To tap into this free service, you download a small pop-up dashboard from The dashboard connects your PC to Panda's data center, which monitors suspicious coding that comes into contact with your PC. Panda Wednesday becomes the first consumer antivirus supplier to centralize this filtering and updating routine - by moving it into a data center sitting in the Internet cloud. Because cybercriminals have become adept at tweaking their attacks to sneak through, the software companies must update protection 'signatures' on each PC at least once a day. Traditional antivirus protection from companies such as Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro come in hefty, power-sapping programs that reside on your PC's hard drive to filter out known malicious programs. And McAfee and AVG recently launched free protection tools to supplement their paid antivirus suites. Microsoft later this year will offer free basic antivirus protection, code-named Morro.

In an attempt to shake up the lucrative antivirus subscription market, Panda is tapping into two hot tech trends: Web-based 'cloud' computing and free technology giveaways. The next few weeks will dictate how well his assertions hold up, as reviewers and consumers test drive the new Panda Cloud Antivirus service. 'The threat climate demands a new protection model,' Santana says. SEATTLE - Panda Security CEO Juan Santana says he has come up with a Web-based silver bullet that will slay computer viruses like Conficker and Koobface before they take root on your PC.

Panda cloud free antivirus