Panda Looks to Speed Antivirus Scans
By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
March 16, 2007, 11:12 AM

Panda has released NanoScan, an online virus scanning service that is able to perform a full sweep of a computer in less than one minute. The speed is a vast improvement over current virus scanners, which take as much as an hour or more to complete.

The company isn't giving specifics on how the software works, only saying that it will require a small 400KB ActiveX download*. No software is installed on the user's computer, and is hosted on Panda's servers. This would ensure that the signature files were continually up-to-date.

Hosting the signature file online solves a problem that the company said will eventually require a new way to combat virus and malware writers.

In beta, the scanner is available for use free of charge from nanoscan.com. It was not immediately clear if the company will charge for the final version.

As for the claims to scan a computer in less than a minute, they seemed to be true: a BetaNews test of the service resulted in a 45 second scan time.

Visit Nanoscan.com to scan your PC.

*Note: Firefox users must install IE Tab Extension for this to work