Internet Security: Panda Antivirus Platinum First to Integrate Internet Protection and Intelligent Scanning, New Technology Transparently Eliminates Viruses at the Desktop and TCP/IP Level - Winsock - Panda Software's anti-virus software - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Nov 23, 1998

Europe's leading independent provider of antivirus protection Panda Software, which holds the largest number of ICSA and Checkmark certifications worldwide, Monday moved antivirus protection into a new level of technological achievement with its introduction of Panda Antivirus Platinum.

Panda Antivirus Platinum offers a far superior standard of virus and Trojan horse scanning capabilities than any other product currently on the market. Nonetheless, it is the first solution to be completely integrated into the Windows 98 operating system, scanning for viruses at the Winsock or transport level. Some of its features are:

* Desktop integration with Windows 98, Active Desktop and Active Channels.

* Real-time e-mail and Internet protection modules for TCP/IP detection and disinfection of viruses transmitted via the Internet.

* E-mail attachments and Internet downloads are scanned and disinfected real-time, regardless of the client used; in addition to protection against malicious ActiveX and Java Applets;

* Free lifetime updating of the Virus Signature Database through incremental "Intelligent Update" feature.

* Detection and elimination of over 20,000 viruses on both hard disks and in RAM.

* Automatic, easy customizable configuration using Panda's new Wise Setup Wizard.

* Warnings through a variety of means (e.g., alarms, voice messages, dialog boxes, news updates, etc.)

* Centralized Scheduled, Immediate, Startup, Permanent, Mail File Scans

* Unprecedented technical support service package.

By developing a technology through which the data scanning is performed with the close cooperation of Windows sockets, Panda Antivirus Platinum functions at a lower level of communication than any of its competitors.

"We intercept the entire Windows API (WINSOCK), thereby scanning and monitoring all data traffic. We're scanning the OSI 4 or transport level, and, in certain cases, level 3 or network," points out Mikel Urizarbarrena, Founder and CEO of Panda Software. Therefore, Panda Antivirus Platinum scans incoming and outgoing communication traffic even before the user knows he or she has received an infected file.

Panda Antivirus Platinum protects all the information that flows by means of browsers such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, and additionally immunizing the downloading of files via FTP (CWS_FTP, CUTE FTP, etc.), as well as other e-mail applications like Eudora, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, etc.

The most efficient protection for an e-mail system is not to get in between and slow down the communication with those programs foreign to its e-mail system, as happens with other antivirus programs, but precisely the opposite. Besides the detection module of resident viruses in Internet, Panda Antivirus Platinum adds to Outlook and Exchange the capacity of removing viruses within the program itself, by incorporating a new plug-in that is capable of removing viruses before the user receives an infected message in his/her Inbox.

"So far, only Panda has been able to improve one of Microsoft's leading products. Users themselves are to determine how Panda Antivirus Platinum considerably improves their e-mail program," states President of Panda Software USA Pedro Bustamante.

Other key advantage of Panda Antivirus Platinum is its complete integration in each Windows 98 feature, such as information channels, maintenance Wizard, active desktop elements, HTML-based help, or its Quick Launch inclusion.

While Panda was the worldwide pioneer in the development of centralized computer installations from a single workstation (ZAS, Zero Administration Security), Panda Antivirus Platinum is now the only antivirus in the market that allows -- from a single program, by means of the Intelligent Administration technology -- the configuration, programming, and customization of different defense strategies against computer viruses:

* Scheduled Scans * Immediate Scans * Startup or Boot Scans * Permanent Scans * Mail File Scans * Internet Downloads Scans (SMTP, POP3, FTP, HTTP, etc.) * Latest News via Active Channels

"The new Panda Antivirus is a great leap forward in order to stop this epidemic that has spread beyond national frontiers. We have combined the technology for the prevention, detection, and removal of viruses in order to offer users this Global Solution, for that is what Internet and e-mail development demand," affirms Urizarbarrena.

"An antivirus without services is a dead antivirus" Of all the technological advances of the new Panda Antivirus Platinum, what Urizarbarrena highlights the most is "our commitment to offer ongoing services. Software alone without services reduces Security by at least 50%," affirms this young computer scientist. Panda Software is currently the only antivirus company in the world that provides users with a technical support line 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as well as the daily updating of its antivirus software.

This 24h-365d personalized Technical Support is made up of a staff of over 100 specialized technicians ready to solve users' problems or doubts at any time of the day, any day of the year, from anywhere in the world.