Panda Cloud Antivirus

   
At the same time we released Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta3 we also published a new website with two interesting new services; a Collective Intelligence Activity Monitor and user-driven Technical Support Forum.

I really encourage all of you to start using the Support Forums as we have our entire Cloud Antivirus project teams from support, QA and development participating and looking forward to interact with you guys.

Don’t be shy and visit our new support forum, drop us a note or let us know if you’re having any problems. Even if you simply want to say hello or drop suggestions for future versions, we’ll be happy to hear about it.

     
We have been circulating a limited Preview Release of Beta3 which supports Vista 64bit and Windows 7 (32 and 64bit). This Beta3 Preview only has additional platform support. No other functionality which is currently being developed for Beta3 is included yet in this Preview Release.

Basically we’re interested in getting as much feedback from the 64bit and Windows 7 community as possible. If you’re one of these guys or gals, we want to hear from you. Please send all feedback regarding this Preview Release to beta@pandasecurity.com or send your comments to this blog post.

Downloading
The download link is the following:
CloudAntivirus-Beta3-0.08.83-Preview.exe
EDIT: changed link to point to a more reliable server.

Installing
If you have a previous version of Panda Cloud Antivirus, you’ll need to manually uninstall that first, reboot and then install the Beta3 Preview.
Note: The Beta3 Preview can also be installed on XP/Vista 32bits, even though we’ve not tested it in these platoforms.

Workarounds
Remember that under x64 the registry entries for the different workarounds mentioned in this blog are different. They are the following:

Activating advanced logging:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodePanda SecurityPanda Service Host]
"tracePath"="C:\Logs_CloudAV"
"traceEnabled"="1"

Disabling BackgroundScan:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodePanda SecurityPanda Service Host]
"BackgroundDisabled"="-"

Enabling Exceptions:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodePanda SecurityPanda Service HostExceptions]
"CreateMiniDump"=dword:00000001
"ToMessageBox"=dword:00000001

    
We have been getting some reports from users that after running a manual on-demand scan it seems to be stuck or stopped at x%. The error code that is returned is different than “1″.

In order to help us troubleshoot this problem please follow these steps:

1.- Download and extract the Scan-Dump.zip file into a new folder, for example C:Test.
2.- Browse to the C:Test directory and execute the file called “Start.bat“.
3.- Run a manual on-demand scan from Panda Cloud Antivirus to try to reproduce the problem.
4.- If the problem is successfully reproduced, execute the file “Stop.bat“.
5.- There will be a file called “Session01.etl” in the C:Test directory.

If you can reproduce this problem please post the Session01.etl file to http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum.

Many thanks for all your help & support !!
   

 
If you’re having any type of problem with Panda Cloud Antivirus (a recent one we’re getting is the Error Code 1 while scanning) you can help us troubleshoot it by enabling exceptions and having Panda Cloud Antivirus create minidumps when it runs into a problem.

You can enable exceptions easily by creating the following registry key:
   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPanda SecurityPanda Service HostExceptions]
   "CreateMiniDump"=dword:00000001
   "ToMessageBox"=dword:00000001

For those less familiar with manipulating the Windows Registry you can simply download and execute the following Exceptions.reg file which will automatically make the change in the Registry for you:
Enable Exceptions

Once enabled, any exception caught will be shown to you in popup windows similar to the following ones:

If this happens, you can find the minidump in the following locations:

• XP: c:documents and settingsall usersProgram datapanda securitypanda cloud antivirus
• Vista: c:program datapanda securitypanda cloud antivirus

Simply compress (in a ZIP or similar) the minidump and send it to us. We have enabled an FTP account where these can be uploaded to.
FTP Server: 212.8.79.111
Username: betatester
Password: d8PvVVdTQzWv

Don’t forget to drop us a note at http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum if you do upload a minidump so we can provide you with an answer or fix after we analyze your upload.

Again thanks to all that are helping us improve Panda Cloud Antivirus !

Some users upgrading from Beta1 to Beta2 version have come across problems during the uninstall/reinstall upgrade procedure. In order to try to make things easier on users we have created an uninstaller standalone application for Panda Cloud Antivirus.

IMPORTANT: only use this generic uninstaller on PCs with Panda Cloud Antivirus. If this uninstaller is executed on PCs with other Panda products (Panda Antivirus Pro, Panda Internet Security, etc.) it will have negative effects and will leave the PC in an unstable state.

