10-second breakdown:
Walking the fine line of budget and performance, BitDefender AntiVirus Plus manages to provide a great product for a good price. If you don’t have as many devices this is a great option if you’re looking to keep costs low.
The good:
BitDefender offers parental controls, which isn’t available from most other named brand software products. While some offer it as a separate product, you’ll find some great ways to keep your young ones safe with the built-in features available with this antivirus.
There is virtually no noticeable impact on the resources of most devices. While there are some that have a light touch, this solution stands out from the crowd. If you are really concerned about speed (investments, gaming, etc.), take a good look.
Extra features are everywhere from a great firewall that isn’t annoying (a feat in and of itself) to a secure web browser that has a virtual keyword. BitDefender provides everything you need.
The bad:
Some of the extra features are buggy. The auto-form filler and some of the parental controls included.
Some older versions of Windows aren’t supported, so you may have to update your operating system.
How it works:
All antivirus programs need to be able to keep you protected from viruses and remove any that might already be installed. Some of them add-in some extra features. Very few of them include those extra features while still doing a kick butt job at protection and only BitDefender AntiVirus Plus does all of that while offering their service at a lower rate.
Don’t let the lower price fool you, BitDefender aces every test independent labs have thrown at it, including perfect scores in many categories like protection, performance and usability. This includes both malware already installed onto your computer and malicious files that haven’t quite taken root yet. BitDefender can pull out the bad programs and will quietly eliminate dangerous files before they can take over.
BitDefender also scored well above average on a test of brand new malware. A few labs take recently discovered viruses and test out antivirus programs, generally the programs tend to score lower as the viruses are still new but BitDefender held up like a champ.
Like similar antivirus programs BitDefender protects your web browser as well. Modern day web browsers have some filters built in but they rarely protect you from the majority of threats. BitDefender took first place in the antiphishing test, where websites pose as legitimate to get you to put in your password. They also scored in the top tier for blocking malicious websites that try to infect your computer.
Ransomware is a growing concern that quietly encrypts your files in the background, then holds them hostage and demands a payment. BitDefender can help protect you from these attacks as well. It watches over your file folders and when a program it doesn’t recognize tries to modify the folder it’ll deny access. You can add as many folders as you like, by default it only protects your photos folder, and also whitelist and programs you know should have access.
A cool feature of BitDefender is it’s autopilot mode. Activated by default, autopilot will run in the background keeping an eye on things while breaking your concentration as little as possible. It even watches what you’re doing, and will adjust accordingly.
For example, if you’re playing a computer game or watching a movie, it will suppress any popups and cut back on system resources. If you’re doing work related activities it can put more functionality into browser protection if you’re doing research. While it is on by default if your antivirus watching you is a little too big brother, it can be disabled and the different settings can be set manually instead.
While BitDefender is built around making it as hands-off as possible, there is one feature you may want to activate right away. There’s a setting called ‘Rescue Mode,’ it gives you an additional option whenever you boot up your computer, either a regular boot or go into rescue. Rescue Mode opens a stripped down version of windows that can tackle particularly nasty forms of malware that wouldn’t normally let BitDefender run.
The only real downside to BitDefender is that occasionally the extra features may not work as intended. A couple customers have complained that the Password Manager doesn’t quite work as expected, it has a hard time auto-filling in forms here and there.
BitDefender comes in three different packages, they vary a little bit by the price and number of extra features offered. All three of the packages come with up to 3 users standard and a 30-day money back guarantee if you’re not thrilled with your purchase.
The first package is the standard ‘BitDefender Antivirus Plus’ bundle and costs $29.97 for a one-year license. It comes with all the standard protection features you’ll need to feel safe including live protection, browser protection and even anti-ransomware protection.
Next up is the ‘BitDefender Internet Security’ package. It’ll cost you $39.97 for a one-year license. Internet Security comes with everything the standard package does but tosses in a lot of the extra features like an upgraded firewall, parental controls and an anti-spam filter.
The last package offered is ‘BitDefender Total Security.’ It’s a small cost upgrade from Internet Security at $44.97 a year. Total Security comes with everything the other packages offered and tosses in a few neat extras like a PC tuneup tool, file encryption and even an anti-theft measure can remotely wipe your computer that’s stolen with the push of a button from your smartphone.
If you ever run into a problem, BitDefender can help you out with 24/7 support by chat, phone or email.
Focused more towards the budget-friendly crowd, BitDefender Antivirus Plus manages to squeeze in quite a few extra features while providing amazing malware protection at a reasonable cost.
For complete rankings of all antivirus software, go here.
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