Looking after sick children can be unrewarding in that you’re offering waiter service - but without the tips. Anybody watching the latest Shrek episode, ‘Shrek the Third’, on DVD, and I have been subjected to it – about 20 times, will know that a future release from DreamWorks will be ‘Kung Fu Panda’ starring Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Ian Macshane, Jack Black, and Jackie Chan. OK, it’s a pretty weak lead-in to a blog on Panda’s Internet Security 2008 package, but that’s the best link I could find!

Panda’s Internet Security 2008 (IS 2008) is identical to the corporate package and differs only in how it’s deployed and managed. Differentiators in the market for products like these are the signature databases along with the heuristic engines designed to discover malware for which signatures are not yet available.

In fact a few days ago, some security software firms banded together to form the AntiMalware Testing Taskforce. The core group includes AV-Test, F-Secure, Kaspersky, Panda and Symantec, with other firms like Checkpoint, PC Tools, Sunbelt and Virus Bulletin supporting the testing methodology. This group will define a new test methodology based on behavioural analysis. More security companies have been invited to join next January, the objective being to design a testing plan to reflect competing products capabilities.

Panda IS 2008 is a powerful system, but for home users the set up and activation which involves client number, username and password and activation code could confuse slightly. There are also a fair number of levels for users to be configured to get the best out of the system as well. That said, when all is set up, it offers a lot of functionality. Anti-phishing, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware, data backup, parental control and many more. I'll be giving a further update on Panda IS 2008 in the new year.

Remember the original TV series of Kung Fu starring David Carradine? Here’s a quote from the original pilot, courtesy of from Master Kan, teacher of Carridine’s character, Kwai Chang Caine : "From the crane we learn grace and self-control. The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance. The praying mantis teaches us speed and patience. And from the tiger, tenacity. And from the dragon we learn to ride the wind."

The Chinese new year begins on 7 February and it’s the year of the rat, so watch out for those phishers and spammers next year.

But what of the Panda - well, "Learn well the ways of the Panda, that it may protect your system on the eternal quest for knowledge on the Internet."