Simply download and execute the uninstaller in the following ZIP file:
Download Cloud Antivirus Uninstaller

If you’re still having problems with an uninstall procedure and would like the manual instructions feel free to contact us at the Technical Support Forum (http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum).

We have received some comments and reports from Beta2 users of version 0.08.82 of slowness of their PCs and lots of hard drive I/O activity from PSANHost.exe.

We are tracing this problem back to an interaction of the new synchronous OnAccess cloud-scan with the BackgroundScan. This interaction seems as it could be the source of the slowness of the system even though we continue investigating it. Basically this occurs under certain circumstances when both scans are consuming the same resource. We’re in the process of redesigning these two scan tasks so they are optimized in the use of critical system resources to avoid simultaneous accesses to common resources.

As a workaround you can disable the BackgroundScan altogether. Disabling this task does not compromise the security level of the PC as the OnAccess scan guarantess the protection of the machine. If you apply this workaround simply make sure to run an OnDemand scan periodically to ensure there are no inactive & latent malicious files in the drive.

To disable the BackgroundScan simply create the following registry entry and reboot the PC:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPanda SecurityPanda Service Host]
"BackgroundDisabled"="-"

If you are not used to playing around with the registry, simply download and execute the .REG file in the following file:
http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/background_disabled.zip

As we continue investigating this problem, if you are affected by this problem and are able to send us debug information please get in touch with us. Thanks again to everybody for your help

We’ve received quite a lot of reports lately from people who have managed to install Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta2 under Windows 7 based on a post from the DownloadSquad.

Basically the method used to install Cloud Antivirus Beta2 under Windows 7 consists of uncompressing the CloudAntivirus.exe installer file using WinRAR, 7-zip or any other capable un-compressor and setting the compatibility mode of the SETUP.EXE to Vista.

You may then run the installer by double-clicking on SETUP.EXE and this will install Cloud Antivirus Beta2 happily on a Windows 7 system.

During some quick testing both the on-access and the on-demand scanner seem to work normally.

However please be advised that Cloud Antivirus Beta2 has not yet been certified by our QA team and therefore is not fully Windows 7 compatible. We’re still working on Beta3 which will be fully compatible on both 32 and 64 bits Windows 7.

 

The following issues have been detected by our beta testers which should be taken into consideration.

Installation / Uninstallation Issues

• During an incomplete uninstall, after reboot, the uninstall process cannot be finished. SOLUTION: We’re creating an uninstaller, but in the meantime please send us the log that is shown in the warning message.
• Cannot install after an incomplete install. SOLUTION: We’re creating an uninstaller, but in the meantime please send us the log that is shown in the warning message.
• Error while re-installing as a file cache is in use. SOLUTION: click “Retry” and allow the installation process to finish. It will complete successfully in spite of the warning message.

 

Application Issues

• Report takes a long time to show over 10.000 detections. WORKAROUND: as the Panda Cloud Antivirus Log is saved in the Windows Event Viewer, delete the corresponding Event Viewer Log before launching an on-demand scan over many files to help improve the responsiveness of the report viewer.
• The Recycle Bin (quarantine) takes a long time to show when there are many items in it.
• In the Event Report the name of the detected malware is shown as “Not available”. This means that either Internet connectivity was lost during the synchronization with Collective Intelligence or the malware naming webservice is not responding correctly.

 

Detection & Disinfection Issues

• Boot scan not performing correctly.
• Infected PE files which are not file-infectors and which are downloaded via HTTP, the product prompts for reboot disinfection even though it’s not really necessary.
• In infected compressed or packed containers which hold multiple elements, where at least one is infected, the product prompts for reboot disinfection even though it’s not really necessary.
• In some cases after disinfecting a file-infector virus the product notifies as “not neutralized” even though it was disinfected correctly and vice versa (in the case where the virus is in memory or the user does not have write-access to the directory respectively).
• Does not intercept nested Office file formats.
• When launching and on-demand scan over a very large number of malware samples the scan may be stuck at 99% of completion. SOLUTION: Disable BackgroundScan (will post details soon on how to do this).

 

As always we appreciate and welcome testing feedback so please keep them coming at beta@pandasecurity.com or in the form of comments on this blog.