Compudog, I can't tell you how well it detects viruses because I've only been running it about a week and have had no incidents. So far, I really like it. It is easy to configure and it doesn't seem to slow your computer as much as some other antivirus programs. It autoupdates everyday as opposed to Norton's once a week. Yes, I know you can update Norton manually more often. I was using Norton 2002 before installing Panda. My subscription ran out with Norton and I had sort of a bad expierience uninstalling Norton. I was planning on getting Norton 2003, but the uninstall problem kind of pi**ed me off so I decided to try something else. I wish I had been able to get a free copy, but I decided it was worth a try and so far I'm well pleased. It also has a built in firewall that seems to work well. I wish I could give you more facts about Panda, but I haven't used it long enough to know a lot about it's effectiveness, but I think you will be pleased with most things about it if you give it a try, I know I am. I hope that has helped you some even though it's not a lot of concrete, long time use expierience.