After rebate, the $40 security solution from Panda, Panda Internet Security 2008, is available for free on Newegg. If users decide to acquire the product directly from its homepage, they have to pay the full price for it. This comes with some advantages too, since we are in the season of discounts and special offers, as these users will be offered, free of charge, an update to the 2009 version of the software, once its final version is released.

Panda Internet Security 2008 may be cheap or even free of charge, but this is also somehow reflected in its capabilities. According to a Softpedia review of the product, the Panda solution still needs some improvements, being rated 3 stars out of 5, which makes it fairly good, but not good enough for those who are looking for flawless protection against spam and other threats.

The features of the product include anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, firewall, backup, anti-spam, and parental control. Some of the problems were unveiled after a rapid check. The SafeDisk feature, which scans from a free environment, can detect malware, but cannot erase it, which implies additional effort on behalf of the users as they have to manually remove the malicious software. Also, the results of the scans are displayed in a window, but users are not given the possibility to interact with it. They are only able to see the report, but are forced to access different tools to actually remove the malware. Also, people who use Vista may encounter some problems related to the blocking of certain programs or devices.

These shortcomings aside, Panda Internet Security 2008 offers enough protection from spam and malware for some people to consider it their favorite security solution. Users can scan locations at will and they can choose which threats should be excluded from scan. Also, documents and Internet Explorer settings can be backed up and recovered, after the threat is removed.

The 2009 Beta update of the product was tested in the Softpedia labs and can be safely downloaded here.