• Product: Panda Antivirus Titanium
• Direct Price: $39.95 direct; yearly subscription renewal, $24.95
• Company Info: Panda Software, 818-553-0599, www.pandasoftware.com

Panda Antivirus Titanium ($39.95 direct) is affordable, doesn't require an overly powerful PC, and does most of the dirty work for you. You don't get many extras—like a quarantine, scheduler, or firewall—but Panda provides good virus protection and decent scanning speed without complex settings.

Before installation, it does a full virus scan, unlike Norton AntiVirus (NAV). By default, virus signature updates are automatic and handled in the background during Internet connections. During our testing, it notified us that it had updated while we were still filling out the registration. As with PC-cillin, subscription renewals are on the pricey side, at $24.95 per year, but you get automatic software updates and virus signatures.

Panda Antivirus's interface is extremely sparse. There are buttons for scanning, updating, or configuring basic settings, but no complex configuration screens as with McAfee VirusScan or NOD32. The scan option displays a list of preset scan tasks, and a Scan Other Items button lets you scan folders or files.

Some settings can be confusing. For instance, you can enable heuristic scanning, but there's no indication as to whether it's working for on-demand scans, real-time, or both. If you disable the real-time scanner, beware: It doesn't come back on automatically. The straightforward approach is good if want simplicity, but it can be limiting if you want control over the types of scans and actions taken when viruses are detected.

By default, Panda Antivirus scans select file types, as NOD32 and PC-cillin do, and uses generic engine heuristics with the real-time scanner. You can add file types and turn on compressed file scanning in the real-time scanner. Scan reports show statistics on the number of files, infections, and cleanings, but no details about definitions or settings.

Like PC-cillin, Panda Antivirus defaults to cleaning or deleting a virus: It can't quarantine. For quarantining, scheduling, more advanced scanning, and firewall protection, Panda offers a Platinum version at $69.95.

Like Eset Software, Panda offers localized e-mail support in 40 countries but no phone support. A searchable knowledgebase and Interactive Troubleshooter help you pinpoint solutions, and the detailed virus encyclopedia has links to free cleaning tools. The program lets you send suspicious files to an S.O.S. service for analysis, but this feature is not as automated as in NAV or PC-cillin.

Panda Antivirus is a good AV product with decent speed for inexperienced users, but we'd like to see at least a scheduled full scan for better disk protection. If you're looking for comprehensive protection and more control, NAV will serve you better.