Antimalware, firewall, and other security programs for Windows XP working in 2023 and hopefully beyond

[AstroSkipper]

33 minutes ago, Tangy said:

@AstroSkipper Panda 21 is working without any problems what so ever, so far so good. I reckon it is the best choice ever. I do have Avast 18.5 but I would never go back to it. Kind of dodgy.

Thank you very much indeed !

It’s best not to celebrate just yet; wait until the PSANHost.exe process has been running stably again over the next few days or weeks. It may be stubbornly refusing to crash, but as we’ve learnt the hard way, this monster is capable of behaving quite differently.  Please report here if it crashes again! 

Edited 9 hours ago by AstroSkipper

[AstroSkipper]

Panda Dome 22.03.05 has been significantly more unstable on my primary Windows XP partition – which has all the POSReady 2009 updates installed – since 2 July than Panda Dome 21.01.00 on my secondary Windows XP partition, which does not have the POSReady 2009 updates installed. As the crashes were all related to the important system file ntdll.dll, I am now wondering whether the version of ntdll.dll also plays a role. This system file was installed with the POSReady update KB4493563 in March 2019, of course only on my primary Windows XP partition. Today, during a test of Glarysoft Malware Hunter, this programme also caused an error related to the ntdll.dll file. Coincidence? 

Edited 8 hours ago by AstroSkipper

[Dave-H]

2 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

@Dave-H That's what I replied to @Tangy.

Thanks, sorry I'd forgotten that!
I've downloaded it ready in case I have to use it.

 

[AstroSkipper]

3 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

It’s best not to celebrate just yet; wait until the PSANHost.exe process has been running stably again over the next few days or weeks. It may be stubbornly refusing to crash, but as we’ve learnt the hard way, this monster is capable of behaving quite differently.  Please report here if it crashes again! 

Somehow, I have a sixth sense. The PSANHost.exe process just crashed after running without errors for three days. Here is the error message and the contents of the PSANHost.exe.mdmp dump file extracted with WinDbg:

Quote

szAppName : PSANHost.exe     szAppVer : 20.3.0.0     
szModName : PSANModProcMon.dll     szModVer : 4.0.13.6     offset : 0004ff72

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.11.0001.404 X86
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

****************************************************************************

Loading Dump File [D:\Partition XPARBEIT\Berichte\Panda Dome 21.01.00\PSANHost.exe.mdmp]
User Mini Dump File: Only registers, stack and portions of memory are available

Symbol search path is: SRV*C:\WINDOWS\Symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows XP Version 2600 (Service Pack 3) UP Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: SingleUserTS
Machine Name:
Debug session time: Wed Jul  8 11:43:54.000 2026 (GMT+2)
System Uptime: not available
Process Uptime: 0 days 1:19:39.000
................................................................
................................................................
................................................................
.......................................................
Loading unloaded module list
...............
This dump file has an exception of interest stored in it.
The stored exception information can be accessed via .ecxr.
(9dc.1580): Access violation - code c0000005 (first/second chance not available)
eax=699102fe ebx=80070000 ecx=69901b8c edx=69901bc6 esi=00001a44 edi=00000000
eip=7c91e514 esp=10209f78 ebp=10209fdc iopl=0         nv up ei ng nz ac pe cy
cs=001b  ss=0023  ds=0023  es=0023  fs=003b  gs=0000             efl=00000297
ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet:
7c91e514 c3              ret

As I said, you shouldn't get your hopes up too soon. This time, it also has to do with the DLL file PSANModProcMon.dll. Maybe try turning off Process Monitor . I'm glad there's no Panda Dome on my primary Windows XP partition at the moment.
 

[AstroSkipper]

Well, folks, things are about to get tough. After restarting my Windows XP partition with Panda Dome 21.01.00, the PSANHost.exe process crashed again immediately - and this time it was a major crash. The main process, PSUAMain.exe, then froze completely. Nothing was working anymore. Here's some log and dump data:

Quote

szAppName : PSANHost.exe     szAppVer : 20.3.0.0     szModName : ntdll.dll     
szModVer : 5.1.2600.6055     offset : 00010cce     

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.11.0001.404 X86
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Loading Dump File [D:\Partition XPARBEIT\Berichte\Panda Dome 21.01.00\WER36ce.dir00\PSANHost.exe.mdmp]
User Mini Dump File: Only registers, stack and portions of memory are available

Symbol search path is: SRV*C:\WINDOWS\Symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows XP Version 2600 (Service Pack 3) UP Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: SingleUserTS
Machine Name:
Debug session time: Thu Jul  9 01:09:50.000 2026 (GMT+2)
System Uptime: not available
Process Uptime: 0 days 0:01:37.000
................................................................
................................................................
................................................................
.....................................................
Loading unloaded module list
...........
This dump file has an exception of interest stored in it.
The stored exception information can be accessed via .ecxr.
(a9c.c90): Access violation - code c0000005 (first/second chance not available)
eax=00000000 ebx=80070000 ecx=c0000005 edx=00000000 esi=00000ca8 edi=00000000
eip=7c91e514 esp=03ba9ce4 ebp=03ba9d48 iopl=0         nv up ei ng nz ac pe cy
cs=001b  ss=0023  ds=0023  es=0023  fs=003b  gs=0000             efl=00000297
ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet:
7c91e514 c3              ret

And then things got even worse. A BSOD. Here is the message and part of the dump file analysis:

Quote

Der Computer ist nach einem schwerwiegenden Fehler neu gestartet. Der Fehlercode war: 0x10000050 (0xb0f7ce34, 0x00000001, 0x806f2753, 0x00000000).

MODULE_NAME: psinknc

FAULTING_MODULE: 804d7000 nt

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  5fc700a7

.....

SYMBOL_NAME:  psinknc+a70b

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

IMAGE_NAME:  psinknc.sys

BUCKET_ID:  WRONG_SYMBOLS

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

After that, I tried to boot into safe mode, but I couldn't get in. Somehow, I managed to boot into the partition normally again, and I immediately uninstalled Panda Dome completely, including an additional deep clean. Forget about Panda Dome entirely, whether it's version 21.01.00 or 22.03.05! Since the 2. of July, Panda has destroyed compatibility with Windows XP and compromised it by faulty, incompatible updates. Currently, the following applies: Stay away from Panda on Windows XP!  Nothing works anymore without an official fix or patch.  That’s it for Panda as far as I’m concerned. I’m absolutely livid. 

P.S.: The minidump content is incomplete due to the totally faulty forum editor.   One can’t post sensibly here anymore. 

Edited 3 hours ago by AstroSkipper

[Tangy]

@AstroSkipper Thank you for the warning mate. I managed to uninstall it without any dramas. Any suggestions ??

What is this all about then ?

https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/mediacenter/best-antivirus-for-windows-xp/

Dated 1 july 2026.

What about that 360 ? 

Cheers

Edited 1 hour ago by Tangy
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