Bitdefender Review 2020
Bitdefender’s 2020 lineup has it all, from a basic free version to a super-premium package that includes unlimited VPN support and priority tech support. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, with its broad assortment of features, makes the record of antivirus software as our top choice among entry-level programs.
Even the lowest-priced paid Bitdefender app has a hardened browser, ransomware protection, and easy customization. The Bitdefender malware scanned our computer in record time without slowing the system down considerably. With five versions and many unlimited programs, Bitdefender offers plenty of options for every Windows user.
The drawback is that while Bitdefender’s malware protection is still quite good, it is not quite as flawless as it once was. Kaspersky, Norton, and, arguably, even Microsoft provide improved defenses. Keep reading for our whole Bitdefender review.
Bitdefender review: Costs and what’s covered
The entry-level Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is full-featured for its budget and includes an unlimited password manager, a Wi-Fi system scanner, a document shredder, a hardened web browser, and Bitdefender’s new Antivirus Plus starts at $40 per year for a single PC and runs around $80 annually for 10 systems.
Bitdefender Internet Security can also be exclusively for Windows, but it includes parental controls, file encryption, a two-way firewall, anti-spam screening, and webcam and mic protection. Bitdefender Total Security adds antivirus software for Macs and Android apparatus, also Bitdefender’s website-screening and phone-tracking program for iPhones and iPads.
The program enables you to monitor a stolen or lost laptop and costs $90 per year for five apparatus and $100 for 10 devices, but doesn’t gain much on Internet Security’s Windows capabilities. For now, or at least before the coronavirus crisis is over, you can try Bitdefender Total Security for 90 days free.
Bitdefender’s Family Pack is an enlarged license of Total Security that covers 15 systems for $120 each year.
All of the paid programs up to this point have client software for Bitdefender’s VPN service, but you are limited to 200MB of information each day per device if you That is not a bad price for a VPN service, but you can not get it like a standalone (see our guide to the top VPNs for more options).
It costs $150 for 10 systems, which is $10 more than if you spring for unlimited VPN support when buying Complete Security. (All these rates are often heavily discounted online, so shop around.)
Owners of recent-model Netgear Orbi or Nighthawk routers may get unlimited-device Total Security permits for $70 annually as part of the Netgear Armor service.
Meanwhile, the 180 Bitdefender Box home network security appliance includes a year of unlimited Total Security applications, basically the same as the Family Pack; subsequently, it is $99 each year.
Bitdefender review: Antivirus protection
Possible new dangerous threats become uploaded to Bitdefender’s servers to get a fix. Malware-definition updates are sent many times a day to 500 million programs running Bitdefender program. If having things collected from your computer sounds a bit creepy, you can opt-out.
Bitdefender’s Safe Files feature places key things in a folder that can not be altered or deleted, and its Ransomware Remediation saves copies of documents that are being encrypted so they can be automatically recovered.
It also defends against potentially unwanted applications (PUAs), fileless strikes and threats to the system’s Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) startup routine.
Pretty much every element of Bitdefender’s paid apps can be turned on, off or adjusted in the Preferences section. Each program has both a Game- and a Movie-mode for fewer interruptions.
For malware that will not go away, it is possible to boot to Bitdefender’s rescue environment, which restarts the machine from a hidden disk sector and completely scans the Windows partition.
Most antivirus vendors, such as Bitdefender, offer this as a free download to be loaded on a USB drive or burnt onto an optical disc, but Bitdefender also assembles it right into its programs.
Bitdefender review: Antivirus performance
Every one of Bitdefender’s five Windows antivirus programs uses the identical malware-detection engine, which offers great, though not perfect, security.
For example, Bitdefender detected 100 percent of known, widespread malware in German laboratory AV-Test’s round of Windows 10 testing in May and June 2019. However, it fell short when it came to previously unseen”daily” threats, stopping only 98.8percent in June, although its May score was fantastic.
Bitdefender dropped a smidge behind Kaspersky’s perfect 100% score in Austrian lab AV-Comparatives’ February-through-May 2019 round of testing, catching 99.9% percent of malware and snagging two false positives to Kaspersky’s zero. However, Bitdefender did better than Microsoft, Norton and Trend Micro (all 99.6percent).
No single brand has a flawless record in AV-Comparatives’ evaluations going back to January 2017. Trend Micro comes closest, but it had much more false positives than Bitdefender or Kaspersky.
Bitdefender hasn’t yet been tested in the most recent tests by London-based SE Labs. In June 2018, the most recent evaluation for that we have the results, Bitdefender notched a middle-of-the-road 96 percent total-accuracy score.
Bitdefender review: Security and privacy features
All of the paid Bitdefender programs incorporate the Anti-Tracker attribute, new for 2020, making web browsing more personal and shows you blocked things and page-load times. Anti-Tracker works with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.
The latter makes banking and online purchases safer by blocking browser add-ons and forcing an encrypted HTTPS data flow. Additionally, it has an on-screen keyboard to thwart a keylogging malware or apparatus.
Bitdefender’s webcam defense was renamed Video & Audio Protection and may currently prevent microphone hijacking; it is included with Internet Security, Total Security and Premium Security.
Internet Security, Total Security and Premium Security possess a two-way firewall that replaces Microsoft’s own firewall, and Total Security and Premium Security can monitor a stolen or lost system as long as it’s turned on.
There is also optimization applications, scanning of email attachments for threats and site screening without browser add-ons. Should you need the browser extensions, Bitdefender’s free Traffic Light is available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
Bitdefender review: Performance and system impact
Bitdefender Total Security provides an enviable blend of rapid scans and minimal effect on system performance.
To quantify its effect, we used our custom benchmark test, which clocks how long a PC’s CPU takes to match 20,000 titles and 20,000 addresses in an Excel spreadsheet. Our Lenovo ThinkPad T470 test bed had a 2.5GHz Core i5-7200U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of solid-state storage with 43.3GB of documents.
Before loading any applications, the T470 took a mean of 8.2 minutes to complete the benchmark, which increased by 15 percent to 9.4 seconds after Total Security was set up. This passive- performance reduction is somewhat less than Kaspersky’s 18% hit.
While a Bitdefender Quick Scan conducted, the benchmark completion time held steady at 9.4 minutes. Throughout a complete scan, the grade finished in 9.6 seconds, 16% slower than before Bitdefender was set up, but only 2% slower compared to Bitdefender running in the background.
By comparison, Kaspersky’s full-scan performance score yielded a fall of 41% by the background rate, and 67% by the preinstallation baseline.
You may want to check out this article: Online Reviews TotalAV
AV-Comparatives’ Performance Impact test, where reduced numbers translate to better performance, rated Bitdefender Total Security an 8.3 — greater than Trend Micro Maximum Security’s 13.7 but short of McAfee Total Protection’s 0.8.
It took just 15 minutes and 1 minute to comb through the whole drive on its first pass to check at 1,136,735 files. As it gets to understand your system (and what to ignore), Total Security gets better; it ended up running a full scan which analyzed 639,468 files in only 2:52.
That is just a minute longer than Bitdefender Total Security’s 1:58 Quick Scan, which scanned 9,117 of the system’s most critical files.