Panda antivirus labels itself as malware, then borks EVERYTHING Panda users had a bad hair day on Wednesday, after the Spanish security software firm released an update that classified components of its own technology as malign. As a result, enterprise PCs running the antivirus software tied themselves in something of a knot, leaving some systems either unstable or unable to access the …
SFC doe sin fact keep a copy of Windows' boot-required files, but doesn't touch any third party files, which is what is happening here. Panda made some of its own files critical for the system to boot properly (these DLLs, intercept calls to the system network and file system stack to detect malware on-access), but were stupid enough to not include anything to protect them.
It has also vaguely been linked to the Church of Scientolology by none other than John Leyden.
I remember that article from before the godawful GWOT, before everything was linked to Al Qaeda and now Putin or even ISIS. Good times.
I have a standard Panda 2015 internet security license for three computers - I can confirm 2015 has been a complete disaster since installation (all three computers have had problems and numerous reinstallations ~ whereas 2014 was fine) Issues culminatinated in one completely broken computer this afternoon. How can Panda not acknowledge a problem with the standard product?
The original problem was caused by a network bridge between wifi and Lan - Uninstall the bridge and everything worked - Reinstall and CPU elevates / resource errors then bsod!
This afternoon I restarted one machine for Windows updates and Panda destroyed itself in the process ~ file association issues which don't repair after a cfs /scannow can't run anything *.exe
I reported the original problems to product support several days ago and their response was a couple of uninstall programs and the latest version of 2015 which...blah,blah arse
>This afternoon I restarted one machine for Windows updates and Panda destroyed itself in the process ~ file association issues which don't repair after a cfs /scannow can't run anything *.exe
1. it is sfc /scannow and no, that will not fix file associations which are stored in your registry
2. Check HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\.exe\Command\Open, you might have to copy regedit.exe to regedit.scr or regedit.com prior to running it.
Disclaimer: Not 100% sure of the registry path, no windows box at hand to look it up, but it is something like that, it might be exefile iso .exe.
Gawd! I spent the best part of today trying to get out of this black hole: I couldn't access programs. At least Safe Mode with Internet did work, after a fashion. But I wasn't able to find any info online about the cause, nor a solution. Umpteen nail-chewing reboots later, I think everything is now working -- and I've just learned what the problem was. Thank you, Panda!
Love the reference! have an up vote! Seems like the Panda ate the kippers and is now the corpse.
In the end, all AV seems to have an uphill battle. Last week it was AVG with issues, this week Panda. I remember Norton and McAffee's bad days too... Nothing says love like reinstalling a whole lab in the aftermath.
So, fellow commentard windows users, what product do you find best for AV protection?
I know install linux... but if that is not an option? What then?
Microsoft Security Essentials and System Restore.
MSE doesn't really *do* anything (except making the red "anti-virus" warning go away), so it doesn't fail and screw your system over either. The big problem today is malware, addware and crapware - snap.do and wajam for example; these little pieces of shit can only be uninstalled with system restore /fresh start.
I know install linux... but if that is not an option? What then?
Eset NOD32. Got turned onto it back in the day - before ACV got ruined by the trolls. After a couple of years researching (including building up a malware collection for my own testing) came to the conclusion that the best were Kaspersky and Eset. Used Kaspersky until about when Vista came out and they went the bloatware course (and had one or two serious bad def updates doing the usual). Switched to NOD32. In about ten years the only problem I've ever had with them was with a beta - which didn't stop the system working, just itself (when Data Execution Prevention was enabled). So, no problems (with RTM versions) in all that time, no compromises - and - unlike Kaspersky - never any impact on performance. Also cheap.
I run Linux too btw.
Another Vote for ESET Nod32 here... I've been using it exclusively on about 300 computers for 7 or 8 years now and never had a virus get in, nor have I ever had to fix a computer it had totally bricked, a few issues with it not playing nicely with an outlook plugin but that'll be the outlook plug ins fault rather than eset's...
Personally I have used Bit Defender Total Security since its concept. I know as in all such programs there are people out there that have issues with different programs. Still I have tried a number of other Firms AV/Firewall programs & found them to be wanting.
I recommend Bit Defender as private & Industrial protection. NO I am not working for them, I am just a very satisfied customer of theirs.
Stop using pirated software!! FOR EVER.
That copy of Photoshop you happen to have is not as innocent as you think, you don't know what it's allowing in, and most importantly, what it's sending out.
Just use MS Security Essentials - if it's good enough for my 80 year old Dad, then it's good enough for me. Neither of us download software from dodgy sites, anyway.
It's sad to think that some people would simply not believe me, but that pirating kid grew up.
The first time I installed Panda was back in the times of demo CDs on the front of PC magazines. I installed Panda to give it a go. On the obligatory reboot for installing pretty much anything under Windows 98SE it completely bricked my OS resulting in a lovely afternoon of restoring to factory settings.
Yes, I know it was 15 years ago, get over it etc etc. Unfortunately for Panda there's a lot of AV vendors that would have to really piss me off before I'd consider going near a Panda product again; and that was before it started confusing itself with bamboo and having a munch.
Got a copy of DivX when I purchased Roxio Creator several years ago. I now run Malware Bytes Pro and Kaspersky Internet Security, neither ever detected snap.do or wajam. Prior to Kaspersky, I ran Eset NOD for A/V and AdAware Pro for malware detection, again neither program ever detected snap.do or wajam. Are there versions of DivX without this malware ? Thanks atlatl
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