By: Hailey | Last updated March 27, 2020 
The importance of using an Antivirus program to protect your data online is indisputable. The internet can be as dangerous as it can be useful. Online threats come in many forms, from malware to trojans, spyware and so much more. Some of these threats are less harmful while others can damage your entire system, sometimes even beyond recovery. Viruses can be picked up online or via removable devices such as external drives, USB sticks, CDs or DVDs and so on.
Web protection is essential nowadays, and most Antivirus solutions also offer internet security. Surfing the internet without protecting yourself can have dire consequences: you can have your personal and financial data stolen or even the money in your account.
Some of the benefits of using an antivirus program
- You get quick scans of every removable device you insert into your computer
- Antivirus software can block annoying and intrusive ads and spam
- You get two-way firewall protection
- You get protection from all types of viruses and online threats
- You can eliminate infected data and restore your original data
- Most antivirus programs come with parental control
What to look for in an Antivirus
All antivirus programs are tested in a few standard aspects to establish their quality as products. The 3 main pillars tested are usability, protection and performance.
Usability - Testers check to see how many false positives the program makes during virus scans. Sometimes antivirus programs mistake certain files for viruses and other online threats. The more false positives the test reveals, the worse the Antivirus is.
Protection – Antivirus are tested to find out how well they behave when it comes to detecting and removing online threats. The tests are usually performed for a longer period of time, at least a month.
Performance- Antivirus programs are tested for performance to see how much they slow down your computer when performing antivirus scans.
BullGuard – Is it a good option to consider?
BullGuard has a very comprehensive offer when it comes to virus protection, malware protection and internet security. It has products compatible with all operating systems and it is one of the most user-friendly antivirus programs on the market.
Pricing
There are 3 main products to choose from: BullGuard Antivirus, Internet Security and Premium protection.
The Antivirus costs $33.7/year for 1 PC.
The Internet Security costs $67.4/year for multi-device/
The Premium Protection costs $101.2/year/multi-device.
Antivirus features
BullGuard Antivirus is only compatible with Windows devices. Here are some of the features included with this price:
- Virus protection
- Antiphishing
- Malware protection
- Anti-Ransomware
- Vulnerability scanner (it blocks access points preferred by hackers, it alerts you when you connect to insecure WiFi networks and it prevents apps that can contain malware from downloading automatically)
- Game booster
- Free automatic updates
- Free, 24/7 expert support via live chat or e-mail
Additional features included with Internet Security and Premium Protection
In addition to all the aforementioned, the other two products bring even more features to the table:
- Parental control
- Firewall
- Cloud Integrated Backup
- Home network scanner and identity protection (only for Premium Protection though)
- Android protection
- macOS protection
As we’ve already mentioned it, BullGuard has one of the most straightforward interfaces we’ve seen in an Antivirus. The main interface also provides useful tips and all features can be enabled/disabled with just a few clicks.
BullGuard is very focused on all fronts when it comes to ensuring your protection. Any missing Windows updates will be perceived as vulnerability and signaled to you immediately, as well as potential harmful programs that try to automatically execute.
From the general settings you can check or uncheck boxes for various tasks such as running BullGuard at startup, setting up proxy connections and more.
If you really want to get the best of BullGuard, you should also purchase the Internet Security package, because it adds some really useful features: parental control, the firewall and the cloud backup.
What we didn’t really like about BullGuard was the fact that the installation process took quite a long time to complete. When you first run the first computer scan, it will also take a while…
In case BullGuard finds an infected file, it either stops it, quarantines it or fixes it. In order to see the report, you have to go to the messaging center.
When it comes to performance, BullGuard managed to obtained great results from the AV-Test. The Internet Security product received a 100% rating for protection against zero-day malware attacks, malware detection/prevention and e-mail threats.
Performance-wise, BullGuard proved to be impressively fast in most tests.
Overall, BullGuard is a comprehensive Antivirus solution. While it may not stand out through special capabilities and might seem a bit mediocre in features, it is reliable, fast, very user-friendly and reasonably priced.
