Bitdefender which review

I tested the parental control app on my PC and Android. After configuring all of the settings, I tested the app with a friend. I also really like that Bitdefender allows geo-fencing, so you can get alerts if your child leaves a pre-determined safe area. Bitdefender is one of the most feature-rich internet security suites on the market in , and the features I previously described are just a small part of its entire offering.

While all of these features work great, my favorite ones are anti-theft protection and user profiles. Some competitors like McAfee and Avira offer anti-theft protection, but for mobile devices only. Bitdefender, however, provides anti-theft protection for Windows computers, too. I also found it easy to remotely lock my PC, and I was pretty surprised at how loud the anti-theft alarm was!

The moment you start playing a game, Bitdefender will suspend notifications, automatic Windows updates, and virus scans. Bitdefender offers 3 annual plans — but only its premium Total Security plan works across all operating systems. Bitdefender does offer a free version of its app for Windows, macOS, and Android. While it lacks important protections like ransomware protection, a firewall, and a secure web browser, the free version includes:.

Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition uses the same advanced anti-malware engine as the premium version — which earned Bitdefender a spot on our best free Windows antiviruses of Bitdefender Antivirus Plus includes real-time malware defense and web protection, as well as:.

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is backed by a day money-back guarantee. Bitdefender Internet Security comes with all of the features included in Antivirus Plus, but it also adds extra features like:.

However, for Windows users, Bitdefender Internet Security is one of the best options on the market — it covers up to 3 PCs, includes a ton of features, and is pretty affordable. Bitdefender Total Security has all of the features included in Internet Security, plus:. The scan took only a minute, and it found all of the malicious files I placed on my phone. I tested this feature both on my Windows PC and on my Android phone, and it worked perfectly on both devices.

As soon as I launched the application, Bitdefender gave me a quick tour of the software and suggested I run an initial scan. But these can always be edited and changed. In the Privacy tab, you can launch the SafePay browser, open the VPN, add and edit password vaults, customize webcam and microphone protection, integrate the anti-tracker with your browser, and access parental controls.

Finally, the Utilities tab includes the one-click optimizer, user profiles, file shredder, and anti-theft protection. Users can also remotely scan any of the devices in their plan via Bitdefender Central. Overall, the Bitdefender interface is simple to navigate — even with the huge number of features included in the premium Total Security plan.

I always connected to a live chat agent within minutes, and each time they answered my questions within a few seconds.

Bitdefender has 28 different phone numbers across 18 countries, including a worldwide phone number with hour service. I called the United States number, and Bitdefender connected me with an agent almost instantly — which was a big surprise! I asked the agent about the different subscription packages, and he quickly broke them down and recommended which one I should go with based on my needs.

I found that I was able to get most of my questions answered through this knowledge base. Every agent I talked to was knowledgeable and courteous, and most importantly, I could get a hold of them in a matter of minutes.

Bitdefender is a strong contender for best antivirus in Bitdefender has almost every cybersecurity protection you can think of — from basic things like Wi-Fi protection, a secure browser, and a VPN to more advanced things like parental controls, ransomware remediation, and webcam and microphone protection.

I wish that Bitdefender would add a few more security features to its password manager, and the free VPN bundled with the software is way too limited. Also, the mobile app for iOS could use some improvement. Bitdefender Free includes an on-demand antivirus scanner Windows, Mac, Android along with real-time anti-malware protection and web protection for Windows users. That said, any free antivirus will leave some holes in your internet security protections — and Bitdefender is no exception.

Mac users will need to have OS X For the mobile app, Android users will need to have Android 5. Note that your device must be connected to the internet for the mobile app to work on both Android and iOS devices.

Bitdefender is better than Windows Defender in almost every single way. Bitdefender has better malware detection rates, better real-time protection, better phishing protection, better ransomware protection, and better parental controls.

Bitdefender also has a whole host of other internet security features like system optimization, a VPN, and a password manager. Go here for a more detailed comparison of Bitdefender vs. Windows Defender. Bitdefender is one of the best and most feature-rich antiviruses on the market.

Sam Boyd is an avid tech fan with a keen interest in cybersecurity products and online safety. When he isn't researching the latest online threats, he enjoys chilling out with some video games and getting outside, exploring new parts of the world with his family.

Home Best Antivirus Bitdefender Reviews. Professional Reviews. Affiliate Commissions. Reviews Guidelines. Ranked 2nd from 66 antivirus companies. Bitdefender Coupons Visit Bitdefender. This article contains. Bitdefender Antivirus — Frequently Asked Questions.

