Panda emailed us an activation code and a download link. Then we selected our preferred payment method (Panda supports cards and PayPal) and handed over our cash in the usual way. We chose a billing frequency (1, 12 or 36 months), entered our email address, and for some reason had to enter our name and postcode, too. Once we'd tracked the product down, the rest was relatively straightforward.

Signing upīuying the stand-alone VPN is more difficult than we expected - even the client 'Upgrade to Premium' button points us to the purchase page for the full Panda Dome security suite - but eventually we found the right website page (opens in new tab).

This has some ads, but also gives you 500MB of data a day.īut if you're a fan of Panda Security, or just looking for a cheaper way to access Hotspot Shield, Panda VPN could be worth a try. If you're not interested in antivirus, you might be better off with Hotspot Shield's free edition. (The Panda site has a comparison table which tells you more about what Panda free includes, and what it doesn't.)

This delivers reasonable Windows protection, but doesn't have real-time antivirus for Mac and Android devices. It comes as a part of Panda Free Antivirus (opens in new tab), too.

Panda VPN is also available as a free version, although this limits you to a tiny 150MB data allowance a day, and doesn't give you any choice of location (the client automatically chooses the fastest server for you.) There is also a free version but you're limited to just 150MB per day (Image credit: Panda)

Panda free antivirus review