Bitdefender Review

Tamara By: Tamara | Last updated June 2, 2017

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9.5 / 10

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PROS:

  • Autopilot mode
  • Many features
  • Protects against ransomware
  • Covers three PCs

CONS:

  • No phone support over the weekends
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SUMMARY:

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is one of the best anti-malware products on the market today. It provides effective protection against ransomware and all other known types of malware. The AV-Test evaluations showed it scored perfectly in all areas in which it was tested, proving it’s as reliable as it is fast. There are many ways of contacting customer support which is essential for an all-around good experience. With an average price and a license that covers up to three PCs, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is the best anti-malware solution in our review.

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COMPLETE REVIEW

Bitdefender is one of the best known names in the anti-malware software industry. With over half a billion installations, it’s the most wide spread internet security solution. It’s only so natural that Bitdefender Antivirus Plus also took the first place in our best anti-malware software category. It recorded perfect results on all tests and proved to be a reliable anti-malware program. Aside from its great testing scores, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is also one of the most complete internet security packages we reviewed. The anti-malware software is highly effective against some of the newest and most resilient viruses as well as against ransomware, possibly the most dangerous malware to date. Bitdefender is more than just an anti-malware software, it has a bundle of great features such as the Safepay virtual browser, a parental control panel, a PC optimizer and many others.

Features

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus comes with a license that covers up to three computers. This makes a great difference when you’re deciding on which program to buy, since most of the other anti-malware software in our review only offers protection for one PC, which makes Bitdefender a great value for money product. Bitdefender protects your PC from all known malware types. It finds and removes known viruses, different sorts of spyware, keylogger software, rootkits, ransomware etc. The protection test results show that it can reliably protect against any kind of internet threat. Bitdefender has an autopilot mode which allows it to run seamlessly in the background without much user intervention.

When you’re looking for a new software to protect your PC, you should pay close attention to the anti-ransomware feature. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is a verified way of protecting your computer against this nasty piece of malware. Ransomware finds its way into your PC through various applications or certain files you download. It remains dormant, collecting data, until one day it activates and locks down your system. If you haven’t backed up your data, this experience can be very horrifying. At this point hackers can access and copy any file on your PC. Ransomware is created so that, in fear of your personal data being stolen or exposed, you would agree to pay its creators a hefty amount to regain control of your computer. Bitdefender can recognize software that has potential to be ransomware and it automatically quarantines it before it has a chance to spread, thus being your first line of defense against this vicious malware.

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus automatically scans any USB drives you insert into your PC and blocks any potentially unsafe files from entering your system. The anti-spam tools works similarly by scanning all your incoming emails for any potential threats. Bitdefender’s Safepay feature is essentially a virtual browser that allows you to perform online transactions in a safe online environment without the risk of anyone steeling your data. Like most other products in our review, Bitdefender also has a gaming mode. This feature detects when you’re running a full screen program and blocks all pop-ups from disturbing you while you’re playing games or watching videos.

With Bitdefender Antivirus Plus you don’t have to worry about scanning your PC regularly, you can schedule scans at any time you’d like. To make sure your PC is running smoothly and efficiently, the Startup optimization tool is there to alert you of unnecessary processes that start with your PC and slow it down. The OneClick optimizer cleans up any redundant files that might be clogging your memory. A vulnerability scan points out any weak spots in your PCs protection like WiFi and login passwords or apps with long overdue updates.

Another useful option is creating a rescue CD. This is a feature all top tier anti-malware software products offer. A rescue CD is a bootable backup that can restore your system in case of a severe virus infection brings it down. To control which sites your kids visit and monitor their PC usage, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus also has a parental control feature.

Pricing

Price: 38.99

Performance

In order to correctly and fairly review all the anti-malware products we looked at, we relied on test results provided by AV-Test, and independent software test lab with many years of experiences. A high authority in testing online security products, AV-Test lab is highly respected as an impartial product tester with reliable results. The evaluations are conducted in a controlled environment several times a year. Anti-malware products are set against countless known and newly discovered threats to test their performance, usability and protection capabilities. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus scored perfectly in all three areas.

The protection results are usually the main indicator of how reliable a malware removal software truly is. Bitdefender performed flawlessly by successfully defending the test PC from almost 15,000 known threats. The industry average for anti-malware software in this area of the test is a 92% efficiency. Even though the 8% difference doesn’t seem as much, those few percent worth of malware can mean the difference between your system crashing beyond repair and it being fully protected. 

The perfect result of the performance test also confirmed that Bitdefender is one of the best anti-malware software on the market. This test is meant to measure the stress the internet protection software induces on your PCs resources during different kinds of scans. The testers downloaded different apps, installed programs, copy/pasted several sets of files and ran multiple different processes during scans to make sure that Bitdefender won’t slow down your PC.

The last is the usability test that looked at just how many times Bitdefender flagged safe files as threats. If you have a program that misidentifies good for malicious files too often, you can lose a lot of time by manually adding programs and webpages to your anti-malware software’s whitelist. On this final test, Bitdefender also recorded an immaculate result.

Help/Support

Bitdefender has an excellent website with many ways of finding any information you might need. It has a large, searchable knowledgebase as well as a FAQ section. You can download many free useful features and run different scans. If you want to contact a customer support representative, you can reach them via phone, email or live chat. There is also a community page where you can discuss Bitdefender with other users.

Email: You can fill out a form to contact customer support via email through this link:

www.bitdefender.com/support

Forum: forum.bitdefender.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bitdefender

Phone number: You can fill out a form to contact customer support via phone through this link: www.bitdefender.com/support

Website: www.bitdefender.com

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Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.

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