Bitdefender's desktop interface has been slightly updated and tightened up. The Dashboard shows the program's major categories on the left, including Protection, Privacy, Utilities, Notifications and Settings. On the right, you can start a scan and also fire up the VPN or open the Safepay hardened browser. You can add another "action" of your choosing or replace an existing one.

Bitdefender's Taskbar icon lets you open the main program or update its malware definitions, but it can't start a scan. You can check your subscription, get tech support and use the Parental Advisor feature on your Bitdefender Central online account, which has a two-factor-authentication option. Bitdefender now offers Digital Identity Protection , which checks your online personal data exposure and alerts you to threats, data breaches and identity theft. Loading Bitdefender on a fresh system starts with creating an account at Bitdefender Central, then downloading the nearlyMB installer file.

As the program installs itself, it runs a quick device assessment and lets you run a Quick Scan. It took us 13 minutes to get and install Bitdefender Total Security , roughly twice as long as the previous version took. With Bitdefender's Premium Security suite, you get priority support. We've heard several complaints about Bitdefender tech support over the years. The Bitdefender website has a slew of FAQs, self-service material and instructional videos.

Bitdefender's Windows antivirus lineup returns to the top tier of security programs with excellent defenses that comes close to air-tight protection. Bitdefender's scanning engine let a few threats through and took up a moderate amount of system resources, but it remains one of the best antivirus software options available and the near-equal of Kaspersky's and Norton's products. For consumers who need more than just antivirus software, Norton with LifeLock also delivers identity-theft protection and unlimited VPN use, but your wallet may feel the hit.

Kaspersky Total Security remains our top choice for pure antivirus software — but that's only if you need everything it offers. By the same token, Bitdefender Total Security is a good buy considering all it includes, and you can get it for even less with Bitdefender's Box security appliance or Netgear Armor router protection. Updated to reflect new lab-test results. This review was originally published in October Brian Nadel is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in technology reporting and reviewing.

He works out of the suburban New York City area and has covered topics from nuclear power plants and Wi-Fi routers to cars and tablets. Home Reviews Antivirus. Our Verdict. Against Let a few threats through Lacks file encryption Heavy background system load.

No, of course not. So, that should take care of that problem of bitdefender getting my money. And then, there's the problem of logging in to my bitdefender account. Apparently, from what I have read in these reports, people can't log in to their account, or they can't turn off the auto renewal.

Well, I can't log into my account. I tried twice but the password "is wrong. I have them all typed out in alphabetical order on 5 sheets of paper A-Z. I KNOW that my password for bitdefender wasn't wrong. So, I played along I requested a new password reset. They sent me a link. Their login page told me I tried too many times and that I could try again in 15 minutes. No, that's plenty.

I'm not playing anymore. Game over. So, now my bank card is no longer active, so these ripoff scam artists can go eat cracked corn, because I don't care. They aren't getting another dime from me. Now, you do what you want. The chances are you already had a bad experience with them, which is why you're here. If not, and if you are thinking about buying a bitdefender subscription, or if you are thinking about trying them out for free just to see what happens.

Good luck! I warned you! This may be an OK anti-virus but it is not compatible with all software. I have a small CNC program I need for my business. Every change in Bitdefender blocks it from running again. I have to uninstall Bitdefender from my computer to use my software and then reinstall. A total waste of time.

Their tech support is entirely robot run and cannot address any specific issues. It only generates a stream of useless, generic, time wasting suggestions. Tech support is terrible you cannot deal with a human being. When I first started using Bitdefender they were a smaller company and could actually provide support.

Not anymore. If they cannot solve this problem in the next few days I will get a refund and use another product. I went to their website in good faith to pay for and download the Anti-Virus Software. After paying for the one year subscription I was shocked to see I was purposely locked into a webpage with no escape by this company. Their goal here after confirming your purchase is not offer you the download or any information what-so-ever. Bitdefender is a safe antimalware application.

Actually, it's at the top of the world of antivirus software. It even won the AV-Comparatives' Product of the Year award four times in total - more than any other antivirus program. This included both 0-day and 4-week old malware and viruses. It also scored a maximum of 6 points in terms of speed. With results like these, you can be sure that Bitdefender will take care of anything that may cause threat to your device.

Whether you're using the free or paid version, Bitdefender uses the same malware database to identify potential threats. So, whichever edition you pick, you'll get the same excellent level of malware removal.

