window takes minimalism to a new level.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 -- now in public beta -- is the newest version of Microsoft's browser. Compared with IE 8, it's faster, with a streamlined interface. But it's also still A beta, and unsurprisingly, some areas still need refinement.
With all the attention paid to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox in recent years, it's easy to forget that Internet Explorer is still the World's most widely used Web browser.
Following up Norton's <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/205000/norton_releases_2011_security_products.html">new product launch</a> early Wednesday, Trend Micro announced an overhaul of its entire home user product line on Wednesday, under the moniker "Titanium." The new products, Titanium Internet Security, Titanium Maximum Security, and Titanium Antivirus+, include new features that use cloud computing for malware detection.
Norton on Wednesday announced its 2011 versions of its Norton Internet Security suite and Norton Antivirus software. Norton also announced a new application--Norton Power Eraser--that is designed to remove the increasingly common fake antivirus malware.
Ping is Apple's <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/204734/ping_on_itunes_not_so_hot.html">music-centric social network</a> that is integrated into <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/204645/apple_announces_itunes_10.html">iTunes 10</a>. From a privacy standpoint, it's pretty straightforward--as opposed to Facebook's multitude of privacy settings--but then again, Ping is also very limited as to what services it offers. In either case, here's a quick run-down of the privacy features present in Ping.
After some initial uncertainty about the future of WebOS immediately after the Palm-HP merger, it's looking more and more like WebOS has a real future ahead of it.
Researchers with F-Secure discovered an Android app that is a spy app disguised as a Snake game. The Snake spy app is for use with GPS Spy, an Android spy app. The idea is that you'd download and install the Snake spy app onto the Android phones that you'll want to spy on; from there, the Snake app will run in the background and keep tabs on that phone.
Of all the software on your PC, the Web browser may be the most important tool you use each day--but you may not give it much thought.
