Detect Malware on Your PC Using Panda ActiveScan

Panda ActiveScan is an advanced free online scanner from Panda Security Labs. It is based on Collective Intelligence (scanning in-the-cloud) that detects malware that traditional security solutions cannot detect. Even though you have an antivirus product installed, yet you can have the benefit of a second opinion using the Panda ActiveScan online scanner. Panda ActiveScan can detect various hidden threats on your PC, such as rootkits, banker trojans (like Zeus) and malware designed to steal your identity. Unfortunately, it can detect the malware, but will not disinfect found malware on your computer.

Panda ActiveScan supports both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It installs ActiveX components in your web browser when you use it for the first time. Because ActiveX is supported exclusively by Microsoft Internet Explorer, therefore I recommend that you use Internet Explorer. At present only Internet Explorer 7 and 8 are supported. Open Internet Explorer and navigate it to http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/.

On the main ActiveScan page, you have to choose from Quick Scan or Full Scan. The quick scan, as the name implies, would be quick and fast – scanning only few most critical areas of your computer. The quick scan takes only few minutes. On the other hand, the full scan would be much more comprehensive and scans all the areas of your computer. The full scan can take more than a hour. It is highly recommended that you choose the Full Scan.

Panda ActiveScan

Your web browser would show a message bar on the top. Click on it and choose to install the ActiveX components. These are needed before you can start scanning your computer with Panda ActiveScan.

Panda ActiveScan

Panda ActiveScan would start to download and install the ActiveScan and then update it. The whole process would take few minutes and would require you to give permission to run Panda Security components in Internet Explorer a few times. After the update is finished, it will start the scanning of your computer. The scanning can take from many minutes to few hours to finish.

Panda ActiveScan

Once scanning is done, you are shown a list of problems found on your computer – like malware, trojans or cookies. On my computer, it found only two tracking cookies.

Panda ActiveScan

Unfortunately the free edition of ActiveScan does not allow you to disinfect the detected malware from your computer. You can remove these detected malware manually, or you can download Panda Cloud Antivirus and install it on your computer. It uses the same in-cloud-scanning technology as ActievScan, is free and can remove the found problems easily.