However, there are additional subscription benefits to consider. Here are some that are worth a separate mention. Bitdefender is calling their real-time monitoring Advanced Threat Defense. It uses heuristic methods to monitor all processes running on the device. Each function is evaluated according to several criteria. The basis for ranking is made possible with the collaboration of Bitdefender's Global Protective Network - one of the world's largest security delivery infrastructures, monitoring million machines and extracting new malware models.

With the Global Protective Network, every process can be evaluated efficiently and accurately, ensuring that you have protection against very recent or poorly documented threats. Whenever a malicious process is blocked, you'll be asked whether you want to allow it or put it in quarantine. As you may have heard, ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts your files and asks for a ransom to decrypt them. It's an extremely dangerous threat if it passes your antivirus security undetected.

As a solution, Bitdefender created their Ransomware mitigation feature, which was previously called Safe Files. It creates a backup of your files like documents, images, music, and videos so that they wouldn't be affected in case of a ransomware attack. Bitdefender also detects when ransomware is trying to encrypt files , blocking all malicious processes. Even though it's not always possible to remove the ransomware encryption, the encrypted files can always be replaced with the prepared backup.

That way, you don't have to worry about potentially losing important documents or other sensitive data. Although this feature sounds quite self-explanatory, it's a bit more complicated than it would seem.

This feature is designed to work with any mailbox, providing active protection for the whole email channel. To achieve that, it uses a Whitelist, a heuristic filter, and learning modules. For each received email, Bitdefender performs a heuristic analysis investigating the message contents, the header, and metadata.

It's done to find particular telltale spam characteristics. You can even toggle blocks for emails encoded in Cyrillic or Asian characters. The learning module works in conjunction with this filter, gathering statistical information about the frequency of genuine emails and spam messages.

With proper adaptation, this module can detect spam messages faster than any trained cybersecurity expert. The last of the triad is whitelister. It continually refreshes data about known spammer domains and blocks them before they get to your inbox. Online shopping is not only a convenient way to get parcels shipped to your door.

It's also a window of opportunity for cybercriminals. For this reason, Bitdefender implemented a SafePay feature on its paid editions that aims to protect you when making online purchases. It's designed to work with banking and online shopping sites in mind, but any website can be opened via this browser.

It creates a sandbox that acts separately from your other installed web browsers , making it unaffected by the malware that could be present on your regular browser. It also adds a virtual keyboard so that your keystrokes couldn't be registered by malware, and checks whether your connected wifi network is secure. SafePay also offers some quality of life features, like integration with Bitdefender's password manager , bookmarks, and tab view.

With it, you can be calm that you're visiting genuine websites which won't steal your credit card information. It's no secret that most websites are tracking every click you make via third-party scripts, cookies, and other adtech marvels. Bitdefender Anti-Tracker is a solution available to premium users who want to stop excessive tracking carried out by web services.

Once enabled, it will stop malicious scripts from harvesting your data when you're surfing the web. Also, you can manage which tracking categories you would like to allow or disable. For example, you might be OK with website analytics but against ads or social media tracking.

You can customize this add-on in a way that works for you, and it quite significantly reduces the load time of all websites. Although the feature is called Webcam Filter, this is only partially accurate. This is because it makes sure that there is no unauthorized access to your camera and microphone.

Even though it's pretty easy to stick duct tape on top of your built-in webcam, it's much harder to silence the microphone, which could be just as dangerous. Webcam Filter will notify you each time a new app tries to access your built-in camera or microphone. There's only a handful of apps for video calls, making every other permission a potential threat. With Webcam Filter enabled, you can be sure that your device won't be spying on you via video or audio.

Sadly, the feature is only available only for paying users. One of the key differences compared to many other antivirus service providers is that Bitdefender offers a VPN as part of the app. This is really generous because some antiviruses charge an additional fee for their VPNs or add them as additional products when buying the most expensive packages. Bitdefender Premium VPN is quite a good tool. It offers 1, servers in more than 45 countries and unblocks Netflix US as well as a few other streaming services.

You can also set the app to auto-connect when you switch to a public wifi network or when you visit specific websites.

However, the feature itself is quite restrictive. To find out more, read our in-depth Bitdefender VPN review. Aside from all the necessary security features, Bitdefender also offers lots of extra features that you might find incredibly useful. Let's take a look at all of them below.

Sometimes, you simply can't allow any disturbances. Unfortunately, most antiviruses disregard this need entirely.